A Comparative Study Of Chinese Versions Of Shelley’s Lyric Poems From The Perspective Of Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics is a philosophic theory that explains and interprets textual meaning, andtranslation from its essence also means interpreting the meaning of the original text.Therefore, translation has an indissoluble bond with hermeneutics. Hermeneutic theoriesespecially Gadamer’s theory can be used as the guidance to explain some translationphenomena and solve certain translation problems. Thus, the author of the thesis attemptsto adopt this theory to make a comparative study of specific texts.Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), one of the most outstanding lyrical poets inEnglish literature, is even hailed as “the poet of poets”. Despite his short life, the successhe makes in literature which is especially reflected in his lyric poems can never beneglected. Shelley’s lyric poems have gained considerable fame and have always beenfavored and translated by many translators into different languages. But among theresearches of Shelley’s lyric poems, the focus has always been the study of the theme,symbolic meaning, literary significance, etc. The systematic researches about differentversions of Shelley’s lyric poems are far from adequate. In view of this, this thesis intendsto select ten cases of Zha Liangzheng’s and Jiang Feng’s versions of Shelley’s lyric poemsas the research objects so as to make a comparative study by taking the three principles ofGadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics namely “Historicity of understanding”,“Fusion ofhorizons”and “Effective history” as its theoretical foundation.The purpose of this thesis is not only to explore why there are many differencesbetween these two versions, but also to provide a new method or perspective of research onpoems so as to further raise the readers’ ability to understand, appreciate and translate lyricpoems. Through the comparative study of the Chinese versions of Shelley’s lyric poems, the author points out that it is quite natural for us to obtain diverse versions of the sametext in different ages; the ultimate purpose of this thesis is not to find out whose version isbetter than the other’s, but to provide a practical method in applying hermeneutic theory toanalyzing specific translation problems. Through the comparative analysis of both Zha’sand Jiang’s versions, we can find out that both versions have their own peculiarities, butdeficiencies also exist to different degrees. Therefore, translators in different times need toconstantly expand their own horizon and correct or eliminate their inappropriate prejudicesor bias in the translating process. Only by doing so can he or she find out the intrinsicthings of the original text and promote the fusion of horizons among the original author,the translator and the readers to the greatest degree through his or her polished versions.