On Reproducing Visual Images Of Wang Wei's Pastoral Poems In English

Proof of the interaction between painting and poetry can be found as early as in the 4th century BC, when ancient Greek philosopher Plato made it clear in his great academic work The Republic that"He (the imitative poet) is like the painter in making things that are ordinary by the standard of truth". Likewise, in China, the famous art critic and poet Su Shu in the Song Dynasty advocated that"Poetry and painting are identical in nature". His theoretical approaches to the new form of painting, namely"literati painting"was prominent at that time. After then, a multitude of literati in both eastern and western countries began to inject the criteria of painting into their poetic creation. The interaction between poetry and painting is well proved by Wang Wei, a renowned pastoral poet and landscape painter in the Tang Dynasty. Both his poems and paintings depict the natural beauty of his living surroundings. Thus a typical"poetry-and-painting-in-tandem"poetic style has been formed. This thesis mainly touches upon how Wang Wei's dual role of both an urban official and contemplative recluse leads us to the unique meditative attribute of his poems, and how the"poetry-and-painting-in-tandem"style influences the translation of his verses. To have a further analysis, Jing Hao's painting theory of"six essentials", respectively known as Qi (spirit), Yun (appeal), Si (meditation), Jin (landscape), Bi (brush) and Mo (ink) is given a detailed review. Each of them should be well followed in rendering Wang Wei's poems. Through the comparative study on different translation versions, three new rules are summarized as follows: to command"Brush"and"Ink"in achieving dynamic equivalence; to showcase"Meditation"and"Landscape"in achieving aesthetic function; and to convey"Spirit"and"Appeal"in achieving the same level of self elevation in the original pieces.