A Contrastive Study On Conveyance Of Style In The English Versions Of Yi'an Ci Poetry

As an interlingual communicative activity, the essence of translation lies in the correspondent transference of meaning. The transference of meanings, conceptive meaning, contextual meaning, formal meaning, stylistic meaning and figurative meaning included, is multi-layered and multi-directional, rather than planar and unidirectional. Stylistic meaning is the component of meaning of the highest level. Leech and Short highlights the significance of stylistic meaning in the formula: Total significance=Sense + Stylistic Value. Thus, the research on the translation of style is of significance to the complete reproduction of the original text.Style, always deemed as vague manner of writing, is often described and defined by such impressionistic terms as elegance or gorgeousness. The theory of stylistic translation put forward by Liu Miqing mainly focuses on the reproduction of stylistic meaning of the original text, as well as the"adaptability"of the translated version to the original text based on the analysis of stylistic meaning of source text. It also puts forward the aims and tasks of stylistic translation: to explore all the stylistic meaning of source text and to put forward methods to translate style. This theory offers a scientific and clear framework for stylistic translation. It deems that there is a system of stylistic marker which consists of the formal markers based on analysis of linguistic structure and, non-formal markers based on analysis of communicative function.Li Qingzhao is an extraordinary talented woman in Chinese history. She is good at painting and calligraphy, having a good knowledge of goldstones, and is especially good at composing Shi poems and Ci poems (lyric poems). Her Ci poems are fresh and delicate, genuine and sincere, and harbors consistency and changeability in style. The translation of Yi'an Ci began with Bin Xin, who published her postgraduate thesis about the English translation of Yi'an Ci. Xu Yuanzhong, a renowned translator of China, translated Yi'an Ci with rhymed form. Rexroth Kenneth, who calls himself Wang Honggong, is a poet translator and thus tends to translate Yi'an Ci in a creative way and has translated Yi'an Ci for several times in his life. He and Zhong Ling composed Li Ch'ing Chao: Complete Poems.This thesis aims to make a contrast between Xu Yuanzhong's stylistic conveyance of Yi'an Ci and Rexroth's with the stylistic translation theory put forward by Liu Miqing as theoretical framework. However, this thesis does not aim to judge which version is better, but to find out the differences and to explore the factors influencing the translated versions. There are three important factors influencing translation: translators'competence, standing point of translation and their criteria for translation. In order to introduce rich Chinese culture to outside, Xu offers a faithful translation of Yi'an Ci poems under the guidance of his"Principle of Beauty in Three Aspects". Rexroth, a poet translator, is deeply influenced by imagists and tends to translate Ci poems in a creative way.