A Study On The Imagery Translation In Su Shi's Ci-poetry From The Perspective Of Reception Aesthetics

As a literature master in history,Su Shi has left countless ancient poetry.Su Shi's poetry has been translated into English by some professors and translators at home and abroad,and it is circulated in many countries around the world.His poetry has a broad subject and a unique style.He is good at using allusions and imageries to express the poet's feelings.Abundant imageries are the important symbol in Su Shi's poetry.Therefore,the proper translation of imagery in Su Shi's ci-poetry is particularly important for readers to better understand the theme.The author selects 51 pieces of ci-poetry as a corpus from the Selected Poems of Su Shi in 2007.Based on the theory of reception aesthetics,the author explores how Xu Yuanchong reproduces the imagery in Su Shi's ci-poetry,and analyzes the imagery effect in the translation.This thesis adopts the descriptive study as the main research method.First of all,according to the classification of imagery in poetry proposed by the professor Chen Zhi-e,the author divides imageries in Su Shi's ci-poetry into six categories: imagery expressing exclamation,imagery expressing sorrow,imagery expressing farewell,imagery expressing leisure,imagery expressing love,and imagery expressing homesickness;Then the author makes a detailed analysis on the ci-poetry which more imageries of different themes are scattered.The result shows that Xu Yuanchong uses three translation methods: free translation,imitation and literal translation.Among them,free translation is used most,then imitation,and literal translation is the least.If the imagery in the poetry refers to a historical allusion or a quotation,which does not exist in the English,the translator uses the free translation to achieve readers' understanding;If the imagery has similar connotations in English culture,the translator keeps the original imagery's figure selectively by means of imitation,which is convenient for foreign readers to understand and accept the imagery's meaning;If the imagery has the similar connotations in English culture,or the imagery atmosphere in the poetry can be directly understood by readers,the translator uses the literal translation to directly translate the original meaning.On the whole,the imagery translation of Su Shi's ci-poetry by Xu Yuanchong conveys the original imagery effect entirely.This thesis studies the translation of imagery in Su Shi's poetry from reception aesthetics theory.It will be conducive to enrichingthe perspective of the translation studies of Su Shi.It is expected to provide some references for researchers to study poetry translation in the future.