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1 朱素珍:Appreciation and criticism of poetry translation ——A Psalm of Life

摘要

It is not difficult to translate poetry, and large quantities of translators and writers have provided us uncountable excellent versions of translation of poetry. As for the poetry translation appreciation and criticism, this essay would mainly discuss the appreciation and criticism of poetry translation based on the comparative analysis of different versions of translation of the same poetry——A Psalm of Life, written by Henry Wordsworth Long Fellow. After the comparable analysis of three versions, whether the cultural factor has been considered or not can be uncovered clearly. Furthermore, in the process of appreciation, people can also learn how to translate the poetry properly. Besides, such analysis is conducive to the appreciation of poetry translation in the cross-culture background, which is inspiring and instructive.

Abstract

It is not difficult to translate poetry, and large quantities of translators and writers have provided us uncountable excellent versions of translation of poetry. As for the poetry translation appreciation and criticism, this essay would mainly discuss the appreciation and criticism of poetry translation based on the comparative analysis of different versions of translation of the same poetry——A Psalm of Life, written by Henry Wordsworth Long Fellow. After the comparable analysis of three versions, whether the cultural factor has been considered or not can be uncovered clearly. Furthermore, in the process of appreciation, people can also learn how to translate the poetry properly. Besides, such analysis is conducive to the appreciation of poetry translation in the cross-culture background, which is inspiring and instructive.

1.Introduction

Poetry as an important part of human literature, experienced ups and downs in the long river of history from the period of Greece to the modern days. Human varieties of emotions and feelings can be recorded and transmitted by the form of poetry, which is the essential part of human life. For China, poetry has played a special and crucial role since the ancient times, with Tang dynasty as its prime priority period. Because of its strong function of expressing people’s feelings and amazing entertainment, it is preferred by thousands of poets such us Li Bai, Du Fu, Vans, etc. At the same time, piles of wonderful poetries have appeared like the mushroom after rain. Actually, poetry is universal and common for humankind, and it is being chosen by some western poets including Percy Bysshe Shelley, Robert Burns and Emily Dickinson, etc.

According to Aristotle, literature should have the function of education, that is to say, purifying people’s mind. Poetry is positive and it provides chance for people to imitate and create their own lovely poetry, and during this period, their virtue can be promoted, so they can be more morally great. However, in Plato’s opinion, poetry is the second remove from reality, and it is the great danger for the unity of the state of philosophy. Moreover, the poets should be exiled, and there should be strict censorship for the publication of poetry. Different philosophers have different ideas about poetry. And different poets can create different kinds of poetries with rich titles and versatile structures. Besides, people speaking in different language and living in exotic culture are capable to write the poetry that is special to them. However, no matter what are the differences, one point is true: poetry is a powerful tool for people to know and create the world. Such special point is stemming from the difference of language and culture. People are not unfamiliar with Sapir Wolf’s Theory of Linguistic Relativity which put forward that language decides how people think. It is such a strong and even a little decisive theory. However, it at least uncovers the relationship between language and culture. It is understandable that language is to some extent reflects how people are thinking， and the thinking can further show the influence of culture in the process of communication. For example, in China, people would say” Have you eaten?” when they meet each other occasionally. But the Chinese are not intentionally asking whether the hearer has eaten or not, and they are only expressing a kind of greeting.

Therefore, when the foreigners hearing such a sentence, they would get confused. This is a typical example showing the culture’s important role in communication. Except for the spoken communication, culture would also influence the translation of literary works, such as poetry, novel and play, etc. In the translation of poetry, a professional translator has to put the factor of culture into consideration well in order to achieve a high-quality translation effect. Actually, poetry cross-culture translation is always an inevitable issue for translation, especially today we are in a high-speed developing cross-culture Time, naturally how to appreciate the translation of poetry is of great importance.

2.The principles of poetry translation appreciation and criticism

2.1 What is poetry

First, it is necessary for us to know what is poetry. Poetry is a kind of literary style that summarizes and reflects the social life. Chinese famous writer Cao Wenxuan once said before that different from the novel, poetry expresses people’s feeling, while novelists write novels that reflect people’s experience. Poetry is the synthesis of experience rather than the experience itself. However, novel presents experience itself and leaves the feelings of experience to reader. In other words, readers need to obtain the feelings of experience by themselves after reading the novel thoroughly. But the poetry conveys the feelings directly, and readers can enjoy the wonderful feelings while reading. Here is an interesting comment about the relationship between poetry and novel: novel describes an awesome house, but poetry presents only the feelings and interjective toward the house.

Besides Cao Wenxuan, American poet Frost also has his own unique definition of poetry: Poetry is what has lost in translation. From the perspective of translation, this sentence amply points out the awkwardness and helplessness (Li Ming, 2010: 203). Second, it is important to know what is poetry translation appreciation and criticism. Before that, poetry translation should be firstly taken into consideration. Poetry is a synthesis of ideational feelings, situational image, rhymical tempo and internal expression style. Translation poetry should consider these aspects. Translators should strive to transmit the rhymical sound and the spiritual aspects of poetry when they are making the translation readable and easy to be understood. (宁会勤，2009：34)

Moreover, the translation of poetry needs the poetic talents of translator. Just as what the famous writer Lao She said:” Translators who have poetic talents should try to translate poetry in the form of poetry, and they also need to make readers not only know the contents of the book but also the way in which how such contents were conveyed.” (Lao She, 1984: 131) Such comments just explain that besides the expression of meaning, making the original poetry’s style characteristics reoccurring is extremely significant.

2.2 Principles of poetry translation

Now it is time to consider the principles of poetry translation. There is a saying that translation is difficult, especially the translation of literary works among which the poetry translation is far more difficult. This can be seen from the characteristic of poetry which resembles the peak of translation art, and the poetry translation needs to consider the beauty of meaning, sound and words. Therefore, the translation of poetry is a kind of sophisticated and integrate art. When it comes to the issue how to translate poetry, translators have their own unique opinions and perspectives. For example, Guo Moruo put forward the principle of “translating poetry with poetry”; Wen Yiduo supported the principle of “using the pen of poetry to translate poetry”.

Moreover, some other translators put forward that poetry translation has two principles. Principle one is that poetry translation should pay attention to avoid the commonization of language. That is to say if translators translate poetry with plain and common even inflexible words and expressions and ignore the unique characteristics of poetic language and the individual poet’s language characteristics, which would not only fail to keep the original poetry’s expressional style but also fail to convey the spiritual soul of the original poetry (Liao Siping, Zhang Yu, 2007: 53). The other principle prescribes that the poetry translation should avoid the nationalization of poetry form. For example, it would make the poetry translation neither fish nor fowl even vulgarization if we translate the foreign poetry into our Chinese neat and uniform poetry forms like a poem with five characters in a line or with seven characters in a line or even the folk song style compulsively (Liao Siping, Zhang Yu, 2007: 53-54)

Last but not least, poetry translation is a process of recreation. What does it mean? That is to say when translators are translating poetry, they not only need to maintain the original condition in which the poetry is written but also be able to be flexible appropriately（Liao Siping, Zhang Yu, 2007: 53）. As for this point, Song Yinghao professor in Tai Wan, China once said that in the process of translation the translators need to be invisible. And he also supported the principles of “translating poetry with poetry”. Actually, after having a thorough understanding of what is poetry translation and some of the principles of poetry translation, it is not so difficult for us to understand that poetry is an organic synthesis. Poetry itself is a life body. Therefore, the translation of poetry also needs to be a “life body”, and translators have to make the vivid situations that occur in the original poetry reoccurring in the translation versions poetry.

2.3 What is poetry translation appreciation and criticism

Later, there is no doubt that we need principles to prescribe our behavior of poetry translation appreciation and criticism. Some influential translators have put forward lots of meaningful poetry translation principles. Actually, the principles of poetry translation are one of the most important criteria of poetry translation appreciation and criticism. Under the guidance of such principles the translators have the possibility to smooth the process of translation without losing the original amaze of the poetry. At the same time, these important principles can also be used to check if the translators have obeyed them or not. Thus, one of the ways in which the critics do the literary criticism occurs. By the way, translator’s subjectivity can not be ignored at the same time. Because translation can be seen as a recreation process, thus the translators can make their subjectivity work in this process. Through the integrate consideration of the original poetry creation condition and the readers’ cultural background, translators are able to translate the poetry wonderfully thus making the purpose of transmitting culture and literature realized.