Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Contemporary Education, Social Sciences and Ecological Studies (CESSES 2019)

A Comparative Study of the Three English Versions of Tao Yuanming's Retired Country Life

Authors
Lifang Chen
Corresponding Author
Lifang Chen
Available Online October 2019.
DOI
10.2991/cesses-19.2019.145How to use a DOI?
Keywords
comparative study; Retired Country Life; imagery; hermeneutics translation strategies
Abstract

Tao Yuanming, one of the earliest idyllists during the Eastern Jin period, has made a far-reaching impact on poets of later generations by contributing a lot of idylls. Among them, Retired Country Life is one of his greatest idylls that has been rendered into different English versions by enthusiastic Chinese and foreign scholars and appeal to readers home and abroad. Based on a comparative study of the three English versions of this poem respectively by Amy Lowell (1921), Prof. Weng Xianliang (1985) and Prof. Zhuo Zhenying (1996), this paper aims to discuss some of the problems in the translation of classical Chinese verse by relating to the translation strategies in this field. The result shows that the form of the poem that reflects the harmony between the melody and rhythm is as much important as the content. Meanwhile, the author proposes some translation strategies to cope with difficulties encountered in the process of rendering classical Chinese verse.

Copyright
© 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Contemporary Education, Social Sciences and Ecological Studies (CESSES 2019)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
October 2019
ISBN
978-94-6252-816-1
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/cesses-19.2019.145How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Cite this article

TY  - CONF
AU  - Lifang Chen
PY  - 2019/10
DA  - 2019/10
TI  - A Comparative Study of the Three English Versions of Tao Yuanming's Retired Country Life
BT  - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Contemporary Education, Social Sciences and Ecological Studies (CESSES 2019)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 643
EP  - 647
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/cesses-19.2019.145
DO  - 10.2991/cesses-19.2019.145
ID  - Chen2019/10
ER  -