On The Representation Of Ideorealm In English Translation Of Classical Chinese Poetry-A Case Study

In literature translation, poetry translation is always most challengeable. The translation of classical Chinese poetry has a long history during which different translation schools are formed. They hold different perspectives towards the translation of classical Chinese poetry; hence, taking advantages of different translation strategies and techniques. Since the nature of literature translation is the transference of the aesthetic taste, the beauty of ideorealm as the soul of classical Chinese poetry is the common ground sought by different schools. That forms the basis of this paper.In the first chapter, the paper introduces the argument whether classical Chinese poetry is translatable. With the development of translation theory and practice, most people hold that the translation of classical Chinese is not only possible but also necessary. And gradually, three schools, namely, the metrical verse school, the free verse school, the creative school, appears. They focus on different aspects, but the conveyance of the beauty of those poems remains the same. Thus, the beauty of ideorealm can be a common ground for them.Due to the complexity of ideorealm in itself, it is difficult to explore in the realm of transference of ideorealm in classical Chinese poetry. Therefore, in chapter two, this paper introduces the origin and the historical development of ideorealm in Chinese poetic theories. At same time, differentiations are made between ideorealm and imagery which is the carrier of ideorealm. To grasp the connotation of imagery better, this paper also classifies imagery according its purpose, and points out the aesthetic features.The aesthetic features of ideorealm overlaps with that of imagery, not identifying with it. That is also made clear in the paper. Thus, the translation of classical Chinese poetry is not merely translation of imagery, though these poems are full of images, but the overall ideorealm where the creation of translators lies. That is what chapter three illustrates by many examples. That is highlighted in the case study in chapter four.