Abstract

Poem translation is an important part of cultural communication. The special structure and rhyme of poems makes poem translation difficult. Some scholars even claim that poem is untranslatable. There are, however, still many good translated poems. What should be done in translating poems to keep the rhyme and flavor of the original? There are many answers presented by scholars, among which Xu Yuanchog’s theory is best accepted. Xu Yuanchong put forward the theory of poem translation as “Sanmei”(the beauty of sounds, forms and images), “Sanhua”(to make the translation easy to understand, equal to the original and far-reaching in meanings) and “Sanzhi”(to make the target readers understand, like and even enjoy the translation).
And Xu’s theory was particularly applied to the poem translation in the English version of A Dream of Great Mansion. This paper, therefore, takes the chrysanthemum poems from that great book as an example to discuss the poem translation skills on the basis of Xu’s theory.
The paper is divided into three parts. The first part discusses the significance and difficulties of poem translation; the second part is to introduce Xu’s theory with adequate examples; and the last part intends to explore the poem translation skills by analyzing Yang Xianyi’s translation of chrysanthemum poems in A Dream of Great Mansion..

Key words: poem translation; “ Sanmei”; “Sanzhi”; “Sanhua”.

摘  要

诗歌翻译对文化交流意义重大。然而诗歌独特的结构和韵律导致诗歌翻译困难重重，有些学者甚至提出了诗歌的不可译性。但即便如此，也有许多精彩的诗歌译文流传于世。那么，诗歌翻译怎样才能传达出原诗的韵律以及韵味呢？对于此问题，很多学者都给出了相应的回答，其中，许渊冲的翻译理论得到广泛的认可。其翻译理论包括：“三美论”，即诗歌翻译应该力求达到音美，形美，意美；“三化论”，即诗歌翻译应该遵循简化，深化，等化的原则；“三之论”，即诗歌翻译的目的是使目标读者得之，乐之，好之。许渊冲的翻译理论在杨宪益英译版《红楼梦》中得到了部分体现。本文将在此理论的基础上，结合英译本《红楼梦》中的咏菊诗来探讨诗词翻译技巧。
本文分为三个部分。第一部分讨论诗歌翻译在文化传播中的重要性以及诗歌翻译的困难所在；第二部分详细论述许渊冲的诗歌翻译理论并用许渊冲的诗词译本加以佐证；第三部分将选取杨宪益英译本《红楼梦》中的咏菊诗对诗歌翻译技巧进行进一步分析。

关键词：诗歌翻译；三美论；三化论；三之论