On The Aesthetic Reproduction In The English Translation Of Song Of A Pipa Player-From The Perspective Of Xu Yuanchong's Three Beauties Principle

The emergence and development of translation aesthetics have provided a good platform and solid basis for the research of literary translation, which has been attracting the attention from both scholars and translators. As far as the study of translation of literary works is concerned, translation aesthetics is an essential approach to studying the original beauty and its reproduction. Poetry is the highest form in literature. And poetry translation should convey the original artistic concept in another language and enable target readers to enjoy and appreciate the beauty of the translated version just as they read the original.Bai Juyi is an eminent realistic poet and the most productive poet in Tang Dynasty. His poem, Song of a Pipa Player, is generally considered as a brilliant flower in poetry arena which win him honor both home and abroad. The most prominent character of this poem is that the thoroughly pondered language is very easy for common people to understand. Therefore, how to interpret this poem exactly becomes the key factor in translation.Starting from the review of development of Chinese and western aesthetic translation, the thesis makes a comparative and tentative study of Xu Yuanchong's and other translators'English versions of Song of a Pipa Player on the basis of Three Beauty Principle proposed by Xu Yuanchong. Professor Xu Yuanchong's great contribution lies in his translation of Classical Chinese poetry and his translation theories. One of the most influential theories is the Three Beauty Principle---beauty in sense, beauty in sound and beauty in form on poetry translation.Through a detail comparison between different translated versions, the research shows that Xu Yuanchong applies his Three Beauty Principle in most of his translation practice and succeeds in reproducing the most parts of beauty in Bai's poems. His useful attempts on both poetry translation theory and practice are beneficial for future development of Classical Chinese poetry translation.