Three Schools of Translating Ancient Chinese Poems into English

Three Schools of Translating Ancient Chinese Poems into English

王春芳

( 上海政法学院 语言文化学院，上海 201701）

Introduction:

Translation of classic Chinese poetry began with the publishing of The Book of Poetry （《诗经》）translated by James Legge in 1871. With several generations’ hard work, great achievement has been made in this field. There are several English versions of The Book of Poetry presented by James Legge, Ezra Pound and Arthur Waley. The Song of the South（《楚辞》）has been translated by David Hawkes. Both Innes Herdan and Prof. Xu Yuanchong have offered their English renditions of Three Hundred Tang Poems. Some great poets in history, such as Li Bat, Wang Wei, Bai Juyi, Du Fu and Tao Yuanming are favorites with translators. More than ten kinds of complete English versions of their poems have been published. Moreover, there are numerous English versions of other minor poets’ works. These English versions scatter in various magazines , essays and books on Chinese literature. The translation of Chinese poetry relates to linguistics , especially to translation theory and techniques. It reflects most of the essential problems in translation studies, such as that of literal translation and liberal translation , similarity in spirit and in form, and translatability and readability. However, the most controversial problem is whether to translate Chinese poetry into metrical verse or into free verse. Lu Shuxiang is the first to raise the issue. He wrote, “初期泽人好以诗体翻洋，即令达意，风格已殊，稍一不慎，流弊丛生。后期译人 Waley,小烟, Bynner诸氏率用散体为之，原诗情趣，转易保存。"(The incipient translators p referred to apply metrical form. Even if they have thoroughly transferred meaning , they have distorted style. Minute carelessness would result in many mistakes. Therefore, Later translators, such as Waley, Obata and Bynner adopted free verse because they could easily p reserve the appeal of the original poems in this form.)(see《中诗英译比录》，吕淑湘, 1880). Over thirty years later , Prof. Xu Yuanchong proposed an opposite opinion, “翻译唐诗，宁可继承 Giles 诗体译文的传统，而不可采用 Waley的散体译法”.(To translate Tang poems, it is better to inherit Giles' tradition of using metrical verse than to follow Waley in adopting free verse. )(see《再淡意美、音美、形美》，许渊冲,1983) However, Weng Xianliang’s viewpoint is quite different from Xu’s. He argued, “只要能再现原作的意象，不一定模仿其章法句法字法。"(As long as we can reproduce the images of the original poems, we needn’t follow the original sentence structure , art of composition and choice of words.) (see《本色与变相》，翁显良，1982) Hence, in the practice of translating Chinese metrical verse into English , there are three schools: metrical verse school with Giles and Xu Yuanchong as its representatives, free verse school with Waley as its representative and prose style school with Weng Xianliang as its representative.

1. The Metrical Verse School

Herbert A. Giles (1845-1993), an English scholar in Chinese, worked in Cambridge as a professor for many years. Being knowledgeable in the Chinese literature and language, he translated many Chinese works into English, including The History of Chinese Literature, Zhuangzi, and Gems of Chinese Literature: Verse (1898, 1922). He also translated into metrical verse many masterpieces of renown poets, such as Li Bai，Wang Wei and Li Shangyin. His version, peculiar in style and appeal, has won acclaim. English literator Lytten Strachey believed that Giles versions of Tang poems were "the best this generation has known" and that their "anthology holds a unique place in the literature of the world."(from《“三美”和“三似”的幅度》，许渊冲，1982).The following is Giles rendition of Li Bais "Night Thoughts"(《静夜思》)：

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。

Night Thoughts  by Li Bai

I wake, and moonbeams play around my bed .

Glittering like hoar- frost to my wandering eyes.

Up towards the glorious moon I raise my head,

Then lay me down and thoughts of home arise.

Tr. Herbert A. Giles

The rhyming scheme of Giles’ version is abab, and the rhythm is basically made of iambic pentameter. The poem is a typical metrical verse. It not only transferd the meaning of the original poem but also preserves the “beauty of sound and the “beauty of form" of the original poem.

Among those people who prefer metrical verse to translate Chinese poetry, Giles was a representative abroad, and Prof. Xu Yuanchong is an active advocator at home. Prof. Xu generalized his viewpoint into "Three — Beauty" and “Three —Similarity ". " Three - Beauty " stands for the " beauty of meaning ", "beauty of sound " and "beauty of form ", The “beauty of sound" refers to the transfer of the rhyme , repetition and rhythm of the original poems. Prof. Xu pays much attention to rhyme. In his opinion, if the English versions of Chinese poetry are not rhymed, the style and appeal of the original poems cannot be preserved even though the "beauty of meaning "of the original poems are fully conveyed. The “beauty of form " means the retainment of the number of lines of the original poems, namely, all

Jueju poems should be rendered into four lines and Lushi into eight Lines. If lines of the original poems have five characters, they must be translated into lines of eight to ten syllables. If lines of the original poems have seven characters, they must be rendered into lines of twelve syllables. 'The "three beauties " are not the same in importance. In Prof. Xu's viewpoint, the most important is the “beauty of meaning", the second the “beauty of sound "and the third the "beauty of form". In other words, the "beauty of sound "realized in rhyming and the "beauty of form" reflected in regularity of lines are essential, but the “beauty of meaning" is not only essential but also sufficient condition.

The following is an example to demonstrate Prof. Xu’s argument:

雨  (王驾)

雨前初见花间蕊，雨后全无叶底花。

蜂蝶纷纷过墙去，却疑春色在邻家。

After the Rain  (by Wang Jia)

Before/ the rain /I still/ see blooming flowers,

Only / green leaves/are left/after / the showers.

Over the/wall pass/both but/ter flies/and bees,

I won/der if /spring dwells/in my /neighbor’ s/ trees.

Tr. Xu Yuanchong

In the above English version, each of the first three lines contains ten syllables and the last line eleven syllables. As has been marked in the English version , the rhythm is mainly made of iambic pentameter and the rhyming scheme is aabb. Xu’ s great efforts made on form transfer resulted in a carefully organized metrical verse. However, due to the inappropriate choice of words: “showers "for“雨” and “neighbor’ s trees " for “邻家”, meaning transfer is marred. "Shower " means “brief fall of rain"(from OALD), and the original poem shows that it is in spring time. "Showers "in spring cannot result in“全无叶底花”. It is for the purpose of rhyming with the word "flowers "that Prof. Xu employed "showers" in the version. In the same way, Prof. Xu intentionally used a word in the fourth line to rhyme with the word "bees " in the third line, so he translated“在邻家” (at neighbors home) of the original poem into“在邻家的树上”(in my neighbors trees). It is obviously improper.

2. The Free Verse School

Many translators belong to this school, for example, Bur ton, Watson, Witter Bynner, Shigeyoshi Obata, Rewi Alley, Yang Xianyi, etc. Arthur Waley was a representative of this school. He was an English scholar in Chinese who translated many Chinese poems into English. His translations have won great acclaim. In Waley's opinion, rhyme would damage the vitality of language and the faithfulness of translation. If a translator used thyme, he would distort the meaning of the original poems. He believed rhythm between lines should be connected appropriately. It was essential both in free verse and in traditional poems.

The following is Waley's version of Cao Songs poem

己亥岁   (曹松)

泽国江山入战图，生民何计乐樵苏?

凭君莫话封候事，一将功成万枯骨。

A Protest  (by Cao Song)

The bills and rivers of the lowland country

You have made your battle-ground.

How do you suppose the people who live there

will procure "fire wood and bay"?

Do not let me hear you talking together

About titles and promotions

For a single general's reputation

Is made out of ten thousand corpses.

Tr. Waley

The above English version is a typical free verse. There is no rhyme and the number of syllables each line contains is different. It faithfully conveys the meaning of the original poem but it doesn’t preserve the "beauty of sound "and the “beauty of form” of the original poem.

3. The Prose Style School

Weng Xianliang was a talented translator. His skillful combination of the original poets  feeling with his own has strong artistic appeal, so his English versions of Chinese poems won many peoples admiration. He preferred prose style to translate Chinese metrical verse. He asserted that the English version of Chinese poetry should preserve true qualities, which refer to images and rhythm. In Wengs’ opinion, if translators can reproduce the original images, they needn’t follow the original form. According to Weng’s viewpoint, to deny translators liberty of flexibly changing the original syntax and sentence order is to deny the facts that translation is recreation, and that different languages have different regularity and in different languages different methods can be used to achieve similar artistic appeal. He thought the hot pursuit of the similarity in form could result in the distortion of images. Only when translators retain the original spirit and abandon the original form can they preserve the essence of the original style.

The following is an illustration of Weng s argument:

江南逢李龟年    (杜甫)

岐王宅里寻常见，崔九堂前几度闻。

正是江南好风景, 落花时节又逢君。

Chance Meeting  by Du Fu

Time was when princely houses favored your music and often requested my attendance. Now, wandering amid such scenic beauty on these southern shores, we chance to meet again, when the flowers are already falling.

Tr. Weng Xianliang

The above English version is obviously in prose style. It successfully transfers the original image and appeal. However the form of the original poem is tremendously changed. The English version neither preserves the “beauty of form" nor transfers the "beauty of sound” of the original version.

Conclusion:

From the above article, we can get to know the three schools of translating ancient Chinese poems into English. Though they are different in rendering the forms of poems, what they are in common is that the translation versions should completely express the meaning of the original poems. Due to the huge differences between the two languages, there is no denying that it is difficult to represent the forms of the original forms. What the translators should do is to try their best to present English readers the beauty of ancient Chinese poems. 

参考文献：

1. 朱光潜， 《诗论》， 安徽教育出版社，1997年
2. Marjorie Boulton, The Anatomy of Poetry, London, 1960
3. 张芳杰主编， Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English with Chinese Translation (简称OALD), 商务印书馆， 牛津大学出版社，1990年
4. 徐盛恒， “论诗的织体”， 《外国语》， 1996年第二期
5. 王宝童， “试论英汉诗歌的节奏及其翻译”，《外国语》， 1993年第6期