Interplay Between Ezra Pound's Poem Writing And His English Translation Of Classical Chinese Poetry

Ezra Pound(1885-1972),a renowned modernist of American poetry,is also a gifted translator.Guided by the maxim of “Make it New”,Pound absorbed nutrients from diverse cultures.The year of 1915 witnessed the debut of his translation Cathay and in 1954 Shih Ching was published.His masterpiece The Cantos occupied almost fifty years of construction.Pound's poem writing and translation are intertwined with each other.Correspondingly,this thesis,with a special focus on the two aspects,proposes and answers the following two questions.First,what are the motives for Ezra Pound's translation of classical Chinese poetry? Second,how did Ezra Pound's poem writing and translation interact with one another?This thesis unfolds pound's engagement with Chinese culture,examines the similarities between his poem writing and classical Chinese poetry,and explores the ideological motives from the perspective of the manipulation school.As for the interplay between the poem writing and translation,substantial examples and textual analyses are provided,arriving at the following conclusions.The image principle,free verse principle and lyrical principle collaboratively affected his translation strategies featuring luminous details,simple and concrete words.Cathay captivated Pound,who was engrossed in the ideogramic method.Moreover,Cathay paved way for the English translation of classical Chinese poetry and the boom of the modernist poetry.The previous Poundian study focuses on either his life or cultural influence;however,the interplay between his poem writing and translation remains largely neglected.Accordingly,this thesis addresses the topic of poet as translator and probes into the interplay between the two aspects,so as to further contribute to English translation of classical Chinese poetry as well as the Poundian study.