摘 要

《诗经》是我国第一部诗歌总集。它不仅是中华文学辉煌灿烂的源头，也是世界文学宝库一颗绚丽的珍珠。《诗经》收录了从公元前11世纪到公元前6 世纪创作的305首中国诗歌，并分为“风”“雅”“颂”三大类。《国风》是其中最重要的一部分，收集了当时15个地区的民歌，反映了当时不同地区人们的生活习俗。随着1871年英国传教士理雅各的《诗经》英译本的问世，国内外开始出现越来越多的古诗词曲英译作品。本文以理雅各和汪榕培的英译本为例，结合译者的自身经历和翻译动机对两种译本所采用的翻译策略进行了对比分析。

本文共分为五个部分。第一部分简单介绍了《诗经》在中国的历史地位及其文化价值。第二部分回顾了《诗经》翻译及其译本研究在国内外的发展状况。第三部分以具体诗歌为例对比了理雅各和汪榕培翻译版本的不同，并分析了各自所采取的翻译策略。第四部分讨论了促使两位译者在译本中采用不同翻译策略的原因。最后，作者对本文探讨的问题和结论进行了简要的总结，并指出了研究的不足之处。

关键词：《诗经·国风》 ；英译策略；译本对比

Abstract

The Book of Poetry is the first comprehensive anthology of poems in China. It is known as the source of Chinese literature and the most dazzling pearl of Chinese literature. Composed of three parts, namely “Regional Songs”, “Odes” and “Hymns”, The Book of Poetry collects 305 poems dating from the early West Zhou Dynasty to the middle Spring and Autumn Period. Among the three parts, “Regional Songs” is the first and the most essential one. It reflects the social life and customs of ordinary people. With the appearance of Legge’s translation version of The Book of Poetry in 1871, more and more poems were translated into English at home and abroad. The author focuses on “Regional Songs”, makes a comparative study on two English versions translated by James Legge and Wang Rongpei respectively, and discusses their translation strategies. With the comparison and discussion of various translation strategies, the paper sheds more light on the cross-cultural communication of Chinese classics.

In general, this paper is divided into five sections. First, it briefly introduces the historical status and cultural value of The Book of Poetry in China and World. In the second section, it makes a literature review about a variety of translation versions and subject-related research in the east and west. The third section is devoted to a comparative study between Legge’s version and Wang Rongpei’s version in terms of translation strategies with solid evidence. The fourth section discusses the reasons why the translators adopt different translation strategies in their versions. Last but not least, it makes a short summary about the features of their translation strategies, states the significance of the present research, and points out its weakness. To carry out this study is meant to offer some insights into conveying Chinese culture to the Western world.

Key Words: “Regional Songs” in The Book of Poetry ; Translation Strategies ; Translations Comparison

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Literature Review 3

2.1 The English translations of The Book of Poetry 3

2.2 Previous studies on the translation of The Book of Poetry 4

3 Analysis of Different Translation Strategies 6

3.1 Differences in Legge’s amp; Wang’s translations with evidence 6

3.2 Different translation strategies of Legge’s and Wang’s translations 9

4 Motivation-Oriented Discussion of Different translation strategies 11

4.1 Motivation-oriented discussion of Legge’s translation strategies 11

4.2 Motivation-oriented discussion of Wang Rongpei’s translation strategies 12

5 Conclusion 14

References 15

Acknowledgements 17

On Translation Strategies of Regional Songs in The Book of Poetry

—— A Case of Wang Rongpei's and Legge's Versions

1 Introduction

The Book of Poetry is the first collection of poems in China. It includes 305 poems which are popular in society from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period. Many of its works depict genuine landscape picture of society at that time, and many stories show the love and marriage between young people. In addition, the poems are mainly formed from four-character stanzas, including harmonious in rhythm, fresh in wording, concise in style and pleasant to read. On the one hand, it is the first milestone of Chinese realistic literature (Li, 2016:65). Because The Book of Poetry focuses on the reality and expresses the ordinary people’s real feelings. This creative attitude makes it have a strong and deep artistic charm. On the other hand, it is the foundation of Chinese poetry and an invaluable asset of Chinese culture. Stephen Owen once praised it as “the classic of the human heart and the human mind ( Cf. Waley, 1969:1).”

According to different genres, The Book of Poetry is divided into three parts, namely “Regional Songs”, “Odes” and “Hymns”. First, “Regional Songs” is the most important part in the whole book. It consists of 160 folk songs which are sung by the ordinary people in fifteen states. Most of them describe the working people’s daily life and internal feelings, such as their love, marriage, happiness and sadness. In addition, they usually convey the subjects in a simple and plain way, so that readers can perceive the pure heart of the ancient people. As Confucius once said, “The three hundred poems may be summarized in only one sentence—Thought without depravity (Chen amp; Du,1990:1).” Second, “Odes” mainly collect the court music. It contains “Book of Odes” and “Book of Epics”. “Book of Odes” contain altogether 74 poems, reflecting the aristocratic life at that time. “Book of Epics” is composed of 31 epics which record some historic events and the rulers’ life. Especially, the composers usually are the nobleman and they sing these poems at their banquets or palaces. Third, “Book of Hymns” is the last section which consists of 40 hymns. These poems are usually sung in sacrifices to the Gods or ancestors held by the rulers of the states.

During the Han Dynasty and previously in the Zhou Dynasty, The Book of Poetry was officially recognized as one of the “Five Classics”. The three major artistic techniques which are used in The Book of Poetry are “Fu”, “Bi”, “Xing”. “Fu” is the direct narrative method. “Bi” includes metaphor and simile. “Xing” is to “evocate” or to “associate”, that is, beginning a song by means of evoking images quite apart from the main subject (Xu, 2009:14). The application of “Fu”, “Bi”, “Xing” is an important symbol of the artistic characteristics of The Book of Poetry.

The Book of Poetry has a lofty position and far-reaching influence in the history of Chinese literature. It has laid the fine tradition of the Chinese poetry and has nurtured generations of poets. The passion on real life, the strong sense of politics and morality, and the positive attitude toward life which are reflected in The Book of Poetry directly influence the creation of later poets. The Book of Poetry also has a profound influence on the poetic structure, language and art of later generations.

2 Literature Review

As the source of Chinese literature, The Book of Poetry occupies an important position in Chinese traditional culture. It attracts the attention of poetry-lovers, scholars and researchers both in the east and west during the cultural exchange at the beginning stage. In this chapter, the author makes a literature review about a variety of its translation versions and subject-related research in the east and west.

2.1 The English translations of The Book of Poetry

The translation activity of The Book of Poetry has a history of more than 300 years. As we all know, the primary target for the translation of The Book of Poetry was not for literary appreciation, but for missionary purposes. The Book of Poetry, as one of the Confucian classics, was translated a large number of versions by missionaries. Because they wanted to gain the sympathy and support of Chinese people and convert them into Christian.

In the early 18th century, Sir William Jones firstly translated some poems which are selected from The Book of Poetry into English. And his translation includes the prosy version and poetic version. In 1871, the first unabridged English version of The Book of Poetry was published, which was translated in the form of prose by James Legge. He was a Scottish sinologist and missionary. His translation purpose is to successfully spread Christianity among the Chinese people. Because he knew little about Chinese culture, history and Confucianism in particular, he made a long preface with 182 pages and plenty of annotations, footnotes to clearly explain the meaning. He mainly translated the meaning of The Book of Poetry in a prose style which would facilitate the foreign missionaries to understand. What’s more, this version was regarded as the “standard version” in the English world (Yuan, 2014:133).

Until the 20th century, the foreigners’ research perspective of The Book of Poetry was shifted. They viewed The Book of Poetry as a poem anthology rather than Chinese classics. And it was translated mainly by sinologists and writers. Arthur Waley, a British sinologist, published The Book of Songs:The Ancient Chinese Classic of Poetry in London in 1937. And Ezra Pound’s version, which was published by Harvard University Press in 1954, was Shih-ching:The Classic Anthology Defined by Confucius.