A Corpus Stylistic Study Of The Translation Of The Wind Among The Reeds

The Wind Among the Reeds, written from 1889 to 1939, is regarded as one of the most remarkable poetry collections of William Butler Yeats. Selected from twelve poetry anthologies, it touches upon several themes such as love, nationalism, religion, and life. Yeats is best known as a distinguished Irish poet throughout the world, whose works perfectly embody the incorporation of romanticism, aestheticism, modernism and occultism, which is of great study significance. Influenced by his personal experience and contemporary literature background, his poetry serves as an epitome of the transition of English poems from the traditional mode to the modern style.This thesis chooses the versions of three renowned translators, Qiu Xiaolong(1987), Fu Hao(2003) as well as Yuan Kejia(1997), as research material and builds corresponding corpora for study. By employing corpus search software such as Ant Concordance and Text Editor, this paper collects relative statistical data of the texts attempting to reveal the stylistic features of the original poems and translation features of the three translators in terms of the lexical, syntactic and textual aspect. From the perspective of lexical level, it is discovered that Yeats uses 6123 words while Qiu uses 10108 words in translation, ranking the first place. Fu uses 9333 words and Yuan uses 8350 words. Tracing back to the translated texts, it turns out that Qiu pays special attention to reflect the romanticism and aestheticism in The Wind Among the Reeds. In addition, Qiu prefers to use descriptive phrases and multiword to enrich the connotation of the poetry. In contrast, the other two translators choose more simple and plain words in translation. As for the employment of reduplication, Qiu uses the most so as to achieve the rhythmical beauty of the poetry. Fu uses the next and Yuan uses the least. Therefore, it can be inferred that Qiu‘s version is the most satisfactory one on the lexical level. In regard to the syntactic field, it is found that Qiu prefers to use relatively long sentences while Fu is adept at employing both short and long sentences in translation which is of great form beauty. Meanwhile, Fu‘s version also achieves the sentence alignment with the original poetry. As for Yuan, he uses various but irregular sentence pattern, laying great emphasis on the spiritual connotation of the poetry. In addition, Qiu prefers to use commas to divide the line of poetry into smaller units for the purpose of clearness. Fu is an expert in using semicolons in order to make the poetry more compact and intelligible. Meanwhile, Yuan‘s use of punctuation is variable, which does not rigidly adhere to the original poetry-- say, he may transform an exclamatory sentence into a declarative sentence or even an interrogative sentence. After a comprehensive analysis of sentence pattern and sentence type, Fu‘s version is most satisfying one. From the angle of textual level, it turns out that Yeats prefers to use the first person and ―and‖ for writing whose number is far more than the others. However, three translators all use less references and conjunctions compared with the original poems in translation. As for the choice of cohesive devices, three translators all bear their own features. To be more specific, Qiu is inclined to replace the personal references in the original poem with collocation divided by commas. Normally, Fu tends to neglect the conjunctions at first and then indicates them at last. Yuan chooses free translation instead and then achieves the musical effect at the same time. Lastly, from the angle of rhythm, it is found that three translators all use binding words to translate the alliteration in the original poem. As for the rhyme in translated texts, Qiu likes to use rhyme ―i‖ and ―ang‖ and Fu uses rhyme ―i‖ most frequently. In regard to Yuan, he prefers to use rhyme ―a‖, ―ao‖, ―en‖ and ―eng‖ in contrast. Moreover, his use of thyme is of better variety and creativity, which helps to create the atmosphere of happiness or sorrow, cheerfulness or sadness in the poetry. Therefore, it can be concluded that Yuan‘s version is the most desirable in terms of the rhythmical beauty.To conclude, this thesis attempts to study the stylistic styles of The Wind Among the Reeds and translation norms via corpus, hoping to provide a new research methodology and thinking mode for studies of poetry translation.