On The English Translation Of Poetry By Bai Juyi And Its Influence In The English World

Bai Juyi is one of the three great poets in Tang dynasty and translation of poetry by Bai Juyi(772-846) has a history of more than one hundred years. However, domestic studies on translation of poetry by Bai Juyi has mainly focused on aspects like comparison of various translation versions, translation appreciation, translation strategies, translation thoughts and theory, and studies from linguistics and cultural point of view. There have been few studies on the situation of translation of poetry by Bai Juyi, nor are there any in-depth and thorough studies to explore the influence in the English world brought about by translation of poetry by Bai Juyi in the past over a hundred years.Based on the method of literature research and the descriptive translation studies and through massive data collection from academic papers, books, monographs, newspapers and network, this thesis attempts to present a survey of the English translation of Bai Juyi's poetry in the English world in the past century. In addition, every translation activity exists in the specific historical and cultural context. It is just because of the constraint of certain historical and cultural factors that Bai Juyi's poetry has been widely translated. Relying on skopos theory and a further collection of data based on the translation versions, this paper gives a qualitative analysis of different identities and various purposes of translators. Enormous translations must have brought about obvious influence. Influence addressed in this thesis includes two ways: print publications and electronic literature. Information is gathered from print information like editions, number of print copies and publication range, online readers' review, library collections in the English world, books on the history of cultural exchange or literature exchange, as well as online English academic books and papers. Through analysis of the data, this paper expounds on the influence of the English translation of Bai Juyi's poetry.The study finds that translations of poetry by Bai Juyi are enormous and can be found in Britain, America, Australia and New Zealand. There are altogether 8 monographs on the translation of Bai Juyi's poetry and 26 poetry anthologies that contain translations of Bai Juyi's poetry. Many of these books have become classics and edited and reprinted for many times. Identities of translators vary, there being missionary, diplomats, sinologist, writer, amateur, etc. Purposes of translation differ, the two main purposes being for deeper understanding about China and poetic reform based on elements of Chinese classical poems. The influence of Bai Juyi's poetry in the English world mainly has spread in three circles: the common reader circle, the poetic circle and the academic circles. The influence in the common reader circle is demonstrated in: 1.Many of these translations books have become classics and have been collected in many libraries; 2. Bai Juyi's poetry has spiritual impact on common readers. The influence in the common reader circle is demonstrated in: 1. Bai Juyi's poetry has deeply influenced poets, especially American poets in language of poetry and poetry creation; 2. Bai Juyi's ideas and experiences have struck a chord with many poets and they write poems to pay homage to the Chinese genius. The influence in the academic circle is demonstrated in: 1. English scholars have made a great number of references to the translations of Bai Juyi's poetry in their academic works; 2. deeper academic studies about Bai Juyi.