On The English Translation Of Ambiguous Expressions In Tang Poetry From The Perspective Of The Three-beauty Principle

The famous British critic William Empson put forward the seven types and threelevels of ambiguity in1930, and further laid the foundation of new aestheticalstandards on the basis of ambiguity. Recent years, the concept of “ambiguity” hasattracted widespread attention, and the exploration of ambiguity has also provided anew perspective for the research of poetry translation.Chinese classical poetry is the essence of the Chinese traditional culture. Thepoetry in Tang Dynasty is the most brilliant one, due to its use of ambiguity,researching the peak in the history of Chinese poetry: numerous poems, poets, genresand high quality.The difficulties in dealing with the ambiguous language bring a lot of challengesto the translators. In view of this, this essay tries to analyze the ambiguity in Tangpoetry based on the Empsonian ambiguity theories, and to study how to deal with theambiguity under the guidance of the Three-beauty Principle, which is proposed by thefamous domestic translator Xu Yuanzhong. The translation versions of Tang poetry inthis thesis are mainly selected from three books:《中诗英韵探胜》，《中国古诗精品三百首》，《唐诗三百首》 by Xu Yuanzhong.This essay is divided into three parts: First, the author will make a brief summaryof the related studies in China and abroad. Secondly, the author will make anintroduction to Empsonian ambiguity theory and the Three-beauty Principle. Thirdly,the body of this thesis will discuss the ambiguity exist in Tang poetry and thedifficulties in dealing with it, and then the emphasis will be laid on the translationmethods dealing with ambiguity under the Three-beauty Principle.Through this thesis, the author will put forward a scheme in dealing with theambiguity in translating Tang poetry. The purpose of this essay is not only to helpimprove the understanding of the historical background and culture of Tang poetry, but also to help spread Chinese classical culture.