Classical Chinese Poetry Translation Analysis

The Representation of Images in Classical Chinese Poetry Translation
_____Exemplified by The Selected Poems of Du Fu Translated by Burton Watson
Chapter One Introduction
This chapter is the introduction to this thesis, which mainly discusses the research background, research significance, research questions, and thesis framework.
1.1 Research Background
The image, the combination of subjective feelings and objective objects, is regarded as the soul of the poem. It does pose great difficulty for translator. Many researchers have studied the subject and great importance is attached to the image transference in the poetry translation from different perspectives, such as the domestication and foreignization and the relevance theory. For example,

Kant, a German psychologist, made a further development of this notion and considered it as an innate structure, which referred to a bridge connecting a concept and the target of perception. Then schema theory does gain popularity in listening and teaching. Applied to image reconstruction, Schema theory mainly discusses the role of schema in decoding and encoding process. Translation is the conversation between two languages. Based on schema theory, it is time for translators to build up and activate the relevant schemata in decoding the original text and transplant the source language schemata into target language.in this course, it is faithfulness and elegance that should be reached. In addition, translators should activate readers’ schemata and cultivate their cross-cultural awareness by all

China, with a long history and rich culture, has been the focus of the world. Therefore, it is imperative that china should publicize such excellent Chinese culture as classical Chinese poetry while absorbing foreign culture. Nevertheless, there occur some mistranslations in the poetry translation which fail to convey the exact meaning of the poet to readers and destroy the beauty of the poem. The image is an essential part of a poem, which perfectly conveys to the readers what the poet feels. Thus how to reconstruct the image becomes a common concern.
Tang dynasty, the golden age in the Chinese history, has made a remarkable progress in poetry and many poems are rich in intriguing imageries and possess expansive and magnificent visions. Thus it is meaningful to study the poems of Du Fu in Tang dynasty. Nevertheless, it is almost impossible for readers to comprehend a poem of Du Fu thoroughly and appreciate the beauty without thinking over the images in the poem. So the necessity of image research is