Abstract

Poetry translation, a special type of art, is a kind of literary creation. In the process of poetry translation, different translators with different culture or different translation schools will adopt diverse artistic skills. This thesis is a study to explore poetry translation from the perspective of Reception Aesthetics. Phenomenology and hermeneutics are the important theoretical sources of Reception Aesthetics. Reception Aesthetics is a theoretical system taking reader’s reception as research center to study the translation of literary works. Reception Theory brings translation studies a more profound ideological revolution, gives receivers of literary translation the dominant status and provides a brand new theoretical perspective and research method for translation. Under the guidance of this theory, translators should bridge the gap of“horizon of expectations”between native readers and target readers. Meanwhile, translators should take readers’ reception into consideration in order to eliminate cultural isolation in literary translation.Li Yu’s poetry plays an important role in classical Chinese poetry and has great influence on the later generations. Therefore, this thesis used Li Yu’s poetry as an example to explore. 

Keywords: poetry translation; Reception Aesthetics; Li Yu’s poetry

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1.Introduction1

2.Literature Review2

2.1 An Overview on Translation of Chinese Classical Poetry2

2.2 A Brief Review on Reception Aesthetics .4

2.3 The Status of Li Yu’s Poetry.10

3.Analyses on Different Translations of Li Yu’s Poetry in Light of Reception Aesthetics..11

3.1 An Analysis on Different Translations of Lang Tao Sha in Light of Reception Aesthetics ..11

3.2 An Analysis on Different Translations of Wang Jiang Nan in Light of Reception Aesthetics14

3.3 An Analysis on Different Translations of Yu Mei Ren in Light of Reception Aesthetics..16

4.Conclusion..19

Works Cited21