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12 魏兆妍 The Humanistic Trend in Western Translation Theory from the 14th to the 19th Century

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                             The Humanistic Trend in Western Translation Theory from the 14th to the 19th Century

                                                Wei Zhaoyan 魏兆妍 Hunan Normal University, China

Abstract

From the 14th century, Europe began to enter into the Renaissance, and the Christian world view gradually degenerated with the emergence of individual centered humanism. People who submitted to God were regarded as rational and unique individuals, emphasizing their creative potential and giving full play to their talents. With the invention of printing in the 15th century, education and schools began to be open to the public. Reading translated works from different countries was no longer a noble enjoyment. Words and information were transmitted in all directions and more quickly through translation. Translation was called the forerunner of the Renaissance. It can be said that without translation, there would be no European Renaissance and humanistic thought( the European Renaissance and humanistic thoughts didn’t appear, corrected by --Wu Jingyue (talk)) In Europe, the writers, thinkers and scholars in this period were also translators who knew several languages, ( and we can see that, corrected by --Wu Jingyue (talk)) translation and creation were closely linked. This paper will focus on the humanistic trend in western translation theory from the 14th to the 19th century, and will also enumerate the representative figures and their translation ideas in this period.

Key words

Humanistic trend, Western translation theory, Poetics of translation, National and world visions

1. Introduction

From the 14th century, Europe began to enter into the Renaissance. Dante, the last poet in the middle ages, completed The Divine Comedy in 1321. In Dante's mind, all human life experience, including life and death, must be explained by Christian faith in order to show its meaning and significance. This Christian worldview gradually degenerated with the emergence of individualism-centered humanism. All beings who submitted to God were regarded as rational, unique and creative individuals. In the past years, translators were servants attached to God. Now they have shifted from God to focusing on the translator. Personal development has become the goal and value of life. Although humanist thinkers, writers and translators still maintain the Christian faith, they put more emphasis on personal creative potential and give full play to people's strengths. The focus of translation activities in this period also shifted from the classics of the Christian Church to the translation of more secular humanistic works.

With the invention of printing in the 15th century, education and schools began to be open to the public. Reading translated works from different countries was no longer a noble enjoyment. Through the wings of translation, words and information were transmitted in all directions and more quickly. For example, Marco Polo (1254-1324) told the story of his travels in China, which spread all over the European continent through printed words. The invention of printing not only brought about a cultural revolution, but also a sharp increase in the number of translations. Translation is known as the forerunner of the Renaissance. It can be said that without translation, there would be no European Renaissance and humanistic thought. Take the role of translation in English literature for example: "Translation played a great role in the British Renaissance: first, as a pioneer, it was countless translated works that first caused the mental climate of humanism. Second, translation was still active in the era of the restoration of the king's government, but attention has turned to French works. In the intervening years, that is, in the half century from 1558 to 1603 when Queen Elizabeth was in office, translation activities were more frequent, and famous translations also appeared the most frequently, which constituted a translation climax in the whole history of English literature. " (Wang Zuoliang, He Qishen. A History of English Renaissance Literature. Beijing: Language Teaching and Research Press, 1996, p. 72.）In the Queen Elizabeth era, translation reached an unprecedented prosperity, and good translations of famous works continued to emerge. In the following 17th to 18th centuries, neoclassical literary translation surpassed the previous stage. Translation was particularly important to the development of modern English language, literature and culture.

In Europe, the writers, thinkers and scholars in this period were translators who knew several languages, translation and creation were closely linked. A large number of scholars and poets have expressed their opinions on translation. From the 14th to the 16th century, the most representative was Dante's "untranslatability of literature" in Italy (1265-1321); Erasmus of the Netherlands (1466 - 1536) relied on the translator's language knowledge in the translation of The Bible; The translation of German Luther (1482 - 1546) must adopt the language of the people; The translators in Dore’ s mind (1509-1546) in France must understand the original content, be proficient in two languages, avoid word for word translation, adopt popular form and pay attention to the "five translation principles" of beautiful style; Poetry translation in English Chapman' s(1559-1634) mind can not be stiff translation, and the poetry translation method of "rebuilding a new image" can be used.

From the 17th to the 19th century, the representative figures were as follows. Abranco of France: the translation method of “the beautiful unfaithful ones” which emphasized literariness and readability; Bartow (1731-1780) : accurate translation view of "the author is the master and the translator is the servant"; Dryden (1747-1841) of England: three translation principles of "literal translation, free translation and imitation translation"; Tytler (1747-1814): three translation principles of "the translation must completely reproduce the thought of the original work: the style and tone of the translation must be consistent with the characteristics of the original; the translation must be as smooth as the original." ; Humanistic thinker Herder (1744-1830) of German Romanticism: made a pioneering thinking on the language, nationality and the characteristics of relativism in translation. Goethe (1749-1832) of German: called the translator as "the prophet of the people"; Humboldt (1767-1835): expressed the views on translatability and untranslatability which had a great impact on the 20th century. The foreignization translation method of Schleiermacher (1768-1834) in the later stage has influenced the deconstructive translation theory of the 20th century. For the above representative figures and different translation views, this paper will focus on the humanistic trend and enumerate some of the representatives according to the development sequence of the history of western translation theory.

2. The "Rebels" Who Change the Traditional Concept of Translation

Since Jerome, the debate between literal and free translation has begun in the west. The dispute between them actually involves the question of whether translation should be equivalent to the original text, that is, faithfulness, which is also a thread running through western translation theory for more than 2000 years. Since the Renaissance, people have become more and more aware of their own subjectivity, but religious influence is everywhere all the time. As a translator, if he has any unconventional translation behavior, he may be persecuted by spirit and body, even lead to death. A history of western translation can be said to be written in the life and blood of translators to a certain extent.

Between 1536 and 1546, three translators died. Two of them were caused by translation work. They were French translation theorist Dolet, religious reformer and translator Martin Luther as well as British translator William Tyndale.

2.1 Etiene Dolet: Five Principles of Translation

In the history of western translation theory, the first humanist to systematically expound translation theory was Etiene Dolet(1509-1546). Dolet is a translator, printer and scholar. He is the first translator suffering from translation since the Renaissance. He is a learned, versatile and liberated translator. His interpretation of classics was regarded as walking between orthodoxy and paganism. The European Church has advocated for a long time that the translation of The Bible should be literal translation, especially the Roman Catholic Church supported the "correct" and conventional translation of The Bible . Any interpretation and translation that deviated from the classics may be regarded as heresy, criticized and prohibited, and some adventurous interpreters and translators suffered a horrible fate. In 1546, the Theological Seminary of Sorbonne University in France identified that Dolet added the phrase "whereas you will no longer be anything at all" without foundation in the translation of a paragraph about "existence after human death" in Plato's dialogue Axiochus, then he was burned alive at the stake. This paragraph is as follows:

The original text in Greek: Hoti peri men tous zôntas ouk estin, hoi de apothanontes ouk eisin. hôste oute peri se nun estin, ou gar tethnêkas oute ei ti pathois, estai peri se su gar ouk esei.

The French translation by Dolet: Pour ce qu'il est certain que la mort n'est point aux vivants: et quant aux defuncs, ilz ne sont plus: donques la mort les atouches encore moins. Parquoy elle ne peult rien sur toy, car tu n'est pas encores prest à deceder; et quand tu seras décédé, elle n'y pourra rien aussi，attendu que tu ne seras plus rien du tou. (The text in sixteenth century cited by Ballard and Copley Christie)

The translation in English:Since it is certain death is not at all among the living: and as for the dead, they no longer are: therefore, death touches them even less. And hence death can do nothing to you, for you are not yet ready to die, and when you have died, death will also not be able to do anything, since you will no longer be anything at all.

This paragraph by Plato is an obvious atheist view. It is close to the meaning of "how can you know death when you don't know life" (The Analects of Confucius). The original Greek version is abstruse and difficult to understand, and there are omissions in many places. It can't be translated without adding cohesive devices. The three words added in italic French and English in the text only play a role in connecting and do not change the meaning of the original text. Dolet's addition was accused of "blasphemy", because such translation was accused of "denying the eternity of the soul", and it was precisely because he "made" this fatal translation "mistake" that he was burned at the age of 37. This accusation was a typical "unnecessary" accusation. As a translator, Dolet only translated the meaning of the original text and did not understand it improperly. The key was that Plato described Aristotle's conversation, Sorbonne's clergy could not blame Plato, so they had to blame Dolet for adding the three French words “rien du tout” (nothing at all) , because these three words could not be found in Greek or Latin, the church accused him of misunderstanding Plato's intention, blaspheming the gods and not believing in eternity. So, the risk of translation arises.

Because Dolet was persecuted by the clergy to death, his "five principles on translation" was cherished by the western translation field. Dolet's "five principles on translation" came from The Way of Translating Well from One Language into Another (1540) The excerpts of the original text are as follows:

To translate well from one language into another requires in the main five things:

(1)In the first place, the translator must understand perfectly the sense and matter of the author he is translating, although he should feel free to clarifty obscurities.

(2)The translator should have a perfect knowldgwe of boh SL and IL, so as not to lessen the majesty of the language.

(3) The translator should avoid word for word renderings.

(4)The translator should avoid Latinate and unusual forms.

(5)The translator should assemble and liaise words eloquently to avoid clumsiness.(Robinson, Douglas. Western Translation Theory : from Herodotus to Nietzsche. Manchester : St. Jerome Publishing, 1997, pp.95~96.)

From the five translation principles put forward by Dolet, he advocated free translation, especially he didn't advocate rigid literal translation and paid attention to the beauty of the translation. Articles 1 and 2 can be regarded as the necessary conditions for translators. The latter three advocate that translators should use fresh language expressions, avoid using rare Greek or Latin words, but use natural and fluent forms in the target language in order to improve the social status and influence of French, Italian, German and Spanish after the disintegration of Latin. These five principles emphasized that the translator cannot follow the master like a slave, being obedient and using word for word translation method which show that the translator is poor in skills and lacks rich lexical expression. In Dolet's view, translation is the translation of meaning, not words. In order to express the author's intention, the translator has the right to adjust and reverse the sentence pattern of the translation.

2.2 Martin Luther: the Tongue of the Common Man

Martin Luther (1483-1546) is a German religious reformer and translator in the 16th century. As a translator of the German version of The Bible, he is known as the father of German language and literature. His discussion on translation is mainly recorded in The Circular Letter(1530).

For hundreds of years, people have been used to going to church to listen to The Bible, because under the control of Catholicism, ordinary people have no right to read it by themselves. Luther's translation of the obscure Latin Bible into contemporary popular German is a great revolution, which is as valuable as his religious revolution. When he translated the language of God into contemporary German, he hoped that the German version of the book would be converted into different dialects, put in people's hands and enter into everyone's heart. Once The Bible translated by Luther was published, ordinary people directly heard the call of God. Luther believed that the German version he translated must be clear and easy to understand. Therefore, he systematically formulated the translation principles. This popular and fluent translation method aimed to be free from the influence of previous established translations, because free translation was also a weapon for Luther to resist the church. His main translation principles are:

(1) The purpose and the original text that the reader cannot understand should be translated freely.

(2) When translating, we should give priority to the meaning and subject content of the text, and don't stick to the grammar of the original text.

(3) Try to use a language that is easy to understand by ordinary people.

(4) Metaphors and idioms in rhetoric can be translated into non figurative language.

(5) Adhere to the reader centered orientation.

In the use of the target language, Luther did not sanctify the target language, but broke the symbol system of it. Sometimes in order to inject vitality, Luther used the people's oral language to break the coherence of the target language and pay attention to people's personal understanding and personality, which undoubtedly strengthened the social communication of the translation. However, the fluency of the translation was not at the expense of the accuracy. Luther's Bible was also very accurate in information transmission. Because the language used by Luther in translating the Bible was a vivid language loved by the people, his translation was welcomed by the people, and has been spread for a long time. Luther's basic translation principle was “You must ask the mother at home，the children in the street, the ordinary man in the market and look at their mouth, how they speak,and translate that way; then they'll understand and see that you’re speaking to them in German.“(Munday, Jeremy. Introducing Translation Studies : Theories and Applications. London/New York : Routledge, 2001, p. 38.) So, easy to understand was the most fundamental purpose of Luther's translation.

2.3 William Tyndale: A Men Who Has Dedicated His Life to Translation

During the Renaissance, the Englishman who died for translation is William Tyndale (1494 - 1536). He is the most influential Bible translator in the English language. The three most famous Bibles ——Geneva Bible, The Douay-Rheims Bible and The King James' Bible in the 16th and 17th centuries are all influenced by the translation of Tyndale Bible, especially The King James' Bible.

Tyndale was born in Gloucestershire, England. He studied at Oxford University in his early years and taught at Cambridge University after graduation. Cambridge's humanistic thought shaped his religious thought. He believed that since religious teachings and practices come from The Bible, it is necessary for British people to read it in their own mother tongue. Inspired by Martin Luther's experience in translating the German version of it, Tyndale was determined to translate an English Bible. At that time, the British Conservatives led by Moore insisted that the law stipulated that the unauthorized translation of The Bible was punishable by death. Because Tyndale was persecuted by the British church, he had to flee to Germany, where religion was relatively free, to work as a translator. As a humanist, Tyndale exposed the hypocrisy of European religion. The church accused him of "weaving love and vain history and fables to poison young people". In 1536, Tyndale was arrested and burned. All in all, Tyndale's translated works were concise and simple, using popular English words and expressions, which pioneered the generation of English translation of The Bible.

What the enumerated translators have in common is that in order to spread knowledge and distinguish truth, they bravely explore the road that predecessors have not gone through, and can devote their whole life to the sacred cause of translation. At the same time, it can also be said that their translation experience and principles are written with blood and life.

3. The Incarnation of Muse: Poetics of Translation

Muse (Μουσαι in Greek, muses in Latin) is the general name of the goddess of science and art in ancient Greek mythology. It was born of the god Zeus and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. The number of Muses is uncertain, some people say there are three goddesses and others nine goddesses. Since the Renaissance, European poets, like stars, have lit the sky over Europe. These poets not only make poetry, but also translate classical poetry, seek inspiration from traditional literature and summarize poetry translation theory. This spectacle is unprecedented.

Western classical translation focuses on the works of ancient Greek and Roman poets Homer, Virgil and Ovid. These translations have greatly improved the form and content of European countries, especially British poetry art, and brought new creative techniques and skills. For example, the introduction of English poetry should first be attributed to the translation of sonnets. The original form of fourteen line lyric poem originated from Italy is abbaabba, cdecde (the last six lines can also be cdcdcd). This poetic style has been translated and introduced by Surrey, and then improved by Spencer and Shakespeare to become the English sonnet (abab eded efef gg).

Muse, the goddess of literature and art in the west, is fond of English poets. The translation works of Chapman, Dryden, Pope, Shelley and other poets fully reflect the principle of "translating poetry in the poetic way". Their poetry translation practice and theory have been perfectly combined to form a unique literary translation theory.

3.1 George Chapman: Decorate the Translation with Beautiful Words

George Chapman (1559-1634) is an English poet, dramatist and translator. Chapman is famous for translating Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. His translation inspires the British poet John Keats more than a century later (1815), so he writes On First looking into Chapman's Homer, which becomes a masterpiece through the ages.

He worshipped the warrior hero of the Agamemnon family in Greek mythology all his life, which can be seen in his works. This is one of the reasons why he chose to translate Homer's works. In 1611, he completed the translation of the Iliad in sonnets. In 1616, he finished translating the Odyssey in the poetic style of heroic antithesis. His translation has become one of the most popular works in the history of English literature and played a connecting role in the history of literature. For 200 years after its publication, its translation has been the standard English translation of Homer's works. Chapman's theory of translation criticism can be seen from his translation of the preface written in the Iliad:

That those translators stick in, that affect

Their word-for word traditions( where they lost )

The free grace of their natural dialect,

And shame their authors with a forced gloss)

More license from the words than may express

Their full compression, and make clear the author;

From whose truth, if you think my feet digress,

Because I use needful paraphrases...

( Extract from The Preface to the Reader of the Translation of Iliad)

From Chapman' s translation practice and theory, there are several principles worth summarizing: (1) adhere to translating poetry in poetic way. (2) oppose word for word translation and focus on free translation. (3) adopt the "interpretation" method, advocate that the translation should be decorated. (4) translator should try to show the author's intention. Chapman pays equal attention to translation practice and theory. On the one hand, he pays attention to summarizing translation experience, on the other hand, he has clear principles as translation guidance. At the same time, the deep study of Homer's works and the poetic flavor of poetry are also the reasons for his success. Now let's take a look at a passage in his translation of the Iliad:

All grave old man, and soldiers they had been, but for age

Now left the wars; yet Counselors they were exceeding sage

And as in well grown woods, on trees, cold spinier grasshoppers

Sit chirping and send voices out that scarce can piece our ears

For softness and their weaker faint sounds; so( talking on the tower )

These Seniors of the people sat, who, when they saw the power

Of beauty in the Queen ascend, even those cold-spirited peers,

Those wise and almost withered men, found this heat in their years

That they were forced( though whispering )to say: what men can blame.

The Greeks and Trojans to endure, for so admired a Dame,

So many miseries, and so long? (Iliad, iii, 159-169)

Chapman’ s translation was concrete and vivid, with abundant emotion. His rhythm was infectious. (Wang Zuoliang, He Qishen. A History of English Renaissance Literature.Beijing: oreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 1994, p. 85.) However, the addition method of Chapman was often criticized. For example, Homer asked Hector to say, "For well I know this in my mind and in my heart, the day will be, when scaled Troy shall perish." Chapman' s poem is:

And such a stormy day shall come，in mind and soul I know，

When scared Troy shall shed her towers, for tears of overthrow.

The translation is rhyming, antithetical and neat, but "mind and soul", "storm", "towers" and "teams" are added. Optimistically,the translator has rich imagination. Negatively, the translator's fantasy destroys faithfulness. In any case, Chapman' s translation style is magnificent and beautiful, reflecting the gorgeous rhetoric of the Renaissance translation and the translator's deep literary foundation. No wonder Keats felt like "seeing a new star surge into the horizon" . Homer's style is fresh, simple, clear, direct, vivid and powerful. Chapman strives to reproduce Homer's epic features in diction, sentence making and style. He has practiced poetry translation and summed up translation theory. This was rare in England from the 16th to 17th centuries: "the task of a competent and valuable translator is to abide by the sentences, rhetoric and language forms used by his original author, abide by his true meaning and depth, and then decorate them with rhetoric and language forms suitable for the language of the translation itself." (Wang Zuoliang, He Qishen. A History of English Renaissance Literature.Beijing: oreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 1994, p. 82.)

Nevertheless, because Chapman translated Homer's epic in sonnets and tried to create something in phonology, the sonnets still did not conform to the style of Homer's epic, but they made some progress compared with Milton's translation with blank poems. Chapman also translated Ovid' s Feast of Sound and Color . His free translation method can fully reflect the deep meaning of the original work and was the best way to translate Homer's poetry. Chapman regarded the translation of Homer's epic as a major event in his life and believed that he was born to translate Homer's epic. His poetry translation theory filled the gap of translation theory in the late 16th century and has been inherited and developed by poetry translators from the 17th to 18th centuries.

3.2 John Denham: Fluent Poetry Translation

John Denham (1615 - 1669) is the most famous poet and translator in England in the mid-17th century. When he was young, he went to Oxford to study law, but he never worked as a attorney. He becomes famous because he translated the epic Aeneas written by Virgil, an ancient Greek tragedy. Later, his poetry also makes him famous in the literary world.

Denham' s translation theory is mainly reflected in his two articles on translation. One is To Sir Richard Fanshawe upon his translation of pastor Fido (1648), and the other is The preface of his translation of Aeneas, The Destruction of Troy (1656) He believes that art expresses nature in a harmonious and elegant way, so the translator should go beyond the constraints of form and create a novel translation. The translation of literary works is different from the translation of religious and disciplinary works, the former can be less faithful, and the translation of Aeneas adopts the method of translating poetry in the poetic way, pays attention to the legal effect of poetry, and has achieved good results.

Specifically, Denham' s translation theories include:

(1) Denham follows a "neoclassicism" path ". The translation method pursues a new translation method, that is, the translator should innovate, especially in the charm of poetry. Translation should give full play to the advantages of the target language. This process of using the target language to accultrate the original text is also the domestication translation method. This innovative translation method is deeply influenced by the free translation method advocated by France in the 17th century, that is, the translation should be beautiful. Although Denham pursues the elegance and beauty of his translation, his translation is basically faithful. His free translation mainly focuses on the artistic conception or "poetry for poetry", rather than the translated vocabulary.

(2) Denham believes that the translator and the author enjoy the same status. As a poet and translator, he believes that the translator has the right to extract the core part from the original text and recreate it in the target language. If there is a key word in Denham's translation theory, it is "fluency", as if the translation is not like the translation, but more like creation. In this way, the sentence pattern of the original text can be rewritten, the unclear meaning can be clarified, the smooth poetic rhythm and form can be used, the irregular structure can be avoided, and the pause can be used to strengthen the coherence of poetic sentence patterns. Denham' s fluent translation makes people feel that reading his translation is not reading the translation, but reading the original English work. Therefore, he is known as "Virgil" in Britain.

(3) The translator has his own choice and motivation. Denham chooses the free translation method and the translation of Aeneas has its own purpose: the relationship between the king and his descendants in the Trojan story will remind the reader of Britain at that time. He hopes to give cultural support to the English monarch through the translation of such a work. There is an imaginary connection between Troy's pedigree and the defeated Caroline government at that time. This kind of ideological manipulation and rewriting confirms his translation It serves the royalists. Therefore, his translation is very flexible and has more freedom than other translators.

3.3 John Dryden: Three Principles of Translation

John Dryden (1631 - 1700), an English poet, translator and dramatist, is the most influential critic in Britain in the 17th century. His literary criticism has influenced the following two centuries. As a translation theorist, his discourse on translation is considered to be the most systematic in western translation theory before the 17th century.

The three translation types (1680) divided by Dryden and the three translation principles (1797) of Tytler all advocated to talk about translation in civilian rather than pretentious academic language, which is why their translation theory is still used today. As the "the first translation theorist" so far, Dryden' s translation views were mainly reflected in the translation of the Preface to Ovid' s Epistles. Dryden classified three types of translation as follows:

All translations,I suppose, may be reduced to these three heads.

(1)Fist( At first, corrected by --Wu Jingyue (talk)), that of metaphrase，or turning an author word by word, and line by line, from one language into another. Thus, or near this manner, was Horace his Art of Poetry translated by Ben Jonson.

(2)The second way is that of ( delate that of, corrected by --Wu Jingyue (talk))paraphrase, or translation with latitude, where the author is ( delate “is” , corrected by --Wu Jingyue (talk))kept in view by the translator, so as never to be lost, but his words are not so strictly followed as his sense; and that too is (it is admitted to, corrected by --Wu Jingyue (talk))admitted to be amplified, but not altered. Such is Mr. Walter' s translation of Virgil's fourth Aeneid.

(3)The third way is that of imitation, where the translator( if now he has not lost that name) assumes the liberty, not only to vary from the words and sense, but to forsake them both as he sees occasion; and taking some hints from the original, to run division on the groundwork, as he pleases. Such is Mr. Cowley' s practice in turning two Odes of Pindar, and one of Horace, into English.

Among the three translation methods, Dryden is most opposed to Ben Jonson' s word for word translation, that is, literal translation. It is considered that this translation method is like "tis much like dancing on ropes with fed legs", which mechanically imitates the original text, but can not be separated from the constraints of its grammar, sentence pattern and poetic rhythm, so that its semantics is obscure. As for the great freedom of imitation translation, the purpose of the translator is to imitate the previous works in subject content and literary form, neither translated words nor translated meaning. Therefore, literal translation and imitation translation are the two most extreme forms of translation, and translators should take warning. Free translation is the translation method advocated by Dryden. The so-called free translation means that the translator must have a limit of freedom. He should always see the author and not lose his way. From this point of view, Dryden insists that poetry translation must "translate poetry with poetry", that is, the person who translates poetry must be a poet, so that he can understand the charm of the original and better express it in the target language and aesthetic language.

The three classifications of Dryden' s translation have a great influence on the western translation theory in the 20th century. They are an indispensable part of western translation theory. His translation theory represents the peak of the development of English and criticism theory in the 17th century.

3.4 Alexander Pope: Translation of Homer Epic

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) is an important poet and translator in the Enlightenment period of the 18th century. His An Essay on Criticism (744 lines) is written in antithetical verses, expounds ( expounding, corrected by --Wu Jingyue (talk))the aesthetic principles of classical literature and art, and establishes Pope's position in the history of English literature. Pope became famous for translating Homer's epics and won a reward of 10000 pounds and a great reputation.

Pope's translation of Homer's epic is accused by translation critics of not rhyming and reading like an 18th century Englishman. In other words, Pope's translation of Homer's epic is not so much a reflection of Homer's style as Pope's own style. His translation is full of personal characteristics and idioms. But when discussing translation, Pope said that his translation is better than those full of translation cavity. His main translation views are recorded in the translation preface of the Iliad. Pope's translation theory is very similar to Dryden' s: (1) he advocates free translation and maintains the beauty of poetry translation. (2) it is the sacred mission of the translator not to add or delete arbitrarily in translation. (3) the relationship between literal translation and free translation is dialectical. Literal translation can not reproduce the beautiful meaning of the original text, but it is wrong to make up for it by hasty free translation. (4) servile loyalty to the literal meaning will only damage the poetic style of the original text. (5) the plain and clear style of Homer's epic in modern language is not a lesson. Translation should reflect the main characteristics of the original: when talking about the beauty and defects of the original, we should talk about the translation, which is the embodiment of the main characteristics of it. As long as the main parts of the original poem show the contents such as fables, etiquette and emotion, no translator will save and compress them out of his own prejudice. The same is true for the translation of every image, description and simile. If we save too much translation, it will weaken the main characteristics of the original poem.

In Pope's view, the translator should not only grasp the characteristics of the original text, but also deal with the idioms and metaphors in Homer's epic, strive to reproduce the image of the original text, and can not be arbitrarily deleted due to personal prejudice. The beautiful and noble poetic features of the original text should also be reproduced in the translation. Pope is often criticized for some affectation and arbitrary play. The accusation of the former may be related to Pope's neoclassicism. Arbitrary play is a major feature of some humanist translators.

Generally speaking, Pope adopts the domestication translation method to explain, understand and translate the original work with the poetic concepts of the Enlightenment period, in order to maintain a smooth and natural poetic flavor in the target language. Compared with the other two translators of Homer's epics Chapman and R. lattinmore, Pope's translation is generally very neat and elegant, reproducing the style of neoclassicism. Chapman' s translation is beautiful, while the translation of R. lattinmore, a translator in the 20th century, is fresh and casual. In general, Pope's translation of Homer's epic is neat and reproduces Homer's poetic flavor, charm to a certain extent.

4. The National and World Visions of Translation

The 17th century to the 19th century is the climax of the development of modern western translation theory. A large number of writers and translators with world reputation have sprung up in Britain, France and Germany. Generally speaking, the free translation school originated in France in the 17th century and had a great influence on Britain. There were many innovations in translation theory in Britain from the 17th to the 18th century. The discussion at this stage mainly focused on the translation of classical poetry. In Germany, with the emergence of “Stum and Drang, Storm and Stress” and Romanticism in the 18th and 19th centuries, German Conservatism has showed up.

The 19th century, represented by the "Stum and Drang, Storm and Stress", is a period of great development of German Conservatism, represented by the "German Romanticism", which is also a stage of the transition of literary and artistic forms from classicism to Romanticism, which can also be said to be the romanticism in the naive period. The central representatives of this movement are the famous writers Goethe and Schiller. Goethe's The Troubles of Young Witt is the representative work of this period, expressing the conflict of human inner feelings and the spirit of striving. This movement lasted for nearly 30 years, from 1765 to 1795, and then was replaced by the mature romantic movement. A large number of linguists, writers and translation theorists such as Herder, Goethe, Humboldt, Schleiermacher, Holderlin and Schlegel came on stage one after another. They translated a considerable number of classical works of ancient Greece and Rome, also translated and introduced a large number of works of other European countries (such as the translation of Shakespeare's plays). German literature in this period has won a great reputation all over the world. Due to the participation of the above-mentioned literature, German translation activities and translation research have also reached an unprecedented zenith, which has laid a solid foundation for western translation theory in the 20th century.

4.1 Language Shapes the National Identity: Johann Gottfried Herder and Wilhelm von Humboldt

The humanistic thoughts sweeping the whole Europe, such as humanism, classicism, enlightenment, “Stum and Drang, Storm and Stress” and romanticism, make the relationship between European countries closer and closer. These movements provide important conditions and environment for the birth of translation theory. Herder and Humboldt demonstrated the relationship between language, translation and national identity from the perspective of language.

Johann Gottfried Herder (1744 - 1803) is a pioneer of the German rapid movement. As a forerunner of the enlightenment movement, Herder always focuses on how to use translation to transform German literature. In his opinion, the growth of German national literature is inseparable from translation. His views on translation are scattered on the origin of language, on the more recent German literature and other works. These views on language and translation have a great impact on language education and translation circles. From the perspective of language, he believes that speech is invented by man, and language represents rationality: "Without language, man has no reason and without reason no language." (Rousseau, Jean Jacques and John Gottfried Herder. On the Oringin of Language. Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 1986, p. 121.) Herder's view of language nature opposes taking language as a simple tool and medium. He believes that language is a national organism, which can best reflect the national spirit and national soul (Volksgeist) , is the bond that forms the nation-state. Whoever loses his own language loses his identity and patriotism. Germans should be proud of their language and nation. Herder and Humboldt put forward that language determines thinking, which not only provides a basis for the self hypothesis theory two centuries later, but also gives a view of the uncertainty and untranslatability of translation buried the foreshadowing.

Herder opposes the deification of language and insists on explaining the generation of language from the perspective of naturalism. He believes that rationality is the key to the origin of language. He tries to provide a natural rather than reductionist explanation for human characteristics and creativity, and seeks the origin of language in human natural characteristics. Herder's natural reductionism is not only used to explain the origin of language, but also the power of natural interpretation is extended to all fields of culture to reflect the characteristics of human creation, such as art, religion, law, etc. Through the power of natural interpretation, they are included in a scientific world outlook. This language turning point fundamental. Its significance is that people begin to pay real attention to the problems of language itself, such as the essence of language, the relationship between language and rationality, how language can be expressed, etc. Then Humboldt inherited and developed Herder's view. Language blindness is no longer just a vassal of rationality, a simple tool. From then on, he began to get out of the influence of theology and gradually formed an independent philosophy of language.

Herder's views had a great impact on Humboldt.

Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835) is the most influential linguist, philosopher and educational reformer in the West.

Humboldt's main translation views are:

(1) Language determines thought and culture. A language is the reflection of real life. Language has unique national characteristics, and the languages of different nationalities reflect their cultural characteristics. Different languages reflect the world outlook of different nationalities. It emphasizes the reaction of language to thinking: language determines thought and mode of thinking, and different languages have different schemata to understand the world. Translation consists of different languages and forms different language schemata. Therefore, equivalence in translation is impossible.

(2) The more you know a language, the greater the distance between nations. This is because different nations have different world views and different language habits. From this point of view, because we are aware of the great differences between different languages, we believe that it is impossible to achieve complete equivalence. Therefore, mutual translation between languages is impossible.

(3) Translation should deeply understand the era, atmosphere and character of the original author, and strive to avoid the obscure side of the translation and ensure the readability of the translation.

(4) The phonological beauty of poetry and drama translation must be maintained. Meter pattern is the key to all beauty.

Humboldt' s contribution to translation theory is that he is aware of the tension and contradiction of translation. He does not recognize the existence of a universal conceptual system beyond language boundaries. Therefore, his view of translation was interpreted as the representative of untranslatability in the 20th century. Because there are two meanings of "ubersetzen" and "dolmesschen" in German translation, "understanding" always carries "pre-understanding", that is, with personal subjective vision or prejudice, it is impossible to completely reach a consensus between different individuals. "Dolmesschen" let us have the opportunity to enter the commonness of language, which enables translation to cross specific social and cultural factors, and it is possible to understand each other between languages, so there is a reason to seek equivalence in translation. This is Humboldt' s dualism of language and translation.

4.2 The Soaring Literary Translation: Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Friedrich Holdern

Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) is the greatest poet, translator and outstanding representative of Romanticism in Germany.

To sum up, Goethe believes that translation can be divided into three types.

(1) Facing different types of readers, we need different types of translation. In poetry and truth, he said, "if you want to influence the masses, a simple translation is always the best. Critical translations vying with the original really are of use only for conversations the learned conduct among themselves."(Lefevere, Andrew 1992: 75)

(2) Adaptation or imitation translation. "The second stage is that the translator translates contentedly according to his own wishes. Even if the translator tries to integrate himself into foreign situations, I would rather call this stage imitation stage."(Lefevere, Andrew 1992: 75)

(3) Pay attention to rhythmic literal translation sentence by sentence. Homer's Odyssey and Iliad translated by German Translator J. h. Voss made him famous overnight. His translation has beautiful rhythm and intonation and accurate choice of words and sentences. Although the public could not accept the strict literal translation rhythm at first, it gradually recognized it later. Goethe emphasizes that public taste can be shaped through translation.

Among all these three types of translation, Goethe most appreciates the literal translation that pays attention to rhythm, because as a poet, he takes into account the poetic characteristics such as meter pattern and rhythm, which are the true qualities of the original author. Goethe mentioned two principles of Translation: first, foreign writers move closer to the target language, so that his works look the same as the target language writers; Second, readers cross the border to adapt to foreign customs and language characteristics.

Goethe's translation theory is based on his romantic aesthetics. He believes that literal translation can not only convey the information of the original text, but also express the beauty of the translation.

Friedrich Holderlin (1770-1843) is the greatest lyric poet in the German Romantic period.

Holderlin advocates that every language of human beings is derived from the same basic language form, that is, what Benjamin called "pure language". Not only translation, but also creation should return to this ancient source. In translation practice, translators should adhere to literal translation, reflecting the heterogeneity of the original text. In modern poetics and translation studies, Holderlin' s language ontology is mainly based on the view of looking for "words beyond speech". This literal translation brings, of course, lexical obscurity, and Holderlin believes that the more obscure the translation, the more enlightening the tension. This poetic dialectics undoubtedly has a mystical point of view. It is very interesting that in the 20th century, people talked most about the essence of translation. The main point of view related to the essence of translation comes from Holderlin, a "firm guardian of letters" of the literal translation school. He created endless topics for translation. To some extent, Holderlin is the prophet of contemporary translation theory.

5. Conclusion

To sum up, as an important stage in the development of Western culture, humanistic trend cannot show up without the practice of cultural translation. As a part of the social thought at that time, translation thought is related to the social and cultural context in that period. Like other social trends at that time, translation thoughts in the period of the Renaissance and the Religious Reformation have played an important role in the evolution of the history of western translation, both returning to the original period and moving towards the new era. Humanistic trend is a turning point in the history of western translation. In short, the emergence of humanistic trend on the historical stage indicates that translation practice and theory have broken away from the "dark" Middle Ages and makes a huge step forward".

References

Lefevere, Andrew. eds. (1992) Translation/History/Culture: A Source Book. London : Routledge.

Munday, Jeremy. (2001) Introducing Translation Studies : Theories and Applications. London/New York : Routledge.

Robinson, Douglas. (1997) Western Translation Theory : from Herodotus to Nietzsche. Manchester : St. Jerome Publishing.

Rousseau, Jean Jacques and John Gottfried Herder. (1986) On the Oringin of Language. Chicago : The University of Chicago Press.

Wang Zuoliang, He Qishen 王佐良、何其莘(1996). 英国文艺复兴时期文学史 A History of English Renaissance Literature. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社 Beijing: oreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

Wang Zuoliang, He Qishen 王佐良，何其莘(1994). 英国文艺复兴时期的文学史 A History of English Renaissance Literature 北京：外语教学与研究出版社 Beijing: oreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

Written by --Wei Zhaoyan (talk) 08:38, 9 December 2021 (UTC)

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