A Study On The English Translation Of Li Bai's Poetry

Li Bai (701-762) is one of the most distinguished High Tang poets and the greatest Romantic poet in Chinese literary history after Qu Yuan. Being bold and unrestrained in style, fantastic and splendid in imagination, and plain and natural in language, his poetry is one of the most important classics in the treasure house of Chinese and the world's literature, worth studying from all aspects.For the last one thousand years or more, Li Bai's poetry has been translated into many languages including Japanese, French, English, German, Italian, and Russian. For the English translation alone, there are a galaxy of famed translators and versions. Furthermore, scholars carried out research and composed academic papers on this subject as early as Li Bai's poetry was initially translated into English.However, scholars have often concentrated on the reproduction of poetic forms, metrical patterns, and similar aspects of Li Bai's poetry at the linguistic level; and seldom touched upon its influences on western culture and literature at the cultural level. As a matter of fact, these influences by his poetry through abundant traditional thoughts, varied subjects, and unique images are important achievements in the dissemination of classical Chinese cultures to the West and should not be ignored.