A Study On Ezra Pound’s Translation Of Shi Jing

The study of Ezra Pound’s translation of Shi Jing (The Classic Anthology Defined by Confucius) is indispensable to the general understanding of Ezra Pound’s relationship with Chinese culture. It also constitutes an important part of the overall study of the Shi Jing translation. Pound’s version of translation has its unique style, which has drawn the attention of scholars and poets alike. However, Western scholars tend to view Pound’s translation as an original work and Chinese scholars’study on Pound’s translation of Shi Jing is only at its beginning. The present situation of study calls for a more comprehensive analysis on Pound’s translation of Shi Jing.From the perspective of poetic translation, this dissertation attempts to make a detailed description and analysis of Ezra Pound’s translation of Shi Jing. A comparison is made between Pound’s version of translation, the source text, James Legge’s version of translation and Bernhard Karlgren’s version of translation. The main findings are as follows:Firstly, Pound’s version of translation reflects his modernist poetic concepts. Pound’s concern about poetic traditions, about the internal forces of the poetry, as well as the accuracy of the poetic language directs his attention to ancient Chinese culture. Pound’s purpose of translating Shi Jing is to prompt the innovations of the modern poetry and Western society by making use of the traditional Chinese culture.Second, Pound’s translation strategies are characterized as achieving "the flexible equivalence" and prompting "the active interaction between the source text and the translator", which are formed under the guidance of his own modernist poetics. His translation attempts to convey the atmosphere of the original poems and inspires his readers to make their own judgments in the reading process.Third, Pound exploits traditional Chinese culture on the basis of Western tradition. Pound makes use of such Western modernist poetic techniques as "juxtaposition" and "persona" in his creative translation of Shi Jing. His translation transfers an ancient Chinese collection of poetry into modern Western poetic circle.Fourth, Pound’s translation of Shi Jing marks his own thinking on Chinese and Western poetic traditions and his understanding of Confucian Doctrines. The unique charm of Pound’s version of translation lies in this. But such feature also has caused much controversy about his version of translation.Finally, Pound’s translation of Shi Jing provides us with a new perspective of interpreting traditional Chinese culture. Pound’s interpretation of Confucianism, his exploration of a poetry combined with music, as well as his emphasis on the images clear in Chinese poetry or hidden in written Chinese characters enable us to look at Shi Jing with a fresh eye.