Comparative Study Of Four English Versions Of The Book Of Songs

Traditional Chinese culture is a great treasure house with a remote historical origin. In this depository, Chinese literature, especially the refined and profound classical Chinese poetry, is undoubtedly the most dazzling pearl. The beauty of Chinese language has been crystallized in many masterpieces with The Book of Songs as the origin of Chinese poetry and other genres of literature. Being one of the earliest anthologies in the world, The Book of Songs formed during almost the same period with the epics of Homes (about 8^th-6^th centuries BC). As one of the Confucian classics and textbooks, this anthology occupies an important position in Confucianism. The English versions of the anthology have opened a wide window through which the westerners could understand and appreciate Chinese culture.The English translation of The Book of Songs started in the mid 18^th century. Later there have appeared many complete and selected English translations of the anthology. This paper aims at a comparative study of four well-known complete versions among them: James Legge's unrhymed version first published in 1871; Arthur Waley's unrhymed version first published in 1937; X.Y.Z.'s rhymed version of 1994; and Wang Rongpei & Ren Xiuhua's rhymed version of 1995. These versions were produced in three different ages. Among them, there are two rhymed versions and two unrhymed ones, two foreign translators and three Chinese translators, and the cultural backgrounds and translation purposes of them vary from each other. All these differences provide the feasibility for the comparative study in this thesis.The thesis is composed of five chapters. Chapter 1 is a general description of The Book of Songs. It introduces the compilation of the anthology, its social and historical status, its contents and division of Feng, Ya and Song as well as its composing and poetic features, especially the features of narration, comparison and association. Chapter 2 mainly deals with the English translation of the anthology. The Author (capitalized for the author of the thesis;interchangeable with the Writer in this thesis) first gives a general account about the English translation of the anthology in the recent two and a half centuries, and then provides a detailed description of the four English versions discussed. The research approach of the thesis is also introduced at the end of this chapter.The comparative study of these versions is carried out from two perspectives: first from a macro point of view in Chapter 3 and then from a micro point of view in Chapter 4. The macro study mainly concentrates on four factors: the social and cultural background of the translator, his/her translation purpose and intended readers, and his/her theory or viewpoints on poetry translation. Comprehensive analyses in these aspects about the five translators are provided, and their influences on the contents and layouts of the translated versions are discussed. Legge's version includes a 182-page's prolegomena, extremely detailed notes and indexes, which is like an encyclopedia of The Book of Songs. His purpose was to introduce both the linguistic and the cultural aspects of the anthology to the well-educated western missionaries. Waley broke the original division of Feng, Ya and Song and rearranges the poems into 17 sections according to subject. His purpose was to reveal the poetic beauty of those ancient oriental poems to the common westerners. Xu's version has a long introduction to the anthology and a penetrating analysis of Confucius thinking about rite and music. He aimed at introducing traditional Chinese culture, especially Confucianism to the western world. Wang and Ren's version is a bilingual one with Chinese pinyin under each Chinese character. They are very convenient for the Chinese and foreign bilingual readers. Through the analyses, the author proves that all these features are caused by the four factors discussed in this chapter. Besides, the various translation theories or viewpoints on poetry translation held by other Chinese translators or translation theorists are also briefly discussed.Chapter 4 is devoted to the comparative study of the four versions from a micro point of view. Four famous poems from The Book of Songs were chosen and their different Englishtranslations are compared. Through a thorough comparison, the different translating styles of the translators and the various translation techniques used by them are clearly revealed. Legge's translations are like a lined prose which loyally explain the source works word by word; Waley's translations are more like English poems which emphasize the images in the poems; Xu's translations preserve the original beauties in sense, sound and form, which show his deep understanding of Chinese culture; Wang and Ren's translations, though lacking in the cultural depth compared with Xu's, are similar to the source poems in their simple style and sound beauty, and very nice to read. It is proved that even the translating style and technique are also largely influenced by the various background factors discussed in the previous chapter. At the same time, the guiding role of the translation theory held by the translator on his/her translation practice is also discussed.Chapter 5 is conclusion. Poetry translation is a challenging task, and in the Author's opinion, translation of classical Chinese poetry is the most difficult because of the characteristics of ancient Chinese language. There've been many discussions on this subject, and different scholars hold different opinions. Through this thesis, the Author tries to prove that there shouldn't be any absolute standards for the English translation of classical Chinese poetry and its evaluation. Every translator has his/her social and cultural background, his/her translation purpose, his/her intended readership and his/her own thinking about translation. From a macro point of view, the contents and layout of the translated version are decided by these factors; from a micro point of view, the translating style and strategies adopted by the translator are also greatly influenced by them. In criticizing the English translation of classical Chinese poetry, we should take into consideration all the factors discussed in this thesis so as to obtain an objective evaluation. In the author's opinion, so long as the translator has achieved the translation purpose, and so long as the translation work can be accepted by the intended readers of the translator, the translation should be regarded as a successful one.