带着镣铐跳舞”-浅谈许渊冲古诗文翻译“三美论”英语论文

本科生毕业论文（设计）册

学院 XXX学院 专业 机译 班级 XXX机译 学生 XXX 指导教师 XXX

XXXX大学本科毕业论文（设计）任务书

编 号：

论文（设计）题目： “带着镣铐跳舞”-浅谈许渊冲古诗文翻译“三美论” 学院： XXXX学院 专业： 机译 班级： XXX机译班 学生姓名： XXX 学号： XXXX 指导教师： XXX 职称：副教授

1、论文（设计）研究目标及主要任务

本论文的研究目标是分析许渊冲先生的古典诗歌翻译“三美论”。其主要任务是通过分析“三美论”的理论意义和实践应用，肯定许先生该理论的重要意义和其背后折射的文化观。

2、论文（设计）的主要内容

本论文分为四章，第一章介绍中外诗歌的基本特点，第二章介绍许渊冲先生和他的翻译理论，第三章分析了“三美论”在两篇诗歌译文中的实际应用，最后一章分析了该理论背后折射的文化观和对后继译者的要求。

3、论文（设计）的基础条件及研究路线

本论文的基础条件是许先生的译文和不同学者对“三美论”的研究结果。

研究路线是首先介绍中外诗歌特点和翻译理论，然后详细分析许渊冲先生的诗歌翻译中“三美论”的实际应用肯定了该理论的重要意义。

4、主要参考文献

Bassnett, Susan and Andre Lefevere. 2001. Constructing Culture[M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

Bock, Philip.1979. Modern Cultural Anthropology[M]. New York: Alfred A.knopf. Nida,Eugue 2002. A. Language and Culture: Contexts in Translating[M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. 许渊冲，1994，《中国古诗词六百首[M]》， 北京:新世界出版社。 许渊冲，1992，《中诗英韵探胜：从<诗经>到<西厢记>（英文版）[M]》，北京： 北京大学出版社。

5、计划进度 阶段 1 确定初步论文题目 与导师见面，确定大致范围，填开题报告和2 任务书，导师签字 3 提交论文提纲 4 交初稿和文献综述 5 交终稿和评议书 指 导 教师： 年 月 日 教研室主任： 年 月 日

注：一式三份，学院（系）、指导教师、学生各一份

XXXX

起止日期 3月16日前 3月17日-3月23日 3月24日-3月30日 3月31日-4月20日 4月21日-5月8日 大学本科生毕业论文（设计）开题报告书

XXX 学院 机译 专业 XXXX 届 学生 姓名 XXX 论文（设计）题目 “带着镣铐跳舞”-浅谈许渊冲古诗文翻译“三美论” 指导 专业 所属教翻译教研研究方XXX 副教授 口译 教师 职称 研室 室 向 课题论证：通过分析许渊冲先生的古典诗歌翻译“三美论”的理论意义和实践应用，肯 定许先生该理论的重要意义并分析了其背后折射的文化观。 方案设计：第一章介绍中外诗歌的基本特点， 第二章介绍许渊冲先生和他的翻译理论， 第三章分析了“三美论”在两篇诗歌译文中的实际应用， 第四章分析了该理论背后折射的文化观和对后继译者的要求。 进度计划：3月16日前确定初步论文题目 3月23日前写开题报告、任务书 3月30日前提交论文提纲 4月20日前提交初稿和文献综述 5月8日前交终稿和评议书 指导教师意见： 指导教师签名： 年 月 日 教研室意见： 教研室主任签名： 年 月 日 河北师范大学本科生毕业论文（设计）评议书

姓 名 论 文 题 目 XXX 学院 XXX学院 专业 机译 年级（班） XXXX级机译班 XXXX/4/20 “带着镣铐跳舞”-浅谈许渊冲古诗文翻译“三完成时间 美论” 中国古典诗歌是中华文化宝库的一颗明珠。一直以来，全世界的学者们都在从论 文 内 容 摘 要 事着中国古典诗歌的翻译。相比之下，诗歌翻译具有艺术性和含蓄性的特点。英语和汉语属于不同的语族, 而且不同的国家有着不同的文化及语言背景，因此中国的古典诗歌翻译非常困难。许渊冲教授在中国诗歌翻译方面做出了突出的贡献，他提出了诗歌翻译的“三美”原则――“音美”、“意美”和“形美”。本文系统地总结了“三美”原则及“三美”原则的实际运用,通过客观的分析，发现“三美”原则的理论价值及其实践意义。许教授的高超的技艺是值得借鉴和学习的，他在诗歌翻译方面的有益尝试对中国文学翻译的进一步发展有着积极的影响。。 指 导 教 师 评 语 年 月 日 职称 初评成绩 指 导 教 师 答

姓名 职称 教研室

组长 成员 答辩记录： 记录人签字： 年 月 日 答辩小组意见： 组长签字： 年 月 日 学院意见： 评定成绩： 签章 年 月 日 XXXX大学本科生毕业论文（设计）文献综述

Literature Review As a widely used literature form, poetry has the reasons for its long existence and popularity and different countries have different culture and people of different countries have different understandings of poetry, so the poetry in different countries is very different. We all know that the Chinese classic poetry is a gem of Chinese culture treasure. For a long time, many scholars around the word have been engaging in translating the Chinese classical poetry into other languages, especially English. While everyone has his own understanding of translation, so there are many different criteria in poetry translation. For example, the famous translator Yan Fu put forward the theory of Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance in 1951, Mr. Fu Lei put forward the Vivid Theory, Qian Zhongshu put forward Transmigration Theory in 19 and Alexander Fraser Tytler wrote three basic principles in his book Essay on the Principles of Translation. Among the many distinguished translators, Xu Yuanchong is very famous because he put forward some quite useful theories in poetry translation, such as the Three Beauties, Three Transformations and so on. Although highly prized by many scholars and warmly welcomed by a large number of readers, Xu’s translations also suffer bitter attacks and criticisms by some people, which is not helpful to the spread of the great “Three Beauties Theory”, nor to the development of the Chinese classic poetry translation. This thesis focuses on the essence of Professor Xu Yuanchong’s “Three Beauties Theory”, the application of this theory as well as the reason behind its widely acceptance in order to give a fair judgment to the “Three Beauties Theory”. Many foreign scholars have put their efforts on Xu Yuanchong’s “Three Beauties Theory” and put forward their own opinions which we can see in the references, such as Constructing Culture[M] written by Bassnett, Susan and Andre Lefevere, The Theory and Practice of Translation[M] written by Nida, E. A. and Charles R. Taber, Ten Lectures on Literary Translation [M] written by Liu Zhongde, Five Lectures On Chinese Poetry[M] written by Lu Zhiwei and so on. There are a lot of Chinese researchers who also worked on Mr. Xu Yuanchong’s “Three Beauties Theory”, such as the famous translators Qian Zhongshu, Wang Zuoliang and so on, some of them are supporters while others are not. This kind of references are as follows:《许渊冲的诗译\"三美\"说[J]》of 李溢，“左右逢源,炉火纯青--许渊冲先生古诗英译关键技法初探[J]” written by 张智中 in 《太原理工大学学报》,“评许渊冲先生的四首韵译唐诗[J]” written by 林庆扬 in 《长春师范学院学报》。As a supporter of Mr. Xu Yuanchong, the great master of art-Professor Qian Zhongshu calls Xu“ wizard in the realm of translation” and says:“ translating two forms of literature-poetry and lyrics into two languages-English and French just like the warrior with two guns working alone two lines(译著兼诗词两，英法两语种，如十八般武艺之有双将，左右开弓手矣)”After reading Xu’s translation of Mao Zedong’s poems, Professor Qian wrote Xu a letter, in which he writes that“ Many thanks for showing me your highly accomplished translation. I have just finished reading it and marvel at the supple ease with you dance in the clogs and fetters of rhyme and meter... Your views on verse translation are very pertinent.” While Xu’s theories also gain a lot of criticisms and disputes. Liu Yingkai, a

professor from Shenzhen University challenges Xu’s theory of “preservation of beauty in sound and form” and thinks it needs deliberating. And Professor Wang Zuoliang is one of the translators who have heated debated with Xu upon metrical translation. Although Professor Xu Yuanchong has got brilliant achievements and a high reputation in the field of professional translation, the statement that translated version should compete with the original version which he put forward, received much more opposition rather than agreement among translators, and was more partially accepted rather than fully used. (李谧，2004) This thesis is mainly divided into four chapters. Chapter One mainly tells the features of both Chinese and foreign poetry; Chapter Two mainly describe Professor Xu Yuanchong and his theories; Chapter Three mainly shows the examples for the application of the Three Beauties Principle; Chapter Four mainly focuses on the culture outlook embodied in the Three Beauties Principle. Mr. Xu’s theories enrich the translation theories of the Chinese school and they are just likes a huge treasure house to be explored, so it is necessary to highly praise them in order to let foreigners have some knowledge of the beautiful Chinese culture and custom in Chinese ancient times. This thesis only opens the door of this house and the countless gems are sparking inside. There is still a lot to be probed and explored.

本科生毕业论文设计

题目“带着镣铐跳舞”-浅谈许渊冲古诗

文翻译“三美论”

作者姓名 XXXX 指导教师 XXX 所在学院 XXX学院 专业（系） 机器翻译 班级（届） XXX机译班

完成日期 XXX 年 04 月 20日

“Dance with the Fetters”-A Preliminary Study of

The Three Beauties Principle in Chinese

Classic Poetry Translation

BY

XXXX

Prof. XXX， Tutor

A Thesis Submitted to Department of English

Language and Literature in Partial

Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the Degree of B.A. in English

At XXXXUniversity

April 20th, XXX

摘 要

中国古典诗歌是中华文化宝库的一颗明珠。一直以来，全世界的学者们都在从事着中国古典诗歌的翻译。相比之下，诗歌翻译具有艺术性和含蓄性的特点。英语和汉语属于不同的语族, 而且不同的国家有着不同的文化及语言背景，因此中国的古典诗歌翻译非常困难。许渊冲教授在中国诗歌翻译方面做出了突出的贡献，他提出了诗歌翻译的“三美”原则――“音美”、“意美”和“形美”。本文系统地总结了“三美”原则及“三美”原则的实际运用,通过客观的分析，发现“三美”原则的理论价值及其实践意义。许教授的高超的技艺是值得借鉴和学习的，他在诗歌翻译方面的有益尝试对中国文学翻译的进一步发展有着积极的影响。

关键词 许渊冲 中国古典诗歌翻译 三美原则

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Abstract

Chinese classic poetry is a gem of Chinese culture treasure. For a long time, many scholars around the word have been engaged in translating the Chinese classical poetry. Poetry translation has the characteristics of artistry and subtlety as compared to other translations. The English and Chinese languages belong to different language families, and there exists different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, so the translation of Chinese classic poetry is quite difficult. Professor Xu Yuanchong made great contribution to the poetry translation and put forward “three beauties” principle --- “beauty in sound, beauty in sense and beauty in form”on poetry translation. The author of this thesis summarizes systematically Xu Yuanchong’s “three beauties”on poetry translation and the practice of this principle to find its theoretical value and its practical significance through objective analysis. His consummate skill is worth learning from and taking as reference. His useful attempts on poetry translation are beneficial for the further development of Chinese literary translation.

Key words Xu Yuanchong Chinese classic poetry translation Three Beauties Principle

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Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter One Introduction of the features of both Chinese and foreign poetry ..... 3

1.1 Features of the Chinese classic poetry .............................................................. 3 1.2 Features of the foreign poetry ........................................................................... 4 Chapter Two Introduction of Xu Yuanchong and his translation theories ............ 5

2.1 Brief introduction of Xu Yuanchong ................................................................. 5 2.2 Xu’s translation theories ................................................................................... 5

2.2.1 Three Beauties ........................................................................................ 6

2.2.1.1 Beauty in Sense ............................................................................. 6 2.2.1.2 Beauty in Sound and Form ........................................................... 6 2.2.2 Other Three Theories .............................................................................. 6

Chapter Three Practical use of the Three Beauties Principle in Chinese classic poetry ............................................................................................................................ 8

3.1 Analysis of the Three Beauties Principle used in“枫桥夜泊” ................ 8 3.2 Analysis of the Three Beauties Principle used in“静夜思” .................. 12 Chapter Four The culture outlook embodied in the Three Beauties Principle .... 14 4.1 Analysis of the reasons behind its wide acceptance ....................................... 14

4.2 The higher requirements the Three Beauties Theories call for translators ..... 14 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 15 Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 16

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Introduction

As a widely used literature form, poetry has the reasons for its long existence and popularity.

In the whole, poetry is the oldest literary form and has its own distinctive characteristics: its form, language and images all embody beauties and profound meanings. Poetry is also a perfect way for poets to express their feelings in words and in the eyes of many poets, poetry is art works and pens are swords and only people who have the same state of mind can understand what the poetry really mean. In detail, poetry can be divided into many kinds according to different standards. For example, according to the content, poetry can be divided into narration poetry, description poetry and criticizing poetry, commenting poetry and so on; according to the form, poetry can be divided into Five-character poem，Seven-syllable poem, etc.; according to the style, poetry can be divided into Frontier-style poem，Graceful poem and so on. If we don’t limit in one country or in one language, the poetry will be much more complicated. Different countries have their different cultures and people in different countries have different understandings of poetry, so the poetry in different countries is quite different, from form to meaning and from language to rhetorical methods. From the very past to today, there have been many translators who translate many kinds of poetry from one language to another to help people in different parts of the world to feel the same beauty.

Everyone has his own understanding of translation, so there are many different criteria in translation. For example, the famous translator Yan Fu put forward the theory of Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance in 1951,which means the version should be faithful to the original material, the language should be both expressive and elegant；Mr. Fu Lei put forward the Vivid Theory，which is stricter than Yan Fu’s; Qian Zhongshu put forward Transmigration Theory in 19; Alexander Fraser Tytler wrote three basic principles in his book Essay on the Principles of Translation：1. A translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work；2. The style and manner of writing should be of the same character as that of the original; 3. A translation should have all the ease of the original composition. In the history, directed by these theories, a lot of Chinese and foreign translators have made many brilliant contributions, such as Arthur Wacks from the United Kingdom, Aicila Pound from the United States, and Yang Xianyi and his wife Dai Naidie from China. However, when it comes to the translation Chinese traditional rhetorical techniques, their translated versions were not as good as the Chinese versions.

Among the distinguished translators, Xu Yuanchong is very famous because he put forward some quite useful theories in poetry translation, such as the Three Beauties, Three Transformations and so on. But he also causes a lot of controversies.

The great master of art-Professor Qian Zhongshu, calls Xu“ wizard in the realm of translation” and says:“ translating two forms of literature-poetry and lyrics into two languages-English and French just like the warrior with two guns working alone two

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lines(译著兼诗词两，英法两语种，如十八般武艺之有双将，左右开弓手矣)”After reading Xu’s translation of Mao Zedong’s poems, Professor Qian wrote Xu a letter, in which he writes that“ Many thanks for showing me your highly accomplished translation. I have just finished reading it and marvel at the supple ease with you dance in the clogs and fetters of rhyme and meter... Your views on verse translation are very pertinent.”

Xu’s theories also gain a lot of criticisms and disputes. Liu Yingkai, a professor of Shenzhen University challenges Xu’s theory of “preservation of beauty in sound and form” and thinks it needs deliberating. And Professor Wang Zuoliang is also one of the translators who have heated debated with Xu upon metrical translation. Although Professor Xu Yuanchong has got brilliant achievements and a high reputation in the field of professional translation, the statement that translated version should compete with the original version which he put forward, received much more opposition rather than agreement among translators, and was more partially accepted rather than fully used. (李谧，2004)

This thesis focuses on his “Three Beauties Theories” and the detailed applications of this theory.

This thesis focuses on the essence of Professor Xu Yuanchong’s Three Beauties Theory, the application of this theory as well as the reason behind its wide acceptance. Chapter One mainly tells the features of both Chinese and foreign poetry; Chapter Two mainly describe Professor Xu Yuanchong and his theories; Chapter Three mainly shows the examples for the application of the Three Beauties Principle; Chapter Four mainly focuses on the culture outlook embodied in the Three Beauties Principle.

2

Chapter One Introduction of the features of both Chinese and foreign poetry

Poetry is the oldest literary form and has its own distinctive characteristics: its form, language and images are all embodied with beauty and profound meaning. Poets often write poetry to express their different kinds of feelings. Just like William Wordsworth, a English poet, once said, “All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” which makes poetry not only very beautiful in sincere feelings, rich connotation and catchy rhythms, but also very difficult to understand, especially when the readers know little about poet’ life experiences, social background and poet’ feeling at the moment when the poetry was produced. And when it comes to the foreign poetry, the understanding would be much more difficult, and this is why the poetry translation is quite important. However, the poetry translation is not easy，because poetry is often related closely to the culture, so the images, meaning and expression forms in different countries are all very different. Most of the time, translators try their best to translate but there is still some aspects needs to be improved. In this chapter, the focuses are the different features of both Chinese and Foreign Poetry, especially the Chinese Classic poetry and English poetry. 1.1 Features of the Chinese classic poetry

Chinese poetry originated from Book of Songs which was the first major collection of Chinese poetry, consisting mostly folksongs. It comprises 305 poems, covering the period from eleven century to six century B.C. Some of the most popular ones are taught in our schools nowadays. With the help of some scholars they are not very difficult to understand and appreciate despite their antiquity. Poetry is the most popular literature form since the beginning of written Chinese and is still very popular nowadays. It has developed into many forms in such a long period of time and reached its zenith in the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 A.D.). Now anyone who has gone to school can recite at least one of them. The classical forms of poetry mostly are composed of five-character or seven- character poems with special rules concerning rhythm, rhyme, tone and balance. Chinese poetry has several distinct features which are related to the special features of the Chinese language. Chinese is a monosyllabic language. Each character has a single sound. Putonghua (or Mandarin), as the official and the most common language, has four tones. The sound of a character can be represented by one to three musical notes. Every character sounds like a beat in music so we can see that the Chinese classical form of poetry is very musical.

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1.2 Features of the foreign poetry

The foreign poetry, written in relatively straightforward language, don't pay attention to the method of double stack, double sound and so on. They are pure narrative lyric and are written in the saliva. British and American modern poetry mainly write the capitalist society abnormal people's psychology. They always express the meaning what poets what to say more straightly and without any artificial skills. And the words and meaning are combined very well which means the aftertaste-space is relatively narrow, but it conforms to the psychological and thinking characteristics of westerners.

As time goes by, poem style began to show different characteristics since the 16 Century. The language style of the poem was simple and natural at that moment, which was closer to the language people used in the daily life. At the second half of the 17th century, the classical style was established then and the “heroic couplet” was very popular at that time. Its form is almost perfect, because the meter is neat, the words are very appropriate, and the sentence structure is very clear. In addition, the poet of this period was especially good at using metaphor and allusion. In the 18th century, romanticism has been established in literature and art. The romantic poet pursued the neat form too, instead of using colorful words; the romantic poet preferred the style which was more natural and simple. After the middle period of the 19th century, a new trend of the modernist became popular. Some poets used free poem forms to express their feelings and thoughts in their inner heart. Some poets even wrote the poem with the substandard language, such as the local language to convey their thoughts and feeling in a more special way. The vocabularies of the poem are usually extremely beautiful and concise. The grammars and sentence structures of poem are quite different from the general literature style, too, as there are many distortions or changes of the words and expressions which people use frequently in daily life . In other aspects, the foot of English poem can usually be divided into several kinds: tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, heptameter, etc. To some extent, the poem can be regarded as a means for poets to express and constitute their images. Take metaphor as an example, the metaphor is a kind of rhetoric skills that often appears in the poetry writing.

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Chapter Two Introduction of Xu Yuanchong and his translation theories

2.1 Brief introduction of Xu Yuanchong

Xu Yuanchong, as the outstanding translator and famous translation theorist, was born in Nanchang in 1921. In 1938, he was admitted to the Foreign Language Department of Southwest Associated University when he was 17 years old. In 1941, Xu worked as a translator in the American Volunteer Air Force. Several years later, Xu returned home and taught both French and English in some institutes of foreign languages in Beijing and then he worked in Zhangjiakou Institute of Foreign Languages, Luoyang Institute of Foreign Languages, and later in Peking University. As a professor of literary translation at Peking University, he published and translated a lot of works.

His English publications include On Chinese Verse in English Rhyme-From the Book of Poetry to the Romance of the Western Bower and Vanished Springs; his Chinese publications include The Art of Translation, Literary Translation Theories and Vanished Springs; his translation works include Songs of the Immortals, The Book of Poetry, The Songs of the South, 300 Tang Poems, 300 Song Lyrics, Selected Poems of Li Bai, Poems and Lyrics of Su Dongpo, The Romance of the Western Bower and The Selected Poems of Mao Zedong. Among them The Songs of the South and The Romance of the Western Bower were regarded respectively as “a peak of English and American literature” and “compare well with Shakespeare’s masterpieces”. Xu Yuanchong has been proclaimed as the only expert in the world who can translate Chinese poetry into English and French rhyme.

In his decades of translation practice, Xu Yuanchong has translated more than sixty Chinese, English and French literary masterpieces, and most of his translated books have gained many good comments. He summed up the previous translation theories and put forward “eight theories on poetry translation” and “ten theories on literary translation”. 2.2 Xu’s translation theories

There are mainly four Three Theories proposed by Mr. Xu: the ontology of poetry translation - “Three Beauties” theory: Beauty in Sense, Beauty in Sound and Beauty in Form; the effect theory of poetry translation - “Three Resemblances” theory: the shape, meaning and spirit likeness; the methodology of poetry translation- “Three Transformations” theory: generalization equalization and particularization; the skopos theory of Poetry translation -“Three Understandings” theory.

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2.2.1 Three Beauties

In translation theory, Prof. Xu Yuanchong founded the theories of Three Beauties, which means beauty in sound, beauty in sense and beauty in form, which gave good directions to the translation of poems.（许渊冲，1984) This theory or principle comes from Lu Xun’s opinion on literature and it is also the key point we discuss in this thesis. 2.2.1.1 Beauty in Sense

Professor Xu once analyzed what is beauty in sense. Earlier when he studied in the National Southwest Associated University, his teacher Mr. Wen Yiduo always explained the poems of Tang Dynasty with paintings which can convey the meaning for each other, that means poems and paintings combined with each other, not only poems showed the picture of paintings, but also poems were reflected by the paintings. This fit the characteristics of ancient Chinese poems very much. What the poems of Tang Dynasty and Song Lyrics of Song Dynasty emphasize most is the artistic conception. The author used only a few words or with some simple phrase, the “Artistic Beauty” was displayed absolutely.（黄智贞，2006） 2.2.1.2 Beauty in Sound and Form

Classic Chinese poems emphasize rules and forms, so according to the rules of rhyme formation, the antithesis were also required to be noticed. However, the modern English-language poems are written by casual or free style, with no rhyme, and antithesis but with refined language and clear images. The differences between the two languages and cultures are so enormous that it brings many difficulties to the translation of poetry.

Take the following sentence as an example:

The original sentence is:“高天滚滚寒流急，大地微微暖气吹”

The translation version is: In the steep sky cold waves are swiftly sweeping by; On the vast earth warm winds gradually growing high. In which the beauties of the original sentence are fully being passed to the foreign readers: for example, it uses word “weep” to represent“滚滚”,and uses word “by” and “high” to sounds beautifully. 2.2.2 Other Three Theories

The Three Resemblances theory is the extensions of Frey’s spirit likeness view and further puts forward three resemblances. If you only send a form without content, it is called the shape likeness; if you accurately translate the original meaning but does not convey the original spirit and meaning, it is called the meaning likeness; if you send out the spirit of the original text, it is spirit likeness. Three Resemblances are the

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basis of Three Beauties, and the shape likeness is in the low level and the spirit alike should be the high level appeal.

In the theoretical system of Chinese poetry translation, Xu Yuanchong's theory of “Three Transformation” is one of the most widely used theories. It is from the theory of Qian Zhongshu's Sublimation Theory. The generalization is to make the translation version easy to be understood: for example,欲穷千里目—enjoy a grander sight; the equalization is to make the version to achieve meaning likeness and shape likeness, for instance,黄河入海流—The Yellow River seawards flows; and the particularization is a higher standard to gain the spirit likeness, for example,我心悲伤—My grief overflows.

The Three Understandings theory comes from the famous saying “People who know it are no better than those who love it; those who love it are no better than the ones who love to know it”.

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Chapter Three Practical use of the Three Beauties Principle in Chinese classic poetry

3.1 Analysis of the Three Beauties Principle used in“枫桥夜泊”

“枫桥夜泊” is a well-known Chinese traditional poem written by Zhang Ji of Tang Dynasty, who is not quite known at that time when there were large numbers of poets who wrote a lot great poems. And his poems have only passed on no more than fifty to the future generations. However, the conception of his poems are pure and cheerful, while the rhetoric are deep and profound, this influence is really great to the future generations. “枫桥夜泊” is one of the most famous poems of Zhang Ji, which has been read and recited by people for thousands of years. This poem, shows a vivid image of the waning moon, the crying crow, the frosty sky, the Maple Bridge, the dimly light, the Cold Hill, the ancient temple, the bell and the boat. All of these give us a kind of graceful and profound feeling. In the following part, this thesis will analyze the “three beauties” in the translated version of “枫桥夜泊” by Prof. Xu Yuanchong.

The original poem and the translated version are as follows: 枫桥夜泊•张继 月落乌啼霜满天， 江枫渔火对愁眠， 姑苏城外寒山寺， 夜半钟声到客船。

Mooring by Maple Bridge at Night• Zhang Ji

At moonset cry the crows，streaking the frosty sky; Dimly lit fishing boats’ neath maples sadly lie.

Beyond the city walls，from Temple of Cold Hill，

Bells break the ship— borne roamer’s dream and midnight still .（许渊冲，1996）

The Embodiment of “Beauty in Sense”

By comparing the original poem and the target language one, we can know that in order to recreate the graceful and bleak conception of the original poem, Prof. Xu tactfully and skillfully made the use of the linguistic and cultural advantages of the target language to reveal the beauty of the original one. The meaning of the poem is revealed in the whole of the translated poem, from the title to the text. And this poem can be divided into three parts according to its meaning. The first part is the title, the second part is the first and second sentences, and the third and fourth sentences are the last part. These three parts are mutual independent while interdependent and related to each other, and express the homesickness of the poet all together.

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The original title of the poem is short but meaningful, that “枫桥夜泊” just four characters have drawn the outline of a vivid picture— in a quiet and peaceful night, a lonely boat was anchored by the Maple Bridge. Prof. Xu used the cultural meaning of the colorful vocabulary of the target language to show the sense of the original title, and one of the most appropriate words is “mooring”. We know that in the culture of English language, there are two meanings of “mooring”. One is verb, which means anchor, and the other is noun, which means wilderness. In terms of the meaning, the use of this word could not only correspond with the “泊”of original poem, meaning the anchored boat, but it also hint the solitary and lonely background of the poem. At the same time, in terms of the form of the word, “mooring” was in the form of gerund, which includes the double characteristics of both verb and noun, which is used to describe the static object—the anchored boat, and set off the dynamic emotion as well—the homesick feeling of the travelers in the boat. The translator used the double meaning of the word to arouse the imagination of readers, to think of and recreate the potential meaning of the poem.

The first and second sentences of the original poem are the enlargement and enhancement of the sense revealed in the title. The poet, through what he saw, what he heard and what he felt, made a further description to describe the forlorn night view in the Maple Bridge—the crying crows after the waning moon setting down, the frosty sky and cold river, the ancient bridge and dim light, and the lonely boat and the lonely traveler—so that the feeling of disconsolateness and loneliness could be expressed more. And in the English poem, Prof. Xu artfully took the advantage of the target language to recreate the sense and beauty of the original poem, which can be seen in the following two aspects.

Firstly, Prof. Xu used the technique of contrast to represent what the poet saw—the waning moon, the maple and the light, what the poet heard—the crying crow, and what the poet felt—the frosty sky. This kind of technique linked every single image up to an entire one which brought the motion to the static and the quiescence to the dynamic. In the first sentence, “crow” is the subject; “cry” is the predicate verb; “streaming” is the adjoin adverbial. It describes a picture, the crying crow flows over the frosty sky when the moon sets down. And the words “cry” and “streaming” show not only the quietness of the night, but also the waving motion hidden in the cold, sad and lonely night – the traveler could not fall asleep but float restlessly in the boat. In the second sentence, “fishing boats” is the subject; “lie” is the predicate verb; “dimly lit” and “sadly” are adjuncts which separately modify the subject and predicate. And with the technique of comparison, it showed that under the Maple Bridge, the only boat which was floating was very lonely. The words “dimly” and “sadly” are compared with each other to increase the feeling of sorrow and solitude.

Secondly, with adding or slashing some information properly, the sense of the original poem could be more specific, more visual and more charming. There are four images which are too abstract in the original poem—the sky, the maple, the light and the traveler. And because of the huge differences between Chinese and English language and culture, in order to make the readers understand the potential meaning

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of the four images, Prof. Xu added or slashed some information in the original poem: he translated “霜满天” into “the frosty sky”, omit “满”, but still good enough to express the coldness of the autumn; he translated “江枫” into “maples”, omit “江”, but added the word “beneath”, which pointed out the position of the bridge—on the Cold River; he translated “渔火” into “dimly lit”, omit “渔”, but added “dimly”, which directed to the blinking light on the boat; he omit “对愁眠”，just by the using of “dimly” and “sadly” to show the loneliness of the Maple Bridge and the boat. To a certain extent, this kind of technique may arouse much imagination and sympathetic response among the readers, and to reflect the sense of the original poem in the end. The third and the fourth sentences are the soul and sublimation of the original poem, which describe a picture that the bell of the Cold Hill broke the peace of the Gusu city in the late night, and was resounding in the traveler’s heart. This picture also implies that the stately and solemn bell of the Buddhist temple calmed the blue mood and sadness of the traveler. So we can see the deep Chinese culture and artistic characteristics from the original poem. In the third sentence, considering the culture of the target language, Prof. Xu used the technique of substitution, which is that he used the similar image in English to exchange the image in Chinese. First he changes “姑苏” to “city”. In Chinese, “姑苏” is the name of a city, which is very booming and busy. While in English, “city” means a developed and flourishing place. Second, Prof. Xu replaced “寒山” with “Cold Hill”. “寒山” is a word with extremely deep cultural meaning, which stands for the living environment of the poets in Tang Dynasty, and their plainly and elegant philosophic thoughts. And “Cold Hill” gave us a kind of feeling that pursuing the primitive life, freedom and independence. So they are highly harmonious in terms of sense.

In the last sentence, Prof. Xu exerted all his creation to recreate the original feeling and meaning of the poem. First, is the creation of the translation of “钟声”. On the foundation of the grammar, “钟声” should be translated into “bell”. However, Prof. Xu translated it into “bells”. In Chinese, the meaning of “钟声” is fertile, which not only means lasting but also resounding. And “bells”, in terms of plural, could express the continuing and reverberating of the bell. Second, is the creation of the translation of “到”. In Chinese version of the poem, “到” is the traditional use of the language, which shows the bells broke the peace of the Cold River, and showed that the bells shook the heart of the traveler as well. So in the translated version, the word “break” is also the classic of the translated poem, which reveal the feeling of the poem. Third is the creation of the translation of “客船”. In the original poem, “客船” contains a double meaning—the boat and the traveler in the boat. In order to indicate the theme of the poem, Prof. Xu translated “客船” into two parts— “the ship” and “borne roamer”. Further more, he translated “午夜” into “midnight”, but added “dream” and “still” as the supplement to express the sense of the original sense more completely and concrete.

The Embodiment of “Beauty in Sound”

Chinese and English are two totally different languages especially in pronunciation

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and intonation. Chinese pay much attention to the tones, while English pays more attention to sound. These differences cause the hardness of maintaining the “Beauty in Sound”. However, Prof. Xu suggested that, if the three beauties are hard to balance, the “Beauty in Form” could be abandoned first, and then is the “Beauty in Sound”. However, if possible, we should try our best to express the “Beauty in Sound” and “Beauty in Form” of the original poem. It can be seen that, the “Beauty in Sound” is another important factor follows the “Beauty in Sense”. From the English version of the poem, we can see that Prof. Xu followed the phonetic rule of English to rebuild the “beauty in sound”.

In the process of translating the poem, Prof. Xu tried to show the “Beauty in Sound” through the rhythm and tempo. In terms of rhythm, Prof. Xu applied two forms, one is rhyme and the other is alliteration. (张智中，2005) In the original poem, the rule of the rhyme of the poem is “an”, such as “天” in the first sentence, “眠” in the second sentence and “船” in the fourth sentence, that is the rule “aaxa”. In the English poem, Prof. Xu used the rule of rhyme, that is “sky” and “lie”, and “hill” and “still”, which is the rule “aabb”. In addition, Prof. Xu also used the alliteration in English to create a kind of musical characteristic to show the beauty. For example, the “cry” and “crows” in the first sentence, the “break”, “bells”, and “borne” in the last sentence, which add the rhythm sensation of the poem. In the Chinese poem, “月落/乌啼/霜满天” in the first sentence correspond to “江枫/渔火/对愁眠” in the second sentence, and so does “姑苏城外/寒山寺” in the third sentence and “夜半钟声/到客船” in the fourth sentence. When translating them into English, Prof. Xu retained the tempo of the group of meaning—“At moonset/cry the crows/streaking the frosty sky” and “Dimly lit fishing boats/ heath maples/sadly lie” in the first and second sentences, and “Beyond the city walls/from the Cold Hill” and “Bells break/the ship一borne roamer's dream and midnight still” in the third and fourth sentences. In a word, in the angle of a reader, the sound beauty of his translation could even be equal to the original poem.

The Embodiment of “Beauty in Form”

The form of a poem is related to its type. Tang Poetry has the unique type of literature, and it is created in certain rules and forms. Because of the unique artistic characteristic, it is really hard to retain the “Beauty in Form” as it shows in the original poem. However, Prof. Xu still hold the opinion that on the premise of expressing the “Beauty in Sense” totally and “Beauty in Sound” possibly, we should try to express the “Beauty in Form”, which is the hardest, to maintain them all. In reality, Prof. Xu has been trying to retain the “beauty in form” all the time, that the translation of “枫桥夜泊” is a quite good example. The “Beauty in Form” can be seen in two aspects—macroscopic and microcosmic.

Take the macroscopic aspect as an example, the English version could not equal to the original version in form of course, but with the help of the translation techniques of the target language, the “Beauty in Form” could still be kept. First is the help of the punctuation. For example, in the first and third sentences, Prof. Xu Yuanchong put a

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comma between “crows” and “streaking”, so that the sentence is divided into two parts, which both “cry” and “streaking”, and “the crows” and “the frosty sky”, could be corresponded. And so is “beyond” and “from”, and “the city walls” and “the Temple of Cold Hill” in the third sentences. In the first sentence, he also applied hyperbaton, that the adverbial “at moonset” was put in the front in order to make we can feel different levels of the poem—first seeing the “moonset”, then hearing the “crows” and feeling the “frosty sky” at last. In the third and fourth lines, “beyond the city walls” and “from Temple of Cold Hill” was put in the front, so that the two lines were made into one sentence. And the meaning of the poem became more fluent, through the “bells” to the “Gusu City”, to the “Temple of Cold Hill”, to the “boat”, and to the “traveler” at last.

3.2 Analysis of the Three Beauties Principle used in“静夜思”

“静夜思”, a lyric poem of Li Bai, is about the homesickness for months and the thought in the silent night. The poet uses the most common language, the sprightliest tone to describe the deep homesickness. The poem brings up the characters of “suspect”, “look” and “thinking” to express that the poet’s behavior and the feeling. The context is clear but we can feel intentionally or unintentionally the vivid and subtle feeling in travel. Although this poetry only has 20 characters, we can feel the homesickness pouring out as natural as water and as clean as the moonlight which is subtle and meaningful. There is no beautiful rhetoric but catchy sentence, which shows the poet's consummate skills of using words and sentences. In the following part, this thesis will analyze the “three beauties” in the translated version of “静夜思” by Prof. Xu Yuanchong. The original poem and the translated version are as follows:

静夜思•李白 床前明月光， 疑是地上霜。 举头望明月， 低头思故乡。

A Tranquil Night• Li Bai

Before my bed a pool of light， I wonder if it's frost aground.

Looking up，I find the moon bright， Bowing，in homesickness I’m drowned.

The Embodiment of “Beauty in Sense”

In the first sentence, the translator depicts the bright light before the bed, the second sentence makes a metaphor to express that the light is as white and bright as the frost and snow, the third sentence depicts that the poet finally looks up and sees the bright moon, and finally expresses the sadness. In our culture, the round moon represents the significance of family reunion, which is also the theme this poetry

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wants to express. While in the Western culture, there is no such concept. So Mr. Xu Yuanchong uses the word “drowned” to assimilate water to homesickness and in this way the poet links water, moon and the homesickness together. And the two simple gerund adverbials “looking up” and “bowing” not only maintain the original meaning, but also give readers a dynamic sense of ups and downs.

The translated version very aptly conveys the meaning and the feeling of the original poem. And the translated version has the equally simple language and vivid mood, especially the two words “Wonder” and “drowned” accurately translated the characters“凝” and“思” in the original poem. All of these fully express the melancholy and nostalgia the original poem wants to express, and like the original poem, the translated version also makes people feel memorable after reading.

The Embodiment of “Beauty in Sound”

The rhyme of the translated version is abab (light, ground, bright, drowned), and the sound step of each line is almost the same as the original poem. The basic style of the version is iambic, which makes the whole poem read clear and in order. This style takes into account the temperament characteristics of the original poem and also the phonology beauty of the English poetry.

The Embodiment of “Beauty in Form”

The style of Mr. Xu Yuanchong’s version is very similar to that of the original poem. There are not many words but there is no monotony suspected. And the words it uses are also very simple and smooth, and there are only two poetic taste doctrinal words in it -the “abed” and the “aground”.

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Chapter Four The culture outlook embodied in the Three Beauties Principle

4.1 Analysis of the reasons behind its wide acceptance

Although having gained many criticizes, Xu Yuancong’s Three Beauties Theories are still very popular, not only in the Chinese Classic poetry translation, but also in the translation in other fields. The reasons behind this phenomenon are mainly the pride of one’s own culture, people’s curiosity of and eagerness for the foreign civilization and the common pursuit of beauty of all human beings.

4.2 The higher requirements the Three Beauties Theories call for translators Actually, the “Three Beauties Principle” is really hard to use, especially for us students. In order to translate successfully, we must have much practical experience of translation, a good foundation of large vocabulary, and be the master of grammar and all kinds of translation techniques. So we have to do more practice while learning to translate, and try to increase our vocabulary amount at the same time and to get familiar with the grammar and translation techniques. Nevertheless the most important task for translators is faithfulness, （Song Xuezhi,2000）which must not ignore the accuracy because of the pursuing of the “Three Beauties”.

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Conclusion

Being a successful translator with more than half a century’s successful experience, Xu Yuanchong has developed his own theories of poetry translation-the preservation of “Beauty in Sense, Beauty in Sound and Beauty in Form”, the approach of “generalization equalization and particularization”, and the aim of “comprehension, appreciation, admiration”.

Through detailed analysis of his theories, we may find that the theories are inherited from the previous theorists and developed by Xu. Different from other theories, Xu’s theories pay much attention to the translator’s subjectivity and reader’s response.

Translating the classical Chinese poetry into English version needs a high order of skill. Professor Xu Yuanchong, the big shot in this field, resolutely sets himself the demanding and challenging task and makes big achievements. Xu’s translations can not only fully reflect the mood of the original poetry, but also reproduce the style as well.

. Although highly prized by many scholars and warmly welcomed by a large number of readers, Xu’s translations also suffer bitter attacks and criticisms by some people. Anyway, Xu’s theories enrich the translation theories of the Chinese school, and his translated classical Chinese poetry lets foreigners have some knowledge of Chinese culture and custom in Chinese ancient times.

Professor Xu Yuanchong’s theories are just like a huge treasure house to be explored; this thesis only opens the door of this house; countless gems are sparking inside. There is still a lot to be probed and explored.

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