A Study On Yuan Kejia's Poetry Translation

The 20^th century was a desirable age for the prosperity of modern western literature and frequent communication between Chinese culture and western culture. The rise of modern western literature, especially free verse, has exerted great influence on Chinese literature. In this exchange and fusion process, translation has played a crucial role. Numerous excellent scholars and translators from China not only enabled Chinese readers to learn about western culture, but also made great contribution to the development and spread of Chinese culture by means of introducing and translating masterpieces of Euro-American literature.As an eminent poet, literary critic and translator, Yuan Kejia enjoys great reputation in the fields of poetry creation, literary criticism and poetry translation. Besides, he devotes himself to teaching and western literature research. His theoretical thoughts on poetry translation, together with bulks of literary comments exert great influence on the innovation and development of modern Chinese literature.Beginning with introducing Yuan's life experiences, this thesis analyzes his translation of many foreign poets, aiming at exploring how the combination of his poetics, theoretical thoughts and practice takes place and what achievements he has gained in pushing forward the development of Chinese new poetry.The introduction presents the theme and structure of the thesis.Chapter I offers a brief account of Yuan Kejia and his poetics. He has a colorful life, actively involved in learning, teaching, translating and western literature research. Such experiences arouse much academic interest. Yuan Kejia's poetics center on his idea of the Modernization of Chinese New Poetry (中国新诗现代化), including its theoretical basis, characteristics and approach.Chapter II tries to make a systematical study on Yuan Kejia's theoretical thoughts on translation in general. His views towards the nature of translation, principles of translation, a translator's correct attitude towards source language and target language, and the problem of annotation in translation will also be discussed.Chapter III analyzes Yuan Kejia's theoretical thoughts on poetry translation. His proposal of replacing foot with dun (以顿代步) in translating English poems will be examined. The author will also discuss Yuan's suggestions of how to translate free verse.Chapter IV is about the author's comments on Yuan Kejia's poetry translation. After giving the theoretical basis for textual analysis, the author goes further to illustrate Yuan's translation strategies and techniques, Yuan's competence and proficiency in rendering various styles like modernism and folk songs, and his wording in verse translation will also be elaborated.In the last chapter, the author of this thesis examines Yuan Kejia's contribution to modern Chinese literature, including his cultural awareness, his conscious combination of translation and research and so on. He is like a bridge between Chinese and western literature.The conclusion sums up Yuan Kejia's poetics, his translation theories embedded in practice, his modern literature research and his contribution to the cross-cultural communication between China and the West.