A Metafunctional Analysis Of English And Chinese Versions Of "Chun Xiao"

China has been known as a country of poetry from times immemorial. The literature of a nation mirrors the custom and civilization of the contemporary times. Classical Chinese poetry is well-noted around the world for its delicate language, refined connotation, tidy forms, original styles and various genres, which fitly explains the popularity and status of this artistic form. No wonder it is universally regarded as the exceptional gem of the traditional cultural treasure-house. The Tang Dynasty, during which innumerous talented poets and remarkable poets sprang up, is undoubtedly seen as the heyday of traditional Chinese poetry.Chun Xiao created by poet Meng Haoran comes out top among the most celebrated classical Chinese poetry. Deeply touched by this glorious scene, The poet described a vibrant picture of an early spring when flowers were sending out sweet fragrance and birds were singing vigorously in the trees. However, what affected him most was the spring shower last night, which brought him a rich and unbounded imagination of the rain of fine-cut, gentle, thin, such as ox hair-like and flower-like floating down, as well as a promising and touching prospect of a refreshing spring morning filled with fallen flowers and animate grass. With a common and plain language, the poet depicted a fresh and natural spring morning, which sinks in like a clear fountain flows with a merry gurgle, for the readers among the globe. This poem thoroughly conveys the author’s affection and value for the spring.Established in the early1960s, Systemic Functional Linguistics created by Halliday was aimed at expressing the functions languages are designed to fulfill by human beings. He classified the function of language into three metafunctions, namely, ideational function, experiential function and textual function. In brief, the first function deals with the reflectional functions language bears to embody the processes and things existing in the subjective as well as the objective world. The second one reveals the relationship between individuals for language is in essence the meaningful activities, actual devices and actions carried out by social members. And the last refers to the fact that the above two functions must be realized by text organized by addressers in real social circumstances.This paper mainly aims to study the original poem Chun Xiao and its four selected English versions in application with the Systemic Functional Linguistics in aspects of ideational function and textual function. The four translated versions adopted in this paper are those of Xu Zhongjie, Xu Yuanchong, Weng Xianliang and Witter Bynner. Contrastive analysis will be majorly employed in this thesis. It is sincerely hoped that the feasibility and applicability of Systemic Functional Linguistics to discourse analysis could be well-testified, and this paper may shed some light on poetry translation.