Comparative Study on the English Translation of Mountain Images and Water Images in Shijing from the Perspective of Three Beauties Theory

-- Take Translations by Xu Yuanchong and James Legge as Examples

Abstract

Shijing, the onset of ancient Chinese poetry and the earliest collection of poems worldwide, has a wide range of subjects and rich contents with the time-honored Chinese civilization and unique cultural aesthetic connotation. Its long-standing overseas translation not only provides abundant research materials for many sinologists, but also plays a positive role in the international dissemination of Chinese culture. Besides, image is the soul of poetry, and one of the recurring images in many poems in Shijing is “mountains and water”. With unique humanistic charm in mountains and water, it is key to conveying emotion and meaning in poetry to appreciate and reproduce its connotation in translation. Therefore, this paper first classifies the images of mountains and water in Shijing according to the theme, and then compares the translation of those images in Xu Yuanchong’s and Legge’s English translations of Shijing from three aspects, including the sense, sound, and form, so as to explore the cultural background and English translation rules of mountain images and water images. Generally speaking, both translations can convey the connotation of the original poem with its own distinctions. By simplifying and transforming images, Xu Yuanchong endows the translation with phonological and formal beauties with Chinese characteristics. Legge presents the beauty of images by adding vocabulary, which meets the requirements of rhythm, while lacking the simple aesthetics of the original poem in form. In addition to interpreting the images of mountains and water in Shijing, this paper reveals the differences between Eastern and Western languages and cultures, which sheds lights to the English translation of Chinese ancient poems and promotes the mutual learning and integration of Chinese and Western civilizations.