On Translating Li Bai's Poems Into English

As a special branch of art, poetry translation is similar to literature creation but has its own particular aesthetic principle. The translator should convey the original artistic concept in another language and enable the reader to undergo aesthetic experience. The language in classical Chinese poetry is characterized in implicit meaning, concise expression and rich artistic conception, so the translation of it not only is faithful and equal to the original language, but also reproduces beauty in the target language.Translation has been long connected to Aesthetics both in theory and practice. However, poetry is the highest form of the art of language. And poetry translation consists in conveying the original artistic concept in another language and enabling the reader to be enlightened and moved, and to undergo aesthetic experience in the process of reading the version just as he reads the original. Poetry translation is a special branch of art, similar to literature creation, but poetry translation has its own particular aesthetic principle. The writer in this thesis believes that it is significant to apply aesthetic theory to the poetry translation, because it is helpful for us to understand the translation activity.Poetry translation from the aesthetic perspective, in essence, is to reproduce the aesthetic values of the source language so that the target reader could be inspired, moved and aesthetically entertained in substantially the same manner as one reads the original. Nevertheless, a gifted translator can always find a way to achieve equal aesthetic effect or to arouse similar aesthetic feelings among target language readers.On the basis of literature review of Chinese and western aesthetic traditions of translation, the thesis makes a comparative study of Xu Yuanchong' and other translators' versions of Li Bai's poems, with Xu Yuanchong's Three Beauties Principle as the analytic framework. Professor Xu Yuanchong made remarkable contribution to Chinese poetry translation, so far as the quality and quantity of his translation and translation theory are concerned. What is more, combing his experience of poetry translation, he set forth "three beauties" principle---"beauty in meaning, beauty in sound and beauty in form on poetry translation, which has won numerous praises and aroused heated debate, for the principle stresses "beauty", especially "beauty in sound" is not sometimes in consistent with "faithfulness" which is the main stress of the mainstream of traditional Chinese translation theory.The author of this thesis chooses his translation of Libai's poems as a subject matter, to analyze its excellent application and flaws in this work and to summarize systematically Xu Yuanchong's "three beauties" on poetry translation and his poetry translation practice from multi-aspect and multi-perspective, makes tentative analysis on his translation practices which he applied his "three beauties" principle to find its creative theoretical value and its practical significance. Through examples given in the thesis the author points out that it is true there exist some drawbacks in Xu Yuanchong's poetry translation practices. However, most parts of his translation realized his own "three beauties" principle and achieved much success. His consummate skill is worth learning from and taking as reference. His useful attempts on both poetry translation theory and practice are undoubtedly beneficial for further development of Chinese literary translation.Classical Chinese poetry cannot exist without beauty in sense, sound and form, so the author studies it from the aesthetic perspective and makes a systematical analysis of aesthetic reproduction in the versions, thus, justifying the practical value of Xu's Three Beauties Principle on the translation activity of classical Chinese poetry and his great contribution to poetry translation.