The Foreignization Of Pound's Translation In Cathay

Imagism in the early 20th century moves the English and Americanpoetry into a new era. The Imagists, no longer satisfied with the genteel tradition of Romanticism, presented life and their ideas directly and honestly. As a leading figure of Imagist Movement, Ezra Pound (1885-1972) hosted, through his poetic theory and practice, a revolution in poetry. It is quite well known that Ezra Pound was greatly influenced by Chinese poetry and Chinese culture. With the translation of Cathay, Pound acquainted himself with the techniques, styles and themes of ancient Chinese poetry and put them to use in his writing of Cantos.Chinese poetry exerted a great influence on Pound, and Pound was ready to accept that influence. On one hand, He attempted to display some of features of Chinese classical poetry in his translation; on the other hand, he actively adapted some of the parts in Cathay, with his praiseworthy courage, Imagist creativity as well as his total ignorance of the Chinese language, which made his translation become a typical recreation characterized by many inaccuracies and errors. As a result, Cathay, ever since its publication, has been a controversial work, and aroused both praise and severe criticism.Nevertheless, nearly all comments made by Poundians, whether praise or criticism, appear to have focused on his creativity or inaccuracies in the translation of Cathay. Few of them have inquired into his peculiar way of remaining truthful to the original. As a matter of fact, Pound truthfully reproduced most of the images of the original and successfully borrowed some of the peculiar structure of Chinese classical...