On The Aesthetic Transference Of Poetry Translation (from Chinese To English)

Poetry is the expression of emotion and will. It plays an important role in classical Chinese literature. It bears unique beauty in sense, sound and form. Therefore, translators should undertake the responsibility of reproducing the three beauties of classical Chinese poetry. However, poetry translation, especially from the classical Chinese poems to English, is one of the most difficult jobs. Many scholars have done much research on it. Xu Yuanchong is well known one. He is a scholar in classical Chinese poetry translation theories and practices, and contributes much to it. On the basis of his theory of"beauty in three aspects", this paper intends to explore the aesthetic nature of classical Chinese poetry by analyzing it at semantic, phonological and formal levels. While demonstrating"the beauty in three aspects", I quote some theories as well as examples to make it clear that how the transference of aesthetic nature goes. And finally come to the conclusion that the"beauty in three aspects"can be applied in the classical Chinese poetry translation. Poetry translation should keep its original beauty as much as possible in sense, in sound and in form. The paper consists of five chapters: Chapter One firstly summarizes the schools of theories concerning Chinese poetry translation, which serve as the background of this paper. Then followed by the introduction of Xu Yuanchong's life and his translation theory as well as translation achievements.Chapter Two describes the feature of classical Chinese poetry from aspects of sense, sound and form. Chapter Three describes the characteristic of English poetry from these three aspects and makes comparison between them. Besides that, I also analyze the possibility and difficulties of transference. Chapter Four demonstrates with examples how to transfer the original beauty in sense, in sound and in form.Chapter Five summarizes the paper and points out that the poetry translation should be taken as a whole. And finally I comment on the theory of"beauty in three aspects". The theory has all the weakness of traditional translation theories in that the theoretical framework is too vague and escapable to be operated easily and efficiently in translation practice. But that may be the reason why we should do research on it. Theoretical creation and exchanges with other theories will improve and perfect the theory.