A Tentative Study Of Translation Of English Metrical Poems Into Chinese

Poetry, as the very essence of literature, obtains a great power in the expression of human feelings. Poetry translation is a unique genre in the field of translation and has its own aesthetic approach, artistic assessment and translation practice. English metrical poetry constitutes an organic part of English poetry, highly appreciated by readers in and abroad. This paper therefore, by exploring the nature of poetry translation and the characteristics of English metrical poetry and introducing the theoretical framework of language functions, text typology, equivalence and aesthetics principle, analyses the major four methods of translating English metrical poems into Chinese.Poetry is a combination of form beauty and non-form beauty and an integration of content and form, which are manifested by rhyme, rhythm, sound pattern, as well as imagery, symbolism and poetic flavor etc. How to convey and reproduce those features of original poems is the unfailing pursuit of all poetry translators and theorists. On the other side, there is always a dispute over the translatability and untranslatability of poetry translation which causes heated discussion. The nature and characteristics of poetry determine the fact that there exist limitations or barriers in the process of poetry translation. By researching the limitations or barriers of poetry translatability the author believes that with effort the translators are able to reduce such limitations and generalize a dialectical view on the dispute. And the theoretical framework of English poetry translation that follows provides a basis for further discussion about the methods of translating English metrical poetry into Chinese.As for poetry translation, various translating methods have been put forward. The methods discussed in this paper do not refer to literal translation or free translation. The author classifies the methods according to a different standard, that is, the form of the translation. Therefore, the four methods are translating English metrical poetry into classical Chinese poems, into prose, into metrical verse in modern vernacular Chinese and into free verse in modern vernacular Chinese. By analyzing a large number of different translation versions, merits and demerits are elaborated and illustrated. The author is totally against the proposal of applying a single method to the translation of all English metrical poems and holds that each method has its scope and should be viewed dialectically. Choosing the proper method is helpful in producing appreciable versions and improving the quality of poetry translation.As far as theory and practice are concerned, due to the sharp contrast between Chinese and English language, absolute formal equivalence is unachievable in English poetry translation. When the spirit and the content of an original poem can not be achieved at the same time, the non-form beauty which conveys the spirit of poems should be the priority. After all, a translator must always keep target language readers in mind whose acceptance is the ultimate purpose of translation.