A Study On K. Rexroth’s English Translation Of Chinese Poems From The Perspective Of Formal Language Of Painting

Kenneth Rexroth is a celebrated contemporary poet,translator as well as painter in America.He published four collections of Chinese poetry translation,which have exerted great impact on poetry circle in America and drawn considerable attention and discussions from poets,scholars and researchers on translation.Currently,many studies on his translation were conducted from such perspectives as creative translation,rewriting theory and philosophical hermeneutics.Just a few studies attempted to analyze the artistic features of Rexroth’s translation in light of painting.Enlightened by Rexroth’s career as a painter and the striking painterly features in his translation,this thesis seeks to further probe into the artistic features of Rexroth’s translation of Chinese poems from the perspective of the formal language of painting.Many scholars at home and abroad have proposed that poetry and painting are analogous in nature and that they can complement each other.Painting is a visual art which expresses emotions through organizing and employing painting elements such as line,plane,color and composition techniques such as light and shadow and perspectives.Painters express their inner world through the elaborate use of painting elements and techniques with brushes so as to create unique aesthetical value.Poets and translators can also achieve similar aesthetical value and artistic effects through creatively employing those elements and techniques with words.Based on the basic theories of formal language of painting,this thesis intends to discuss how Rexroth represents vivid scenes and convey the artistic conception of original poems from two aspects: painting elements including line,plane,light and color and composition techniques including comparison of light and shadow and perspectives.Through making a comparative analysis between the originals and the translations,the major findings are as follows: horizontal line,oblique line,circle,triangle,cross,colors,light,comparison of light and shadow and focus perspective are major painting elements and composition techniques blended in Rexroth’s translation.They help represent vivid and picturesque scenes in target readers’ mind,thus effectively conveying the artistic conception and atmosphere of original poems.And the implication and emotion implied in original poems are greatly strengthened.Second,flexible diction and sensuous imageries mainly contribute to the vivid visual and poetic effects in Rexroth’s translation.This thesis further illustrates how Rexroth achieves aesthetic equivalence between the originals and the translations.The formal language of painting is the rational summary and extraction of visual experience and cognitive basis shared by humans.When applied in poetry translation,painting elements and composition techniques can inspire various associations and imagination through stimulating reader’s visual organ and arousing similar visual experience and emotional memory.Hence,Rexroth’s way of applying formal language of painting to poetry translation provides a theoretical reference for achieving aesthetic equivalence between the originals and the translations.Furthermore,it brings forth an artistic way of expression for conveying the artistic conception of original poems and provides a new perspective for appreciating creative translation.