Yu Bai

◆Abstract：The River-Merchant's Wife： A Letter is a translation work of Ezra Pound  for Li Bai's The Long Steady Going. “Three Beauties”， a standard translation theory proposed by Mr.Xu Yuanchong， to some extent， coincides with Pound's creative translation method. This paper attempts to make a textual analysis of Pound's translated version from the perspective of the “Three Beauties”， and objectively evaluate his accuracy and errors in translation strategies， so as to show that it is not easy to achieve the consistency of the three beauties in translation.

◆Key words：translation work;three beauties;textual analysis;consistency

1 Introduction

Ezra Pound is generally considered the poet most responsible for shaping and promoting a modernist aesthetic in poetry. In the early phases of 20th century， he conducted a seminal exchange of work and ideas between American writers and British writers， and was known for the generosity with which he advanced the work of many major contemporaries like James Joyce， Robert Frost， W.B.Yeats， T.S.Eliot and Ernest Hemingway.

The River-Merchant's Wife： A Letter is Ezra Pound's translation of Li Bai's The Long Steady Going. The Long Steady Going belongs to folk songs in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River， and was included in The Miscellaneous Folk Poetry Collection in Tang dynasty. In west bank of the Yangtze River people named those open grounds between mountains as “gan”（干） in Chinese. The background scene in this poem lies in smooth vacant lands in south Nanjing in Tang dynasty and was divided into Big Chokan（大長干） and Small Chokan（小长干） by common folk. First person in narration is applied， with the techniques in writing folk song—narration with ages and expression of loving thought in four seasons in turn in this poem. Via those techniques the author combined the living scenes of the heroine logically thereby formed a complete artistic structure. This poem describes that a puny girl lived in south China who had expressed implicitly her ordinary but sentimental loving thought for her husband worked outside. Her sincere and unswerving love touched almost everyones heart. Poet Immortal Li Bai is a talent who learn widely from others' strong points that he lays a simple and unadorned life picture without any affectation ahead of us.

Mr. Xu Yuanchong's translation works have promoted the exchange of Chinese and Western cultures and promoted the excellent Chinese literary works to the world， especially his translation of Chinese classical poetry. In addition， he also puts forward a series of translation theories， which enriched the traditional Chinese translation theories and promoted the development of translation studies. Xu Yuanchong's translation theory is mainly based on his principle of "Three Beauties". According to his theory， translated poems should touch the readers' hearts just like the original poems， which means beauty in artistic conception matters; like the original poem who has a pleasant rhythm， this is the beauty in rhythm; and try to keep its form the same as original poem as possible so as to maintain the beauty of form. Mr. Xu once talked about the relationship between the "Three Beauties" in his article on translated poetry， "beauty of artistic conception" is the most important， followed by "beauty in rhythm"， and "beauty in form" comes last.

2 Beauty in Artistic Conception

The first line of this poem just has mentioned “hairstyle”， through which the author intends to inform the two kids ages so as to recall the innocent childhood. But this is tough for foreigners who know little Chinese culture. At first， Pound chose American word “bangs”， this means “hair cut straight across forehead” in English-Chinese Bilingual Dictionary. Through weigh and consider， he finally selected specific explanation of “bangs” and translated the first line into “While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead”. Although Pound just employed the dictionary explanation， but the word “still” emphasizes on time and state， brings heavy poetical atmosphere to the whole sentence and a more similar artistic conception with the original one. He translated “兩小无嫌猜” into “Two small people， without dislike or suspicion.” Actually， this way of translation evidently distinguishes children and adults. It depicts the innocent and naive state of minds. Meanwhile， in“郎骑竹马来，绕床弄青梅” ， if he translated“竹马”as “bamboo horse” instead of “bamboo stilts”， westerns would think this toy as their “cockhorse”. So it would lose some exotic flavors and lack of poetic conception. In the third verse， Pound omitted the allusion of bridge-post with a repetitive simple word “forever” which in some certain sustained the artistic conception of faithful love between the wife and husband， it also claims the unable translation points if Chinese poetry. The fifth verse， Pound tasted the husbands unwillingness to leave home， so he described the separating lovers as “You dragged your feet when you went out，” the word “drag” fully expresses the mans hesitation， which upgrade the artistic conception undoubtedly. However， perfect does not lie everywhere. He misunderstood “well bed” as a seat， “immature plum” just as “blue plum” in color. Thats an absolutely destruction to the original artistic conception， especially for Chinese readers. In the last verse of Pounds work， the simple “I grow older” is far too express the subtle feeling and deep sadness that a beautiful girl has （often） an unfortunate life in ancient times. Last but not the least， in the last line， Pound dealt the wifes urgent， anxious and loving heart for seeing her husband just with a simple sentence “And I will come out to meet you， As far as Cho-fu-Sa.” “As far as” （Pound， 1915）1looks too tedious and plain to express the wifes willingness to see her husband that she would like to see him no matter how far to go. Its a rhetoric speech of hyperbole rather than a smooth and real narration. It is a flaw remains in the ending.

3 Beauty on Rhythm and Cadence

Pounds own magnificent contributions to poetry begin with his promulgation of Imagism， a movement in poetry which derived its technique from classical Chinese and Japanese poetry--stressing clarity， precision， and economy of language， and foregoing traditional rhyme and meter in order to “compose in the sequence of the musical phrase， not in the sequence of the metronome.（Chang， 2008）3” One rule of imagism proposed by Pound is that “As far as rhythm concerned， a poem should be written in terms of the orderly relationship of those words full of melody than just been under the restraint of a mechanical metronome（Chang， 2008）3.” In the first verse， rhyme scheme scatters here and there. Alliteration can be heard from “forehead” and “front gate”; through “flowers” “horse” “plums” we can find the end rhyme. Furthermore， the reappearance of “playing” not only performs the vivid scene of “the two small people” （Pound， 1915）1 but sounds harmonious in reciting. In other parts， rhyme scheme does not work effectively. But some rhymes in every two or three sentences in some verses still can be heard. To some extent， Pounds work can echo to the rhyme way of the original poem. However， considerations should be laid also on form and meaning expression， therefore Pound cannot attach too much similarity on rhyme with the original one.

4 Beauty in Form

In fact， Pounds translation was done from some records of Chinese poem by Japanese scholars. For his little knowledge of Chinese and Chinese culture， some mistranslations of this poem are inevitable. The original poem is a strict pent syllabic （or five-syllable） regulated verse， （30 lines， 5 words each line and 150 words in total） while Pounds sticks to the rules of blank verse （30 lines， words are not restrained but parallel to the original one mostly）. Li Bai employs condensed and precise Chinese words， while Pound uses unavoidable long English short sentences to fully express the meanings and artistic conception of original work. Pound aims at directly conveying sentiments. A case in point is that the sixth line Pound renders it as follow， “at fifteen I stopped scowling， I desired my dust to be mingled with yours， For ever and for ever and for ever. Why should I clime the look out？” And let us take Lowells version as an example， “At fifteen， I stopped frowning. / I wanted to be with you， as dust with its ashes. / I often thought that you were the faithful man who clung to the bridge-post， / That I should never be obliged to ascend to the Looking-For-Husband Ledge. ” （Pound， 1915）1Although Lowells work is loyal to the original one， it seems long-winded and then hurt the strict form. Pound omitted the allusion of bridge-post with a repetitive simple word “forever” which in some certain sustained the deep meaning and form completeness. Pounds simple and sharp sentences on the contrary directly and precisely expresses the image of original work. It is attributed to Pounds writing style of imagism which strikes on expressing the protagonists emotions directly and briefly. Chinese poetry is strict on rhyme scheme and form. Its hard for translators to comply to it completely. Also it is not worth destroying the artistic conception by blindly chasing the regular form. To this point， Pound did a great job.

5 Conclusion

Pounds poetic creation thought greatly influenced his translation thought. He advocated that faithfulness to the meaning of the original text should not be emphasized in translation. What he pursued was to reproduce the details and images of the original text in translation. Image is the soul of poetry translation. Without image， poetry translation would lose its meaning. Xu Yuanchongs translation principle of “Three Beauties” holds that “beauty of artistic conception” is the most important，followed by "beauty in rhythm"， and "beauty in form" comes last .If conditions permit in the process of translation， a good translation should achieve all three .With strength from above， the accuracy and errors in meeting “Three Beauties” of Pound for The River-Merchant's Wife： A Letter have been objectively evaluated. It is not easy to achieve the consistency of the three beauties in translation. For any translation theory， we should treat it dialectically instead of completely acknowledging it or denying it. The translator should choose the right strategy in terms of the specific translated context.

References

[1]Pound，Ezra. Cathay. London，Elkin Mathews.1915.

[2]David Perkins.A History of Modern Poetry. Boston， The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.1987.

[3]Yaoxin Chang.A Survey of American Literature. Tianjin，Nankai University Press.2008.

作者簡介

白宇（1988—），女，中国民用航空飞行学院，硕士，助教，研究方向：英语语言文学。