Abstract

Poetry translation is supposed to be the art of recreation. In China’s academic field of classical poetry translation, Xu Yuanchong has put forward his criteria, “Three Beauties”, which refer to “beauty in sense”, “beauty in sound” and “beauty in form”. A perfect poem translation must follow these three standards at the same time. However, any translation can not completely convey the sense beauty, sound beauty and form beauty of the original poem. Translated versions may have some advantages, and inevitably some disadvantages. Li Yu a very famous poet, created many popular poems. Among his works, the most famous one is Yu mei ren, and it has been translated into many different versions in other languages by lots of translators. This paper mainly deals with three English versions of Yu mei ren. Based on the comparison and the analysis of three versions from the perspective of Xu Yuanchong’s “Three Beauties”, this paper, hopes to help readers better understand different English versions, and provide them some possible skills of poem translation. 

Key words: Yu mei ren; poetry translation; “Three Beauties”; comparison

摘要

诗歌翻译就是艺术的再创造。在中国古典诗歌翻译领域，许渊冲提出了他的翻译理论，“三美论”，即意美、音美、形美。一个完美的诗歌翻译必须同时遵循这三个标准。但是任何翻译都不可能在传递原诗的意美、音美、形美三个方面做倒尽善尽美，总会有得有失。李煜是一位著名的词人，创作了许多脍炙人口的词，其中，最著名的一首是《虞美人》。许多翻译家都把它翻译成不同译本。本文主要研究《虞美人》的三种英译本。本文从许渊冲的“三美”论的角度对这几个英译本进行分析比较，希望能帮助读者更好的理解不同的英译本，并尽可能地给他们提供一些古诗翻译的技巧。

关键词：《虞美人》; 诗歌翻译; “三美”; 对比