A Study Of Pound's Translation Of Chinese Classical Poetry From The Perspective Of Rewriting Theory

Ezra Pound was famous as a great poet and translator and he was a skipper of American and English poetry in the beginning of 20^th century. Pound had a deep relation with China. He translated many Chinese classical poems and made them known successfully in English-spoken countries. The researches on Pound's English translation of Chinese classical poems are of a great help for the spread of Chinese poetry culture. The researches on Pound's English translation of Chinese classical poems began in the end of the eighties in the last century. After scrutinizing the rewriting theory and Pound's translation of Chinese classical poems, the author of this thesis maintains that it is reasonable to analyze Pound's English translation of Chinese poems from the angle of rewriting theory. Therefore, the thesis adopts rewriting theory to analyze Pound's translation of Chinese classical poems in the hope of making certain help for researches on Pound and his English translation of Chinese classical poetry.Rewriting theory was put forward by Andre Lefevere who was a scholar of American contemporary translation theory, and delegate of cultural school in translation. For Lefevere, translation was a kind of rewriting. Translators were influenced by ideology, patron and poetics during their translating. The thesis analyzes Pound's English translation of Chinese classical poems from ideology and poetics of rewriting theory.Pound's translation of Chinese classical poems included his Cathay, which was the collection of English translation of Chinese classical poems, his early four Chinese classical poems'translation, which included"After Ch'u Yuan""Fan- Piece, for Her Imperial Lord""Liu Ch'e""Ts'ai Chi'h". Through the analysis of his translation from the perspective of rewriting theory, the thesis conveys that Pound was influenced by his social ideology on his selection of the original texts, that is, Pound selected the original poems that catered for his social ideology. The thesis also shows that his selection of words and dealing with image were constrained by his poetics principles during his translating.Through the analysis, the thesis explains that his war view and his advocating of Confucianism governed his selection of the poems. The thesis also indicates that his poetics principles constrained his translation method.