A Contrastive Study On The Translation Of Plant And Animal Images In Jiu Ge From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

Jiu Ge,as one of the most exquisite collection of poems in Chu Ci,is said to be composed by the poet Qu Yuan based on the sacrificial songs to gods in Chinese.As sacrificial songs,the contents of each song are different since there are a variety of gods.Accordingly,plenty of plants and animal images are used.The image is regarded as the soul of a poem and is a mixture of objective things and the emotions of the poet.So,the meaning of a plant could be far more complicated than it seems.Obviously,a huge challenge they are facing is the translation of plant and animal images which are numerous and has profound hidden meaning.American linguist Eugene.A.Nida puts forward the functional equivalence theory,and mentions that meaning is the first to be considered rather than form in translation.He holds that meaning of a word contains two aspects,namely designative meaning and associative meaning.In poetry translation,especially Chinese ancient classics like Shi Jing and Chu Ci,approach to meaning should be taken into account for the first place.This thesis intends to contrast the four English versions of Jiu Ge translated respectively by David Hawkes,Arthur Waley,Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang as well as Xu Yuanchong and analyzes both designative meaning and associative meaning of plant and animal images in each version.Firstly,the author of this thesis introduces the ethnic origin,artistic characteristics,cultural implications,and historical status of Jiu Ge,and summarizes the academic assessments of the four mentioned English versions,and reviews the research progress of image translation in poetry.Secondly,the author of this thesis comprehensively introduces the development,basic concepts,and principles of Nida's functional equivalence theory,and summarizes the potential applications of functional equivalence theory for image translation in poetry.Thirdly,the author of this thesis systematically classifies and briefly analyzes the plant and animal images existing in Jiu Ge.Lastly,the author of this thesis compares and analyzes the translation of plant and animal images in the four mentioned English versions of Jiu Ge according to the designative and associative meanings of functional equivalence theory.After the overall research and contrastive analysis,this thesis draws the conclusions as follows: firstly,David Hawkes and Waley share a lot in common with the semantic level of translation,both think highly of faithful translation and receptors' acceptance,while Xu Yuanchong and Yang Xianyi focus on the rhyme and emotional expression.Secondly,when dealing with the plant and animal images,Hawkes' s translation to a great extent achieved functional equivalence.Thirdly,in order to achieve functional equivalence,multiple translation methods could be used according to the characteristics of specific image.