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摘 要

中国是诗的国度。作为中国语言的浓缩精华，诗歌承载着丰富的文化内涵。颇具盛名的李杜诗歌在世界范围内广为传唱并深受外国学者的喜爱，尤其是在说英语国家更为盛行。由于其所富有的文化底蕴，中国古诗英译开始受到人们的广为关注。

基于汉语的语言特点和表达特点，中国的诗歌翻译与美学有着天然的联系。古诗英译涉及翻译的多个方面，比如音美、意美及形美等等。然而，很少有学者从翻译美学的角度去解决诗歌翻译问题。所以本文试图从翻译美学的角度来探讨中国古诗英译。

许渊冲，作为中国著名古诗英译学者，已经成功翻译多首中国古代诗歌。他生平致力于探索翻译过程中的美学价值。因此此文选取了许渊冲释义过的例子，旨在以美学理论为指导，从而阐述中国古典诗歌翻译的特点。

关键词：翻译美学；中国古诗英译；特色研究；许渊冲

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3.Translation Aesthetics 4

3.1 The definition of translation aesthetics 4

3.2 The serendipity between translation and aesthetics 5

4.The Translation of Chinese Ancient Poetry 5

4.1 The charateristics of Chinese ancient poetry 5

4.2 The translation of Chinese ancient poetry 6

5. Xu"s Translation from the Perspective of Translation Aesthetics 6

5.1 The translation of Chinese classical poetry from the perspective of culture 6

5.2 The translation of Chinese classical poetry from the perspective of translation aesthetics 7

5.3 The aesthetic characteristics of Xu Yuanchong"s literary translation theory 8

5.4 The concrete application of Xu Yuanchong"s aesthetic translation theory in the translation of his poems 9

6.Conclusion 10

6.1Major findings 10

6.2Suggestions for further study. 11

Works Cited 12

1. Introduction

With the globalization further progressing, cultural exchange has become an increasingly important feature in international affairs. Nowadays, the integration of Chinese and Western cultures has become an inevitable tendency. However, how we manage to achieve the close and perfect combination of these two cultures is always the significant issue which needs further exploration from Chinese and foreign scholars in modern times.

In the English translation of Chinese classical poetry, though the opinions from Chinese and Western scholars originated from philosophy and aesthetics, there are obvious differences between them in essence, as well as the differences in the level of attention. How to utilize aesthetics in western culture to maximize reproduction of classical Chinese poetry characteristics in the process of translation is an important issue worthy of thinking, which is also an immediate and urgent problem needing to be solved. It is also the main purpose of the paper.

This thesis chooses Xu’s translation as the object, for his version represents one of the highest standards in the translation of ancient Chinese poems, and he has successfully translated many classical Chinese poems into English, always sparing no effort to reproduce aesthetic values. Based on the theory that poetry translation is actually a kind of aesthetic activity, this thesis attempts to probe into the classical verse translation from a perspective of translation aesthetics.

The research paper mainly endeavors to provide possible answers to the following questions:

What is translation aesthetics in essence?

How important is aesthetics in the translation of ancient Chinese poetry?

To give a clear idea of this paper, a brief account of the structure is displayed here.

Part one is a brief introduction to the research background of the thesis.

Part two is the literature review which introduces the previous studies on English translations of ancient Chinese poems.

Part three narrates the connotation of translation aesthetics.

Part four and part five are the main body. The characteristics of ancient Chinese poetry and the developments of ancient Chinese poetry translation are described in part four. In part five, the aesthetic features of Xu Yuanchong"s literary translation theory and certain typical Xu’s English translations of classical Chinese poems are displayed.

Finally, part six is the conclusion that aesthetics plays a significant role in theoretical and practical aspects of translation. In order to make a translated text as perfect as possible, the author must have a clear understanding of the background and the implicated meaning of the context from the perspective of translation aesthetics. Meanwhile, limitations and suggestions for further studies are discussed as well.

2. Literature Review

The Western and Chinese translation theories have experienced an unceasing development. Various translation theories have come out, enriching the study of translation. Translation is not just concerned with the linguistic study. Philosophical approaches, historical approaches, culture-based approaches and system-based approaches, etc. are frequently applied to the study of translation. Aesthetics, due to its close relationship with literature, eventually becomes one of the research perspectives of translation. In the tradition of the Western and Chinese translation theories, we may find that many translation theories are more or less in relationship with aesthetics.

In 1750,"Father of Aesthetics" ―of the western translation theories. They stress on the sense for sense translation and the aesthetic criteria of target language products. Cicero emphasizes the art of writing in translation. Horace talks about translation from the basic viewpoint of art and advocates natural beauty.

St. Jerome (347-420) is considered to be the representative who succeeds in creating the western classical philosophic-aesthetics translation theories. He believes that the translation is valued for its naturalness, and beautiful translation should be plain just like the language of the men in the street. This is furthered by the famous Bible translator Martin Luther (1483-1546), whose aesthetic concepts are quite clear. He emphasizes the aesthetic values of the translated text. In his Circular Letter on Translation of 1530, Martin Luther lays such emphasis on the significance of producing "an accessible and aesthetically satisfying vernacular style". Luther also stresses the importance of the relationship between style and meaning (Bassnet, 2002: 54).In the Epistle, Chapman (1559-1634) states that a translator must "attempt to reach the "spirit" of the original". "The Platonic doctrine of the divine inspiration of poetry clearly had repercussions for the translator, in which it was deemed possible for the "spirit" or "tone" of the original to be recreated in another cultural context. The translator, therefore, is seeking to bring about a transmigration of the original text"(Bassnet, 2002: 59). John Dryden (1631-1700) follows the translation theory of Cicerro, believing that translation is an art. Thus, the translator should be like the artist, who has superb artistic ability of appreciation and expression. He considers sense for sense translation as a comprehensively balanced path, provided that the translator fulfills certain criteria: "to translate poetry, he argues, the translator must be a poet, must be a master of both languages, and must understand both the characteristics and spirit of the original author besides conforming to the aesthetic canons of his own age" (Bassnet,2002: 64).

F. Tytler (1747-1814) sets up the famous three principles of translation in his Essay on the Principles of Translation. He believes that a good translation should embody all the merits of the original text, penetrate all the reasoning of the original text, and at last comprehend all the beauties of the original text.

In The Theory and Practice of Translation, Nida points out that "translating consists in reproducing the closest natural equivalent of the source language in the target language, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style." This statement gives priority to meaning, and then to the style which contains form. He holds that "translation means translating meaning, but it is possible only if one takes into consideration the total range of significant verbal signs." These may include phonetic symbolism of sounds, lexical units, prepositions, standard units of paragraphs, section sand chapters, and numerous rhetorical features which are so important in marking emphasis, indicating similarities and contrasts, and proving aesthetic appeal" (Nida,2003: 128).

Chinese translation theories dated from the translation of Buddhist sutra more than1700 years ago. And in the history of Chinese translation theories, the topic of discussion is always between the content and form, or truth and beauty. Zhi Qian, a famous translator of Buddhist sutra, quoted Laozi"s viewpoint that "beautiful words are not faithful, and faithful words not beautiful" to explain his own concept of translation. He advocated literal translation with emphasis on the aesthetic object (Jin amp; Huang, 1998: 16).

Ma Jianzhong (1894) set up the principle of "tactful translation" (Jin amp; Huang,1998: 20). Based on the intensive understanding of the content of the original text, the translator should imitate its spirit and tone to produce an effect in translation on the readers the same as the one he would obtain from reading the original. Yan Fu (1854-1921) furthered Ma"s principle and put forward the principle of "faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance" (Jin amp; Huang, 1998: 21) in 1896, which is considered as the guiding principle in translation. Lu Xun (1881-1936) advocated "faithfulness and smoothness" (Jin amp; Huang, 1998: 26). Fu Lei (1908-1966)emphasized "similarity in spirit", but not "similarity in form" (Jin amp; Huang, 1998: 27).These had combined the translation theories with aesthetics from the aspects of content and form. Qian Zhongshu states "transmigration" as his view in criterion for literary translation, "to transfer the language of work into another language without bearing any trace of awkwardness or far-fetchedness in translation because of the difference of language usage, and at the same time without losing the slightest flavor of the original(Liu, 1995: 132)." This theory shows his consent in the creativity of the translator in translation. Both Fu and Qian emphasize the aesthetic subject ―require likeness in form or even in sound. However, in any case, we should endeavor to convey the original beauty of meaning and sound." (Xu, 1984: 60) The three topics are in relation with the elements of aesthetics 一considered to be kind of special and unique in style. He has his own style in translating classical Chinese poems with the meanings beautifully expressed.

3.Translation Aesthetics

3.1 The definition of translation aesthetics

The term aesthetics derives from the Greek, which means perception. The derivative modern meanings of beauty, taste, and artistic criteria arose in the 18th century. Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art, beauty, and taste, with the creation and appreciation of beauty. Actually, in early western translation theories, the glimmer of aesthetics has appeared. Translation aesthetics was proposed by Zhu Guangqian at the beginning of 1980s. Since the conception of aesthetics was introduced in China by Wang Guowei, the development of translation theory in China has structurally changed. So as the name suggests, translation aesthetics is combination of translation and aesthetics. It is a theory of science that studies linguistic aesthetic. The following aspects are the points translation aesthetics should focus on:

(1)Explore the beauty of language;

(2)Establish criteria for different types of work;

(3)To deal with inexplicit characteristics

3.2 The serendipity between translation and aesthetics

The history of Chinese translation theory is essentially a kind of translation aesthetics. Considerable researches have been made on the origin of translation aesthetics since ancient times. For example, the earliest Buddhist translators Zhiqian has "side and vice versa" exposition; Yan Fu’s translation jurists and "faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance" theory; Mao Dun emphasizes God "Rhyme "; and Guo Moruo" flavor translation ", under the pen of Zhu Shenghao keep" charm "and" God ", Qian Zhongshu" sublimation "and Fu Lei" in spirit and is not re shape "Overview and so on. The research objects of translation aesthetics include the aesthetic object, the aesthetic subject, the aesthetic activities in translation as well as aesthetic judgment and aesthetic standards during the translation process. Translation and aesthetics are complementary to each other. Embracing and utilizing aesthetics in translation practice can make two of them integrate well.

4.The Translation of Chinese Ancient Poetry

4.1 The characteristics of Chinese ancient poetry

In the cultural history of China, classical poetry has been praised as the treasure of Chinese culture and also a reflection of beauty. Before the Opium War, poems are known as poetry. Poems can be divided into modern-style poetry and ancient poetry according to meter. Also known as poetry and modern poetry, classical poems are also called ancient poetry. Ancient poems are written in accordance with the ancient poetic style, and they are reflected from the "Book of Songs" to Yu Xin"s poems in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Modern poetry is divided into lüshi and rhyme. Lüshi is divided into pentasyllabic regulated verse and eight-line poem with seven characters per line and rigorous prosodic rules. Five-character quatrains and four-line poem with seven characters per line are two kinds of rhyme. Poetry has characteristic of packing a good deal into a few words and language is concise but full of hazy beauty.

4.2 The translation of ancient Chinese poetry

In recent decades, China has made great achievements in English translation of Chinese classical poetry research and the incorporation of translation aesthetics has been showing the advantages in actual practice. Meanwhile, our country pays more and more attention to translation aesthetics in English translation of Chinese classical poetry , such as setting up professional or elective courses about this kind of research in university, making learners realize the benefits of translation aesthetics gradually. The development course of Chinese poetry translation is a long-term process. Early from the "Book of Songs", Western scholars began to commit themselves to the translation of this great work. French Jesus missionary was the first one who translated the "Book of Songs" into Latins , in order to provide the West for reference. While in China, the earliest works introducing classical Chinese poetry are "Day" and "Huang Yi" which were published in the "Journal of the Chinese Empire". Later, a number of countries, including Germany, France, the United States and so on, had the "jade book" translated into western languages, setting a good foundation for Chinese poetry in the world. What is particularly worthy mentioning is that the event gave Chinese literature a chance to get a space in the world literature and influence the world literature.

5. Xu"s Translation from the Perspective of Translation Aesthetics

5.1 The translation of classical Chinese poetry from the perspective of culture

The differences of Chinese and Western cultural backgrounds will inevitably lead to errors and omissions of messages in the English translation of Chinese classical poetry. The language of Chinese ancient poetry is refined and the implicated meaning conveyed by several simple words is not everyone can grasp and understand. In the same way, one should not just think that simple words just express the simple feelings. For the seemingly simple ancient poetry, its translation often needs careful consideration. So in the translation process, the first step is to understand what kind of cultural background the poet is under and what kind of mood the poet is in order to comprehend the inner meanings and the core of poems. The translator should also know how to grasp the core of its cultural connotation flexibly based on the accurate grasping of the ancient manuscript and show the poem’s "meanings" and "feelings" from the inside to the outside so that the translation can get a perfect beauty reproduction .

5.2 The translation of classical Chinese poetry from the perspective of translation aesthetics

The reason why poetry China plays a pivotal role in Chinese culture and even the world culture mainly is its inherent “beauty”. Chinese ancient poetry gives birth to a unique beauty of sound, form and sense, beauty of artistic conception and the poet"s emotion beauty. These aesthetic information, which is in the same flow with Chinese traditional philosophy ----aesthetics, is a highly artistic miniature of Chinese culture. Standing from the perspective of the fusion of Chinese and Western culture, some characters, events and time in classical Chinese poetry can be translated directly, but like emotion, imagery must be on the speculation firstly. So in the process of translation, translators should respect the author"s original intention, and do not to review or understand it on personal subjective point of view; at the same time, the translator should have the basic aesthetic accomplishment to reproduce the ancient "beauty" via the window of the aesthetics. In the process of translation aesthetics research, although China"s traditional culture is associated with philosophical aesthetics, ancient poetry propositions are often more abstract. It is aeriform in translation that gives the translator increasing difficulties. Also, the emotion is more difficult to grasp. All of the factors above is the causes that are not conducive to scientific and systematic translation research.

5.3 The aesthetic characteristics of Xu Yuanchong"s literary translation theory

In the literary translation theory system of Xu Yuanchong, aesthetic features are visible.

a) Traditionality. Xie Tianzhen said: "our country"s literature translation studies are basically along the traditional Chinese translation studies research path forward. Its biggest characteristic is pragmatic, which always puts its eyes at the practice of literary translation. The fundamental problem of our country"s literature translation studies is how to translate literary works well. Xu Yuanchong’s set "The Art of Translation" can be described as representative of this kind study. In the paper, the author discusses how to get beauty in meaning, sound and form in the process of translation through analysing massive Chinese poetry translation examples with his rich translation experience ". (Xie Tianzhen, 1998: 55)Xu Yuanchong"s literary translation theory deeply rooted in the fertile fields of traditional Chinese aesthetics, drawing rich nutrition and borrowing some concepts in aesthetics to expound his own translation theory. Therefore, although Xu Yuanchong is active in the contemporary Chinese altar, his literary translation theory still belongs to the category of Chinese traditional translation theory. Moreover, he is a master of Chinese traditional translation theory .

b) Practicality. Xu Yuanchong"s translation theory comes from his own translation practice. Therefore, Xu"s translation theory is very practical. One sign of the feature is that Xu Yuanchong’s articles written are almost not out of the example sentence, but also, sometimes, a lot of examples. From the analysis of the model sentences, we can read the elucidation of the fine words. The second sign of the characteristic is that Xu"s translation never puts a bare outline but points to the translation itself directly. Therefore, there is little difficulty to understand Xu Yuanchong"s works.

c) Artistry. Xu Yuanchong believes that both literary translation and literary theory are not the science but the art. Science focuses on truth while art focuses on beauty. And literary translation and the theory of literary translation all embody the unremitting exploration and pursuit of beauty. Therefore, translation is art. It is the art of beautification.

d) Creativity. Xu’s reproduction theory thinks that the translator should reproduce the original stylistic beauty and the beauty of language so that the target text enable readers to experience the beauty as much as the readers of the original text; moreover, literary translator need to have unique expressive force in order to get a creative translation works. In addition, the reproduction theory emphasizes the recreation of seamless natural beauty. An overview of Xu Yuanzhong"s literary translation theory and practice implies that what he called recreation is to create in fact.

5.4 The concrete application of Xu Yuanchong"s aesthetic translation theory in the translation of his poems

Xu Yuanchong has been engaged in literary translation for decades. He translated the numerous Chinese classical poems and songs into English and French. English translations are "the Book of Songs" (1993), "the Song Three Hundred" (1993), "Songs of The South "(1994), "the Chinese Ancient Six Hundred Poems" (1994), "the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties Poetry 150" (1995), "the Poems of Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties 150 "(1997), "Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty (2000) And the Newly 1000 Poems" (2000) etc.. His 30 translated poems are chosen for teaching by foreign universities. In 2010, Xu Yuanchong won the "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Chinese translation association". Mr. Xu said: "to solve the problem of theory, the best way is to practice." We can see him how to apply translation aesthetics in poetry translation practice according to his own words.

We look at the translation of Niao Ming Jian by Wang Wei firstly.

The source text:人闲桂花落，夜静春山空。月出惊山鸟，时鸣春涧中.

His version: I hear osmanthus blooms fall unenjoyed;

In still night hills dissolve into the void.

The rising moon arouses birds to sing;

　　 Their fitful twitter fills the dale with spring.

"Unenjoyed", the adverb that means no one appreciates, expresses the "idle" state accurately. Then he uses the word “hear” to reveal the sound, suggesting that the falling flowers are audible and silence of the valley can be recognized. The translation appears to be not exact for there is no word "listen" in the original text. Actually, it is extremely accurate. There is no version can be more faithful to Wang Wei"s mood when he was writing the poem than it. The word "dissolve" in the second sentence is more excellent. The phrase" dissolve into the void" show readers the view that all the things integrate into the open space. Wang Wei is famous for the style "painting in poetry and poetry in painting" and I am afraid that English readers may not grasp the essence precisely. But the sentence of Mr. Xu has marveled its real features for foreign readers !

Xu Yuanchong often asks himself that whether readers can catch sight of the voiceless pictures and hear the silent music in the translated texts when he proceeds with translation. This is his basic requirements for translation.

The previous translation translated "依依" of "昔我往矣，杨柳依依" in the poem "采薇" of "the book of songs" into "softlysway" (with a slight swing) and translated "霏霏"of "今我来思，雨雪霏霏" into "fly (flying)". He didn’t appreciate this version at all, thinking that is no difference in the "artistic conception" with prose. Speculating on it over and over and his inspiration comes:"垂柳" in English is "weeping willow", which has the meaning of tearing. Along the "breakthrough", he put the "依依"into "shedtear", the tearful farewell feelings sending out naturally.

Xu has pointed out that literary target texts are not only to be understood by the translator himself but also by the readers, not only to be appreciated by the translator himself but the readers. Professor Xu Yuanchong tries his best to capture the flavor in poetry translation with profound knowledge of both in Chinese and English language carefully and draw the tacit and harmonious lines of the original poems and translations between Eastern and Western culture with dense delicate and colorful strokes.

6. Conclusion

From the study of the characteristics of the English translation of Chinese classical poetry in the perspective of translation aesthetics, it is not difficult to find the meanings of Chinese and English words are obviously different from each other under the background of the great diversity between Chinese and Western culture. It becomes harder to translate the classical Chinese poetry in the medium of aesthetics, and the translator tends to ignore the cultural and historical background in which the author and the artistic conception of the poem, making the translated text defected. In some works of literary translation, the translation of ancient poetry becomes even harder. Both the establishment of the context and the words connotation are the barriers requiring the translator to break through. Obviously, the translation of classical Chinese poetry from the perspective of translation aesthetics is an important research topic. There is no doubt that the studies of features of Chinese ancient poetry translation from the perspective of translation aesthetics have an active meaning, which will benefit Chinese ancient poetry greatly for it showing unique beauty in the western language.

Any kind of culture has its own unique characteristics. Translation is closely related to intercultural communication. We should flourish our traditional translation theories while learning from western translation theories, making Chinese peculiar translation theories from the perspective of China and western translation theories learn from each other and complement each other in order to guide translation practice better and make the cultural communication more comprehensive and effective. From the point of view of the studies of translation aesthetics, the following questions need to be studied: first, how translation aesthetics jump out of the narrow circle of literary translation and be applied to the areas of feasible, such as tourism, C-E Translation and so on. Second, the theoretical construction of translation aesthetics has to be further improved, and combined with practice to improve it. Third, the relationship between translation aesthetics and Western Reception Aesthetics needs to be further clarified. Fourth, how translation aesthetics leads Chinese traditional translation theory to format peculiar translation theories from the perspective of China and continue to move forward.

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Newmark, P. Approaches to Translation. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2001.

毛荣贵. 《翻译美学》.上海：上海交通大学出版社，2005.

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许渊冲. 《文学与翻译》. 北京：北京大学出版社, 2003.

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