On Xu Yuan-chong’s Chinese-english Poetry Translation Mode From The Perspective Of Frame Theory

Among the over sixty Chinese-English-French poem translation works producedby Xu Yuan-chong, BOOK OF SONGS, ELEGIES OF THE SOUTH, SELECTEDPOEMS OF LI BAIi represented his verse translation mode best and have beenenthusiastically acclaimed by most Chinese readers. Ding Xiao-feng (2004) evaluatedthe Tang and Song poems translated by Xu Yuan-chong from sense beauty perspectiveand viewed his works as models best representing the sense beauty of ancient Chinesepoetry; Liu Shou-lan (1993) started from form-resemblance and spirit-resemblanceand said that Xu’s translation loyally represents the source poems in terms of sound,line length, rhythm and couplet, etc. In addition, Xu Yuan-chong is well-known for hisdedication to translation theory exploration. Throughout the sixty years translationpractice, he proposed theories of “three-beauty,”“san-zhi”(to inform, to like, toenjoy),“san-hua”(equivalent transformation, shallow transformation and deeptransformation) and “cultural rivalry” etc. With the aim to develop and enrich worldculture, Xu Yuan-chong tries to maximally represent the source poetry with the helpof auxiliary translation modes include music and calligraphy, etc., but it is the verse(end rhymed) translation mode that he pursues with all-out effort.As it is indicated in the Reader-Response Questionnaire of Translation ResearchProject held by Nankai University in2003, for Xu Yuan-chong’s most favoritetranslation pieces among the Chinese readers like Thoughts on a Tranquil Night (byLi Bai), Spring View (by Du Fu) and Untitled (by Li Shang-yin), the western readershad little interest which exposes to some extent the contemporary main poetrytranslation stream discrepancy of between China and the west.Cognitive linguists defined frame theory as a knowledge network that links theknowledge of different registers related to a certain linguistic expression or a methodof cognitive context description. This cognitive context establishes associations between the background knowledge and cognition scope. The cognitive frame isknowledge frames available for expressing facts in reality and is thus the network inwhich all the constituents work effectively. According to frame theory, theinterpretation of a certain concept necessarily inactivates a whole collection ofexperiential concepts which will generate implicit meaning, social and culturalmeanings. Frame theory holds that the linguistic symbols are meaningless themselvesbut they function to activate the related frames borne in the brain and fill up theimplicit meaning between lines with default values which contribute to thecomprehensive and true interpretation of the text.In the thesis, Farewell to Prefect Du (by Wang Bo) translated by Xu Yuan-chong,A Complaint in Spring (by Jin Chang-xu) translated by Xu Yuan-chong and Giles,Thought on a Tranquil Night (by Li Bai) translated by Xu Yuan-chong and LinJian-min and two versions of At the Wine-shop (by Wang Ji) translated by XuYuan-chong and Fletcher are taken as research subjects. Main cultural framescontributing to cognitive discrepancy will be comparatively studied under theguidance of frame theory which turns out that the western and Chinese readers andtranslators do not view poetry in the same way. Chinese poems, especially the ancientChinese poems, have a strong sense of rhythm, distinct rhyming patterns，strictcouplet. While the western poets once pursued rhymed verses and strict rhythm, themodern poems are unrhymed. Ever since the blank verse proposed in the16thcenturyin the U.K. and the free verse in the18thcentury in the U.S., form restrictions haveless and less influence upon the western poetry. Instead, thought and emotion becomewhat the western readers valued and shape the default value in their cognition ofpoetry. Hence rhyming is not appreciated by them but to be discarded absolutely. As itis indicated by the research analysis, most of the Chinese readers hold the beauty ofsound, beauty of form, and beauty of sense as the default value of the frame”poetry”and rhyming has become a necessary part in their idealized cognition of this frame.However, for most western readers,”poetry” is more like a collective frame. Thoughthe western poetry stresses rhythm, it does not require rhyming, not to mentionrhymed verses. The above mentioned cognition discrepancy between Chinese and western cultures compound to a large extent the dilemmatic position of rhymed verseChinese-English poem translation.Frames, especially the cultural frames, keep changing all the time. It is believedin this thesis that frame discrepancies between cultures may not remain hard barriersin the globalization context. With the speedy information sharing internationally,frame discrepancies are believed to be capable of contributing to cross-culturalcommunication. Thus the discrepancies shall not be deliberately eliminated intranslation. With the aim of enhancing cross-cultural communication and enrichingworld culture, this study, on the one hand, affirms Xu Yuan-chong’s exploring spirit inChinese-English poetry translation; on the other hand, it appeals not to blindly followa certain traditional translation mode such as phonetic translation, literal translation,metrical translation, prose translation, verse translation, etc. The determinedChinese-English poetry translators ought to start from the target readers’ cognitionand bravely make use of the modern techniques include CD or VCD for better binding,better cover and approachable translation modes, altogether aiming at representingChinese poetry maximally in multi-dimensions.