Bai Ju-yi Poetry Translation Of Arthur Waley's Study

Arthur Waley has translated a great number of ancient Chinese poems, and Bai Juyi is his favorite poet among all the Chinese poets. Bai Juyi's poems have made a notable impact on Englsih literature, and this is closely related to Arthur Waley's translations. On one hand his translations of Bai's poems have been taken as well written English poems, and on the other hand they are master pieces among all the translated poems. This thesis is to study Arthur Waley's translations of Bai Juyi's poems , in the way of reading both the Chinese and Waley's English versions closely from some theoretical perspectives of Culture School of Translation Studies.Chapter I is to explore the reasons that Arthur Waley loves Bai Juyi most deeply among all the Chinese poets. In my opinion, there are three main reasons: firstly, the Poetics in the period had several impacts on Arthur Waley; Secondly, Arthur Waley's aesthetics of poetry agrees with the orientation of Bai's poetry style; Thirdly, there are several similarities between Arthur Waley and Bai Juyi.Chapter II is to analyze how Arthur Waley translates the poems of Bai Juyi in different types. First of all, Arthur Waley considered Bai's satire as"moral stales in verse", so his translations highlight the narrative character of satire. Secondly, affected by his poetic aesthetic tendency of anti-Victoria poetics, Arthur Waley shows selectivity during the translations of sentimental poems. Among the sentimental poems, he loves the kind of poems which are natural with little adorning, and his translations of such poems have transmitted the style and affection of original poem fairly. On the other hand, he doesn't give appreciate"The Everlasting Wrong"and"Lute-girl's Song". He attaches the importance of delivering the significance of the words in his translations of the two poems, so his translations of the two poems are somewhat short of emotion, and can't move readers deeply. Thirdly, Waley gives more preferences to leisure poetry among the three types of Bai's poetry, and pays much attention to transferring the"leisure"in leisure poems. There are three main reasons for his preferences: the theme of leisure poems is more close to day-to-day life; the leisure poems contain the attitude affected by the Buddhist thoughts; the language of leisure poems are more verbal and more simple .Chapter III is to analyze the transmission of imageries and the transplantation of"seeds"in his translations of Bai's poems. In the transmission of imageries, Arthur Waley tries to reduce the translator's subjective"manipulation". Though he occasionally transmits the imageries creatively, totally speaking he transmits the imageries in the original poems faithfully. He expresses much more subjective creation in"transplanting the seeds"of original rhythm and couplet lines in syntax."Transplanting the seeds"is a conception, which is used by Susan Bassnette, will be borrowed by me to analyze how Arthur Waley creatively mediates the Chinese and English language and culture, and"transplants"the"seeds"of Chinese rhythm and couplets in syntax into the target language.