A Study On The Translations Of Li Bai’s Poems Under The Guidance Of Functional Equivalence Theory

Li Bai is one of the most outstanding Romantic poets in the Tang Dynasty ofChina. His poems are featured by exaggerated expressions, boundless imagination andsplendid style, which explains why they have been studied from generation togeneration in the past one thousand years. Li Bai quotes a broad range of Chineseclassics in his poems, which reveal his integrated thoughts of Confucius, Taoism andchivalrousness. They occupy an important position in the world literature, thus theyare worth further studying and exploring.Translation is a tough task, and the translation of poem is even tougher. Li Bai’spoems usually have strictly arranged sound, verse structure and abundant images,which bring huge difficulties in translation. Nevertheless, scholars have never ceasedtheir efforts in exploring poem translation. It has aroused hot debates amongtranslators concerning questions such as whether Tang poems can be translated andwhich approach we can adopt. Scholars at home and abroad are generally divided intotwo groups: one advocates that Li Bai’s poems should be translated into prose. Therepresentatives of this group are Weng Xianliang and Ezra Pound; while another onesuggests that poems must be translated into rhymed verse. Xu Yuanchong, a famoustranslator and theorist, is the advocator of the latter. He has selected many of Li Bai’classical works and rendered them into beautiful English verse through his talent inliterature, most of which have gained popularity among scholars and ordinary readers.Xu Yuanchong emphasizes the resemblance both in content and spirit. According tothe Functional Equivalence theory put forward by Nida, translation is to use theclosest natural equivalence to reproduce the original form and spirit, and besides, thetarget readers’ response should also be regarded as an important criterion when weevaluate a translated text, which is a common idea shared by Xu Yuanchong.It is found that a large number of examples of functional equivalence exist in thetranslated works by Xu Yuanchong. Therefore, by analyzing Xu Yuanchong’s Englishversions of Li Bai’s poems, it is attempted to explore how to achieve functionalequivalence on linguistic and cultural levels. Through my research and exploration,the following findings are achieved: Nida’s Functional Equivalence theory is also applicable to poem translation, and the study on the translations of Li Bai’s poemsunder the guidance of Functional Equivalence theory has some enlightenment on thetranslation research of other literary works. It helps translators to produce high-qualitytranslations that not only faithfully deliver the original messages but also display theirspirit. In this way, the target readers are able to appreciate the artistic effect of Li Bai’spoems in a similar manner as Chinese readers do.