On The English Translation Of Bai Juyi’s Poems-from The Perspective Of Bassnett’s Poetry Translation Theory

As Golden Age of classical Chinese poetry,Tang poetry has had an ongoing influence on world literature.Bai Juyi,known as the"Poetry King",had written a great number of poems.Many scholars and translators,from both home and abroad,have translated Bai’s works into English,which significantly boost Chinese culture transmission and mutually cultural exchange between China and the west.However,the cultural connotations between China and the west are so different that the cultural elements in Bai’s poems are difficult to understand and express in English.With the guidance of Susan Bassnett,s theory of poetry translation,the thesis discusses the specific problems and difficulties that probably emerge from the process of translating Tang poetry based on the characteristics of Bai Juyi’s poems written in different periods:1)textual features of Tang poetry;2)extratextual factors,including cultural image,allusions and Buddhist culture elements in Bai’s works.By analyzing a number of different translations of Bai’s poems,the thesis proposes the general principles of translating Tang poetry.