A Study Of Ezra Pound’s Translation Of Chinese Poems From The Perspective Of Formal Language Of Painting

Translation theories have expanded from traditional linguistics and literary aesthetics to social semiotics and cultural comparisons.The perspectives of poetry translation studies have also been enriched,but linguistic perspectives still take the dominant place,and there are few cross-art studies.Compared with other literary translation,poetry translation is special because of the condensation of poetry and the integration of scenery and emotion.Therefore,the translation of poetry is not only the conversion between languages,and the study of poetry translation should not stay at this level,but should explore various possibilities,especially the important factor of scenery.There is indeed a certain commonality between different kinds of art,which can be integrated and penetrated.And poetry and painting are the most common,most dynamic and most practicable forms of literary and artistic integration.The discussion on the relationship between poetry and painting in China and the West can be traced back to several thousand years ago.During this process,poetry and painting have become increasingly integrated,giving birth to various products such as poems on paintings,and ekphrastic poems,and theories on the relationship between poetry and painting have also gradually increased and matured.Since poetry and painting are so closely connected,it is necessary to consider the factors of painting when translating poetry.Each art has its own language.The language of words and paintings are both used as media to express inner feelings.Painting is a visual language.The process of painting is the process of organizing and using the formal language,to be exact,the application and arrangement of painting elements such as point,line,plane,color and shape,as well as compositional techniques such as perspective and contrast.Painters express their emotions and thoughts with the help of this visual language.Poets and translators can also creatively use these elements and techniques to form an imaginary picture in reader’s minds in their poems,to achieve the corresponding aesthetic value and artistic effect.Ezra Pound was a famous American poet,translator,critic,and master of artistic techniques.He composed and translated a large number of poems during his lifetime.His English translation of ancient Chinese poems,Cathay,caused a stir in the British and American poetry circle and received a flood of praise,making ancient Chinese poems overwhelm the British and American poetry circle and setting off a wave of translating ancient Chinese poems.It has attracted the attention and discussion of many poets,scholars and translation researchers.At present,scholars mostly explore the characteristics of Pound’s English translations of Chinese poems from the perspectives of poetics,linguistics,social and cultural aspects.There is not much literature on the artistic features of his translations from the perspective of painting.Based on Pound’s status as an artist and the picturesque characteristics of his translations,this thesis intends to further explore the poetic and visual effect of Pound’s translations of Chinese poems from the perspective of painting language.Based on text analysis of ST and TT as well as comparative analysis of different versions of translation,this thesis explores how Pound used factors of painting in his translations to achieve the desired visual and poetic effects from the aspects of the painting elements such as point,line and color,and the compositional techniques such as interaction and combination of solidity and emptiness.After analysis,it is found that the employment of painting elements of dots,lines and colors as well as the compositional techniques of interaction and combination of solidity and emptiness,helps the translation achieve a vivid visual effect,effectively convey the author’s emotion and the state of the original poem,and create a state of Taoism.The influence of the art of painting on the translation of Pound’s poetry is mainly reflected in the choice of picturesque,concrete and powerful verbs,the flexible translation of color words and juxtaposition of images.The introduction of the formal language of painting into the study of poetry translation highlights the value of the painting factor in translation,helps to realize aesthetic equivalence,innovates poetry translation methods,enriches the perspective of poetry translation research,and effectively explains creative translation.Based on these findings,this paper provides an artistic rationale for Pound’s creative translation and finds out his main translation methods.This study expands the artistic perspective of poetry translation studies,contributes to the interdisciplinary study of poetry translation,and casts light on the value of incorporating artistic techniques into poetry translation methods.