Research On English Translation Ofci-poetry In The Song Dynasty From The Perspective Of Its Stylistic Features

As a unique literary form in classical Chinese poetry,Ci-Poetry in the Song Dynasty(960-1279)carries on the lyrical tradition of Chinese poetry,hence the enclosure of classical Chinese poetry due to its innovation in form,rhythm,metres and writing techniques.Although it can rival with Tang Shi(regulated verse)in the Tang Dynasty(618-907)in terms of aesthetic glamour and literary value,there is a huge anthology of Ci poems through all ages,and the readers are left legacy in classical Chinese literature,English translation of Ci-Poetry has been translated smaller in number and later in time in China and English-speaking world compared with Tang Shi.In the past century,a wide variety of English anthologies and collections about Ci-Poetry have been published continuously home and abroad,including various anthologies of Ci-Poetry concerning a particular composer,co-collections compiled with Chinese poetry,and works devoted to researching Ci-Poetry.However,it is unclear about the fruits of translated works concerning Ci-Poetry in the Song Dynasty in China and English-speaking world,and their respective diachronic translation profile and features,especially the global research on its translation practice is quite scare,and the research on its translation review and translation theory even scarer.For the above-mentioned situation,the dissertation,based on substantial corpora of English renderings of Ci-Poetry and proper research angle,tries to address the research on English translation of Ci-Poetry in terms of practice,criticism and theory,namely,through the study of its English translation practice and translation review from the stylistic features of Ci-Poetry,it is planned to summarize its universal translation principles and explore its translation methods with the purpose of promoting its globalization and presenting the full map of English translation of classical Chinese literature.By so doing,it is of academic significance theoretically and practically.The present study is intended to depict a panoramic view of English translation of Ci-Poetry in China and English-speaking world,so the research objects can be determined from general and specific aspects.To be whole,the research objects cover the major collections,anthologies and classical Chinese poetry collections on Ci-Poetry in the Song dynasty in English,which have been translated,complied and published in China and English-speaking world,and academic English works devoted to studying Ci-Poetry in English-speaking world are included,for there are many translated pieces in them.For the specific research object,the dissertation,based on Tu Hui(2015)who made the statistic analysis of ten most popular ci writers in the history of classical Chinese poetry whose works have been well translated in English-speaking world,and the preliminary statistics made by the author is directed at ten ci-writers in the Song dynasty whose pomes are translated most frequently in China through ten major English collections of Ci-Poetry in the Song dynasty published in China,six common ci-composers(Ou Yangxiu,Liu Yong,Su Shi,Zhou Bangyan,Li Qingzhao,Xin Qiji),whose writings are well translated and most popular by the translators in China and English-speaking world,are chosen.The 18 ci-poems are chosen as translated examples,each poet with three ci-poems,and 72 English versions are provided by 32 translators(including co-translators,there are 19 translators,whose translated works concerning Ci-poetry in the Song Dynasty have been published in China,and 13 translators,whose works have been published mainly in England and America),ensuring the research to be feasible and analogous.In the process of the research,comparison,quantitative approach and case study are mainly adopted,with speculative analysis throughout the research.The translation features of various collections,translated texts and translation reviews concerning Ci-Poetry in China and English-speaking world are compared macro-dimensionally,together with combining micro-comparison of translation methods of particular translated pieces.It is worth mentioning that quantitative method is employed to make statistics of different parameters related to translation techniques of tune titles,form translation,metrical translation,in combination with qualitative methods,making the research conclusions logical and convincing.There are six chapters in the dissertation.Chapter One is an introduction,which deals with the general plan,the rational,the research content and the methods.Literature review is presented in Chapter Two,which combs translation profile and traces developing stages of English translation of Ci-poetry in China and English-speaking world,and covers the features of key collections and anthologies in different stages,and research situation of English translation of Ci-poetry as well as the research questions are concerned.Chapter Three,through making a review of evolution of ci-poems and its stylistic features,provides the translation practice of Ci-poems with substantial data on a whole,explores “what to be translated?” from the perspective of English translation of its stylistic features,namely,the three main distinctive features,which are translating the marker of Ci genre(tune titles),translating form(irregular lines of Ci-Poetry)and translating sound(metrical pattern).National and international translation review is the major concern in Chapter Four.The chapter describes whether the stylistic features of Ci-Poetry is translated well or not from two aspects,self-reviews of translators and other-reviews from experts and scholars home and abroad are to be made deep investigation,and then three cases of English anthologies are added to provide empirical foundation for translation review of Ci-Poetry.Chapter Five is devoted to translation theory and practice concerning Ci-Poetry.After summarizing three translation principles of Ci-Poetry according to what translators think of translating Ci-Poetry in the prefaces or translator’s notes to anthologies and collections,that is,genre translation principle,form translation principle and sound translation principle,the dissertation tries to test the principles to be universal by aid of translated pieces.Meanwhile,the translation methods of Ci-Poetry under the guidance of the three above-mentioned principles will be put forward to deal with how to translate Ci-Poetry into English versions.Chapter Six is concerned with research conclusions,research findings,limitations and prospects of English translation of Ci-Poetry.The conclusions are listed as follows: there are three translation principles to be followed in rendering Ci-Poetry into English texts from its essential qualities.The genre translation principle is put forward to demonstrate its distinctive generic feature.Although translators home and abroad divide in rendering tune titles,the principle emphasizes to show the marker of Ci genre by following the translation method of tune titles “English translation of musical sign of tune titles+ English translation of tune titles(Chinese pinyin)”;form translation principle stresses on translating the short and long lines of Ci-poems,and there is inconformity between translators,13 translators in the English-speaking world abide by the principle in the translation practice,while Chinese translators pay little attention to its form translation.But there exists significant uniformity that two translation methods in Ci-Poetry translation are used by the translators,to keep to the sentence length of the original line: different phrases sentences with unanimate subjects in English are used to realize the form similarity to the original by all the translators.Sound translation principle means translating built-in metres and rhymes in Ci-Poetry,and all the translators render the Ci-poems according to the principle,but English translators adopt internal rhymes collectively,while using end rhymes is typical of Chinese translators,some of whom still adopt internal rhymes to create the auditory effect of Ci-Poetry.In sum,the most important foundings is that the concept of versified translation of classical Chinese poetry that end rhyming is considered to be the criterion to differentiate blank verse translation and rhymed verse translation should be modified and corrected,and English translation of Ci-Poetry using internal rhymes can be subdued to rhymed verse category,so the connotation of versification in English translation of classical Chinese poetry should be extended.In addition,as far as demonstrating three main distinctive features of Ci-Poetry in English translations,Chinese translators and sinologists in English-speaking world can fulfill three principles and reserve the essential qualities in their translations faithfully in translating Ci-poetry into English texts,taking tune titles,form and sound into consideration and realizing its unique genre translation,in combination with rendering the “spirit” and “flavor” of Ci-Poetry in the Song Dynasty.