A Study On Pound’s English Translation Of Shih-Ching From The Perspective Of Comparative Poetics

As a branch of Comparative Literature,Comparative Poetics is based on the disciplinary vision of Comparative Literature,and focuses on the commensurability and poeticity of Chinese and Western literature,thus,it is endowed with striking interdisciplinary characteristics,which offers a theoretical basis for the poetic comparison between the Chinese and Western.In terms of the research category,Comparative Poetics is typical of the poetic contemplation and explanation of literature via poetic observation,and seeks for the convergence of aesthetics,cultures and poetics.Due to this fact,in the field of translation theories and practices,comparative interpretation of translated texts based on Comparative Poetics can provide a new perspective for translation studies.Shih-Ching is the first poetry collection in China,which reflected every aspect of the social life in ancient China,being undoubtedly the epitome of the Chinese society and culture.Shih-Ching is the concentrated reflection of the artistic thoughts of classical Chinese poetry,and it possesses infinite artistic charm,and the use of imagery,artistic conception,rhythm and other creative techniques is its main artistic characteristic.The English version of Shih-Ching by Ezra Pound,an American poet and literary critic,perfectly reproduces the poetic values based on his cognition of Chinese and Western poetics.Based on Comparative Poetics,the present thesis takes Pound’s English version of Shih-Ching as the research object,and analyzes the appearance of principles of Comparative Poetics and the reproduction of its poetic values from two levels:commensurability and poeticity.This thesis mainly consists of three aspects:Firstly,it reviews the origin and development of Comparative Poetics and elaborates on the theoretic category and core ingredients of Comparative Poetics.Secondly,it clarifies the relationship of Comparative Poetics between translation studies and poetry translation.Finally,it delves into the poetic representations of Shih-Ching,and explores the reproduction of the poetic elements,connotations and values of the Chinese culture in Pound’s translated version of Shih-Ching by way of exemplification.The study,which is devoted to the translation of classical Chinese poetry in light of Comparative Poetics,is valuable in two ways:On the one hand,it is conducive to deepening the understanding of the cultural connotations,aesthetic effects and poetic features of Shih-Ching;On the other hand,it is helpful to expand the theoretical category of Comparative Poetics,and provides proofs for the explanatory power of Comparative Poetics on poetry translation studies.