英汉翻译学期论文

学期论文题目: __

学 院 外国语学院

专 业 英语专业

班 级 ___ XXXXXXXXXXX_______

学 号 XXXXXXXXXX

姓 名 XXXXXX

指导教师 XXXX

教务处制

二Ｏ一三年一月七日

C-E Translation of

shijing·xiaoya·caiwei

By

XXX

Under the Supervision of

XXX

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Term Paper

For English-Chinese Translation

School of Foreign Studies

Jan. 7, 2013

ABSTRACT

C-E Translation of

shijing·xiaoya·caiwei

XXX

shijing is the earliest collection of poems in the world; caiwei is selected from xiaoya, and is an aulic song. The C-E translation of shijing can be traced back to the 18th century, and until now, there has been many translators both from China and abroad translating it.

The thesis is divided into three chapters. Chapter one analyzes the poetry through its theme, style and artistry. Chapter two discusses its translations by predecessors, and analyzes their differences. Chapter three is the author’s personal opinions on its translation.

Key words: caiwei; translation; different versions; personal opinions

摘要

《诗经·小雅·采薇》的汉英翻译

XXX

《诗经》是世界上最早的诗集，《采薇》选自《诗经》中的“小雅”，是宫廷乐歌。其中的“昔我往矣，杨柳依依。今我来思，雨雪霏霏”被称为《三百篇》中最佳诗句之一。而《诗经》的汉英翻译，可追溯到18世纪，至今已有中外数名翻译学家对其进行翻译。

本文分为三个章节。第一个章节通过《采薇》的主题，艺术手法等对其进行分析。第二章探讨了前辈们对其的翻译，分析不同译本的不同之处。第三个章节是作者个人的翻译观点。

关键词：采薇；汉英翻译；不同译本；个人观点

Introduction

Shijing has 305 poems, and can be divided into three parts, feng, ya, and, song. caiwei is selected from xiaoya, but it also use overlapping syntactical structure and bixing technique like guofeng. This poem mainly shows frontier soldiers’ lives and emotions, and expresses dissatisfaction for the war and longing for home. The first three parts set off the long time away home and the desire for home by the growth of wei, which is very vivid and appropriate. The forth part shows the soldiers’ discipline through full bloom of changdi. The sentence “昔我往矣，杨柳依依。今我来思，雨雪霏霏。 行道迟迟，载渴载饥。我心伤悲，莫知我哀！”(“When I left here, willows shed tear. I come back now, snow bends the bough. Long, long the way; Hard, hard the day. My grief overflows. Who knows? Who knows?”) in the last part respectively shows the scenery and the emotion when going to war those years and when surviving at present. This sentence is considered to be the best-known one in shijing ever.

The origin of English versions of Book of Poetry can date back to the 18th century. The English versions have been a part of international communication. The research on the various versions studies how Book of Poetry spread in the world as well as their development. (Han 12)

There are several versions of the translation of predecessors, and they all have their own strong points, so it is hard to judge which one is the best. The author can only express some superficial views by their forms of expression, aroma and styles. The thesis discusses different translations of Xu Yuanchong, Wang Rongpei, James Legge, and Arthur Waley. Professor Xu called himself as “书销中外六十本，诗译英法唯一人”, and he created a theory of “three beauties”, namely, “meaning beauty, sound beauty, form beauty”. Foreign scholars and readers all speak highly of his poetry translations. Professor Wang has made breakthrough progress in terms of C-E translation of Chinese classical literature and comparison between Chinese and Western cultures and so on. He is well up in poetry translation, and holds an idea of “要给人原诗的生动逼真的印象，需要尽可能保持原诗的风貌，也就是通常所说的以诗译诗” (To give vivid expression of the original poem, and as much as possible to maintain the original style of poetry, which is commonly referred to as poetry to poetry translation). James Legge is a famous sinologist in modern England, and is the first people who studies and translates Chinese classics systematically. He has made a great contribution for the diffusion of Chinese Confucian classics. Arthur Waley is also a famous sinologist in United Kingdom. The Encyclopedia Britannica describes him like this: "he was the most outstanding orientalist in the first half of the 20th century, and also the most outstanding translator who translated oriental languages into English.........He was a poet and a innovator of poetry. Thanks to his translations, it became easier for Western readers to understand Chinese literature.”

This thesis is only a try to express some ideas of translating caiwei, and can not be comparable with the masters’ work. The author gives some views on the poem’s rhetorical devices, technique of expression and its rhythm. In the end of the thesis, the author attempts to translate this poem using the predecessors’ versions for reference.

Chapter One

Analysis of Caiwei

Caiwei is a poem selected from shijing·xiaoya·lumingzhishi. There are various versions about its creative age. But according to its content and other historical records, it is probably the work during the age of Zhouxuan king. Xianyun (the Huns) had been very powerful, and they often invaded the Central Plains, which brought disaster to the people living in the North. In terms of the content of caiwei, it should be written when soldiers came back from the battleground. The poem expresses soldiers’ hard life and their nostalgia. The poem is reproduced below.

采薇采薇，薇亦作止。曰归曰归，岁亦莫止。 靡室靡家，玁狁之故。不遑启居，玁狁之故。采薇采薇，薇亦柔止。曰归曰归，心亦忧止。 忧心烈烈，载饥载渴。我戍未定，靡使归聘。采薇采薇，薇亦刚止。曰归曰归，岁亦阳止。王事靡盬，不遑启处。忧心孔疚，我行不来！彼尔维何？维常之华。彼路斯何？君子之车。戎车既驾，四牡业业。岂敢定居？一月三捷。驾彼四牡，四牡骙骙。君子所依，小人所腓。四牡翼翼，象弭鱼服。岂不日戒？玁狁孔棘！昔我往矣，杨柳依依。今我来思，雨雪霏霏。行道迟迟，载渴载饥。我心伤悲，莫知我哀！

We gather fern which springs up here. Why not return now ends the year? We left dear ones to fight the Huns. We wake all night; the Huns cause fright. We gather fern so tender here. Why not return? My heart feels drear. Hard pressed by thirsty and hunger worst. My heart is burning for home I’m yearning. Far from home, how to send word now? We gather fern which grows tough here. Why not return? The tenth month’s near. The war not won, we cannot rest. Consoled by none, we feel distressed. How gorgeous are the cherry flowers! How great the car of lord of ours! It’s driven by four horses nice. We can’t but hie in one month thrice. Driven by four horses alined, our lord before, we marched behind. Four horses neigh, quiver and bow ready each day to fight the foe. When I left here, willows shed tear. I come back now, snow bends the bough. Long, long the way; Hard, hard the day. My grief overflows. Who knows? Who knows? (Xu 182)

This poem is written during Western Zhou dynasty, and is the thought of a soldier who is on his way home just from the battleground. And it also expresses his passion for the country. This poem describes such scenery: it was a cold sleeting winter, a soldier who just came back from the battleground walked alone on the way home. The road was bumpy, and the person was hungry and thirsty. However, home was close. He recollected the days of guarding frontiers. At this moment, all sorts of feelings welled up in his mind, so came out this poem.

The whole poem has six sections, and could be divided into three levels. The preceding three sections are the first level, which is a recollection of his nostalgia and a narration of reasons for why cannot go home. The preceding four sentences express homesick feelings by clarifying meanings using repetition of reduplicated words and by advancing in regular order. This sentence reflects the hard lives of frontier soldiers. “Fern which springs up here”, “tender here”, “tough here” depict vividly the growth of Wei. They show the lapse of time and the long years of garrison, as well as “Why not return now ends the year?” and “The tenth month’s near.” They have a strong desire for home, but for the reason of garrison, they could not go home. This really makes a soldier with a limited life worried. The last four sentences give a reason for why he can not go home, and the fundamental reason is Xian Yun. Thus, one hand is the longing for home; another hand is the consciousness for fighting. They are two contradictory feelings which constitute the main key of the poem.

The forth and the fifth sections describe the nervous life of marching and fighting. And the emotion also changes from distress to excitement. The previous four sentences in the forth section show the sense of pride specific to soldiers. And the following sentences describe the scene of fighting focusing on the chariots, and then depict the scene of fighting in detail focusing on soldiers.

We can see from the contradictory emotions throughout the poem that the soldier has a strong responsibility as well as a longing for home. So it is very natural to recall the garrison life on the long way home. The main emotions enveloping the whole poem are nostalgia. The snow coming unexpectedly awakes the soldier from his memory and then to a deeper sadness. “昔我往矣，杨柳依依。今我来思，雨雪霏霏。”(“When I left here, willows shed tear. I come back now, snow bends the bough. Long, long the way; Hard, hard the day. My grief overflows. Who knows? Who knows?”) is a description of scenery, and also an expression of the soldier’s nostalgia. During the changes of “today” and “yesterday”, “come” and “go”, the soldier feels the lapse of time, and the negate of life made by war, thus creates an atmosphere of sadness for us. “My grief overflows. Who knows? Who knows?” The whole poem ends up with a sigh over lonely and helpless.

In terms of arts, “When I left here, willows shed tear. I come back now, snow bends the bough. Long, long the way; Hard, hard the day. My grief overflows. Who knows? Who knows?” is considered to be the best sentence in three hundred poems. The theme is sober. The poem is lined with impressive natural scenery description: the growth of wei, the tender of wei, the strong of wei, the blossom of changdi, the willow, and the snow. Here are the true thoughts of soldiers, and the distressed emotions do not diminish its value as a patriotic poem. On the contrary, this reflects the plainness of people with understandable thoughts. It is this pure authenticity that gives the poem a strong vitality and appeal.

In terms of writing, it uses detail description, feeling and setting blended, qixing and harmonious rhythm, and makes the content and theme deepen step by step, thus strengthen its musical beauty and rhythmical beauty. There are narration, discussion, scenery, expression and psychological description in it, and all in an appropriate way. So caiwei is definitely one of the best poems in shijing.

Chapter two

Analysis of different translations

Poetry is a literary style that reflects social lives with a compact language, vivid rhythm and special connotation, and it contains the poet’s personal emotions and imaginations. Because of all the above, poetry is difficult to translate. Most poems in shijing are Chinese classical poems with lines of four characters each which rhyme with each other every other sentence, but there are still changes in syntactical structure, including two characters, three characters, five characters, six characters, seven characters, and eight characters. The poems also use a lot of reduplication, alliteration, and vowel rhyme which strengthen the vitality and artistry of language. The thesis chooses the last part of the poem to analyze the style of different translations.

At first, when we set out,

The willows were fresh and green;

Now, when we shall be returning,

The snow will be our marching;

We shall hunger; we shall thirst.

Our hearts are wounded with grief,

And no one knows our sadness.

---------tr. By James Legge

James Legge was born at Huntly, Aberdeenshire, and educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and then Kings College, Aberdeen. After studying at the Highbury Theological College, London, he went in 1839 as a missionary to China, but remained at Malacca three years, in charge of the Anglo-Chinese College there. The College was subsequently moved to Hong Kong, where Legge lived for nearly thirty years. A Chinese Christian, Keuh Agong accompanied Legge when he moved in 1844. He returned home to Huntly, Aberdeenshire, in 1846–7, taking with him three Chinese students. Legge and the students were received by Queen Victoria before his return to Hong Kong. (Wikipedia)

“这首译诗忠实地再现了原文的字面意义，使译文读者易于直接体会到诗的意境, 有‘身临其境’之感”(“This version faithfully expresses the meaning of original poem, and let the readers know the artistic conception of the poem, and they could also have an immersed sense”)(Ding 50). Legge’s version is the representative of prose-style translation of shijing. His version was the first translation of shijing published in Hong Kong in 1871. There were detailed notes and comments apart from the translation, and it became the basis of the later ones.

Long ago, when we started,

The willows spread their shade.

Now that we turn back,

The snow flakes fly.

The march before us is long,

We are thirsts and hungry.

Our hearts are stricken with sorrow,

But no one listen to our plaint.

----------tr. By Arthur Waley

This version is based on iambus, but not very strict. There are no metrical feet, but more rhythmical than Legge’s.

His many translations include A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918), Japanese Poetry: The Uta (1919), The No Plays of Japan (1921), The Tale of Genji(published in 6 volumes from 1921-33), The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon (1928), The Kutune Shirka (1951), Monkey (1942, an abridged version of Journey to the West), The Poetry and Career of Li Po (1959) and The Secret History of the Mongols and Other Pieces (1964). Waley received the James Tait Black Memorial Prizefor his translation of Monkey, and his translations of the classics, the Analects of Confucius and The Way and its Power (Tao Te Ching), are still regarded highly by his peers. Dutch poet J. Slauerhoff used poems from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems and More Translations from the Chinese to write his 1929 adaptation of Chinese poetry, Yoeng Poe Tsjoeng.

These translations are widely regarded as poems in their own right, and have been included in many anthologies such as the Oxford Book of Modern Verse 1892-1935, Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse and Penguin Book of Contemporary Verse (1918-1960) under Waley's name.(Wikipedia)

Shijing translated by Waley is a representative of blank verse. Waley translated “杨柳依依” into “The willows spread their shade”. These rhetorical devices of personification remind us of lush willows stretching out and shade the ground. This style is more close to the original poem.

When I set out so long ago,

Fresh and green was the willow.

When now homeward I go,

There is a heavy snow.

The homeward march is slow,

My hunger and thirst grow.

My heart is filled with sorrow;

Who on earth will ever know.

---------tr. By Wang Rongpei

This version combines meaning and rhythm ingeniously, using [əu] as the rhyme. Thus expresses a feeling of sorrow and is in accordance with the difficult pace. This version is closest to original poem in terms of “three beauties”, and is identical with the theory “closest natural equivalence” put forward by Nida, a famous western translator.

When I left there,

Willow shed tear.

I came back now,

Snow bends the bough.

Long, long the way;

Hard, hard the day,

Hunger and thirst

Press me the worst.

My grief overflows.

Who knows? Who knows?

---------tr. By Xu Yuanchong

Professor Xu’s version is very simple. There are four syllables each line, which is same as the original poem. He translated “行道迟迟，载渴载饥。” into “long, long the way; hard, hard the day. Hunger and thirst press me the worst.” This version has come to a point of zenith both in beauty of meter and rhyme. The sentence “Snow bends the bough” vividly describes the state of trees overburdened by snow, which is full of charms. And this also implies the freezing cold of the weather, adding difficulties to the journey.

These are analysis of different translations of caiwei, however, different people may hold different ideas, because it is very hard to translate poetry perfectly. If the version could convey the connotation, beauty of poetry and stick to the principle of “faithfulness, expressiveness, elegance”, this could be a successful translation.

Chapter three

The author’s personal views

The above translations all reproduce the poem’s original meanings, but there are still some differences. Time in the first sentence in the last part is past, and the second is today. So the tense of the first sentence should be past tense, and the second should be present tense. But Legge used future progressive to replace present tense, however, this seemed a little affected. Waley and Leege both translated the last sentence “我心伤悲，莫知我哀” (“my grief overflows. Who knows? Who knows?”) into declarative sentence which was faithful to the original poem in form and content. Waley’s version seems less vivid compared to the others in terms of expressing artistic conception and verve. Xu’s version is concise and cadenced. And he conformed to the principle of “three beauties” he pursed all the time.

A text to be translated is like a particle in an electric field attracted by the opposing forces of the two cultures and the norms of two languages, the idiosyncrasies of on writer (who may infringe all the norms of his own language), and the different requirement of its readers, the prejudices of the translator and possibly of its publisher. (Newmark 19)

According to the predecessors’ translations, the author gives some personal views on caiwei’s translation. Below is the final version.

Yesterday when I out,

Willows swung in the wind;

Today when I come back,

Snow flies in the air.

March is so long and hard,

That I feel hungry and thirsty.

No one could read my sorrow

Just in my heart.

This is a prose-like version without meter or rhythm. The first two sentences adapt the same syntactical structure which is the similar style to the original poem. It conveys the meaning of the poem, but lacks the beauty of rhythm and artistic appeal. The two adjectives “hungry” and “thirsty” merely describe the situation and state facts, and cannot compare with Legge’s “hunger and thirst”. This is only the author’s personal opinion, if it has any unreasonable point, please oblige the author with your valuable comments.

Conclusion

Translating poetry could face a lot of trouble in forms, and this is self-evident. But, the real perfect translations could throw all restraints, and show the original poetry’s verve and rhythm. If a translation could be read thousands of times by readers, this is certainly a good version. When translating poetry, one should grasp the poetry’s artistic conception and meter, and use all skills flexibly, thus convey the poetry’s beauties to a maximum limit.

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《诗经·小雅·采薇》的汉英翻译