Classical Chinese Poetry: Translation And Appreciation

The beauty of classical Chinese poetry (CCP) is embodied in its sound, form and sense. How to reproduce the three-dimensional beauty is always a controversial and arduous undertaking to all translators.In this thesis the characteristics and beauty of CCP are introduced in conjunction with the characteristics of classical Chinese and Chinese culture as well as traditional Chinese poetics rules and propositions. Then based on summarizing the three main schools of CCP-English translation after a dialectical clarification on the issues of translatability vs. untranslatability and similarity in form vs. similarity in spirit, a comparison is made between prose version and rhymed verse version of the same poem and conclusions are drawn as follows:Due to the intrinsic differences between English and Chinese, especially to the uniquely rich cultural connotations, it's impossible to create an absolutely faithful version equivalent to the original in all aspects in most cases. Due to the multiplicity of CCP in sense, interpretations of the original poem may vary from individual to individual and it is natural to have different translated versions for the same poem, though the ideal version is the one which preserves the original beauty in sound, form and sense to the maximum extent, namely the version of rhymed verse translation. Through a comparison of different translated versions of the same poem, one can deepen and enrich one's understanding of the original and draw on the strong points of different translators, thus improve the existing verse translation and realize the goal of preserving the three-dimensional beauty of classical Chinese poetry to the maximum extent.