Page 109 - Translation Journal July 2015
P. 109
es of alterations in their translated works: deleting a metaphor in the original poem, omitting the vehicle, using a metaphor in the
target language that has a similar meaning to replace the one in the source poem, or adding a metaphor in the translation that is
absent in the original, misinterpret the metaphoric meaning of a vehicle, translate the vehicle of a metaphor into a real thing in the
poem, etc. These alterations have reduced the integrity and effect of the poems, though the translators have contributed greatly to
introducing the themes and forms of Chinese poetry to the outside world.
The Three Figures of Speech in Classical Chinese poetry
A metaphor expresses the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar. The unfamiliar is the tenor, and the familiar is the vehicle. The
vehicle and tenor of a metaphor are important images of a poem. In other words, a metaphor makes an implicit, implied or
hidden comparison between two things or objects that are poles apart from each other but have some characteristics common
between them. Using appropriate metaphors appeal directly to the senses of listeners or readers, sharpening their imaginations
to comprehend what is being communicated to them. Moreover, it gives a life-like quality to the characters of the fiction or poetry.
Metaphors are also ways of thinking, offering listeners and readers fresh ways of examining ideas and viewing the world. In other
words, metaphor is a distinctive feature of poetic language because it conveys the experience of the world afresh and provides a kind
of defamiliarisation in the way we perceive the world.
Metonymy is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is called not by its own name but rather by the name of something
associated in meaning with that thing or concept. Both metonymy and metaphor involve the substitution of one term for another. In
metaphor, this substitution is based on some specific analogy between two things, whereas in metonymy the substitution is based on
some understood association or contiguity. In addition to its use in everyday speech, metonymy is a figure of speech in poetry and in
much rhetoric.
Chinese poets of more than two thousand years ago have perceived the association between natural phenomena and human
life, or the comparison between things in general. Shi Jing（《诗经》）, translated variously as the Classic of Poetry, the Book of
Songs, Book of Odes, is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, comprising 305 works dating from the 11th to 7th centuries
BC. In this anthology of poems, with which Chinese literature begins, three important figures of speech are frequently employed,
namely fu（赋）, bi（比）and xing（兴）. The poetic principle organizing the poem is often one of contrast. Often Chinese poetry
will juxtapose a natural scene with a social or personal situation. The reader of the poem sees the similarity in the natural description
and the human condition, and comes to a new awareness of each by this contrast. In Chinese, this idea is embodied in the
terms fu, bi, and xing.
Fu refers to a straightforward narrative with a beginning, middle, and conclusion. Bi, literally “against,” implies a comparison or
contrast, placing two things side by side. When one takes two different fu, and places them together, the two create a bi. This results
in xing, a mental stimulation or “lightning” that pervades the mind of the reader, bringing new insight or awareness into the nature of the
individual fu that compose the poem.
Confucius stated that this xing is the purpose of poetry, and that the point of a poem was to make the mind contemplate its
subject deeply. In other words, bi is another situation referred to in a round-about way through the poetic image (a kind of metaphor),
and xing the affection and realization that is stirred when the first sheds light on the second. As Zhu Xi（朱熹, a renowned Song
Dynasty poet and philosopher）put it, “xing is to say something first so as to lead to what the poet is going to sing”（“先言他物以引
起所咏之辞也”）(1980). It is a heuristic mode of expression which stresses inspirational and associational effect. Bi and xing differ in
form but are the same in essence. Kong Yingda（孔颖达, a descendant of Confucius and a Tang Dynasty scholar）said that “a xing
and a bi having different names but in reality mean the same thing” as both “drawing forth a comparison and linking the corresponding
category”(“引譬连类”)(1999).
From Shi Jing down to Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty poetry, the three figures of speech have undergone some transformations
but they have been always important in composing poems. Bi and xing involve reasoning by analogy and approximate the Western
figure of speech metaphor. Of course, due to different literary traditions, metaphors are not used in classical Chinese poetry as
intensely as in the Western poetry.
Agreement and Unity of Images in a Poem
The themes of classical Chinese poems range from frustrated ambition, sadness of saying goodbye to a friend, home-yearning,
loneliness of a wanderer, frustrated love, indignation toward injustice, love-sickness, praise of female beauty and masculine strength,
thinking of a loved one in a far-away place, criticism of extravagant life of the rich, etc. Some poets may be straight-forward in
expressing their feelings and sentiments. Yet more celebrated poets adopt various means in conveying their longings and emotions.
The devices they employ include irony, puns, metonymy, metaphors, simile, satire and so on. As far as the metaphor is concerned, the
vehicles poets of classical Chinese poetry commonly use include plants, birds, beasts, fish, insects, farm animals, the sun, the moon,
stars, rain, drought, thunder, lightening, and household stuff like fans, curtains, incense burner, stationery, perfume sachet, candles,
patterns on quilts or skirts, etc. The natural phenomenon or the behavior of birds or animals is compared to the event being discussed,
or serves as an introduction to the emotion of the poet or the subject-matter.
The images of a poem usually revolve around a setting or a scene. All the images in a poem work together to build up a mood and
to convey a message. An alien image in the translated work may violate the agreement and unity of the images in the original work.
Alterations of images will damage the integrity of the poem to some extent. As metaphors are comprised of images, either deleting
Translation Journal - July 2015 | 109
target language that has a similar meaning to replace the one in the source poem, or adding a metaphor in the translation that is
absent in the original, misinterpret the metaphoric meaning of a vehicle, translate the vehicle of a metaphor into a real thing in the
poem, etc. These alterations have reduced the integrity and effect of the poems, though the translators have contributed greatly to
introducing the themes and forms of Chinese poetry to the outside world.
The Three Figures of Speech in Classical Chinese poetry
A metaphor expresses the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar. The unfamiliar is the tenor, and the familiar is the vehicle. The
vehicle and tenor of a metaphor are important images of a poem. In other words, a metaphor makes an implicit, implied or
hidden comparison between two things or objects that are poles apart from each other but have some characteristics common
between them. Using appropriate metaphors appeal directly to the senses of listeners or readers, sharpening their imaginations
to comprehend what is being communicated to them. Moreover, it gives a life-like quality to the characters of the fiction or poetry.
Metaphors are also ways of thinking, offering listeners and readers fresh ways of examining ideas and viewing the world. In other
words, metaphor is a distinctive feature of poetic language because it conveys the experience of the world afresh and provides a kind
of defamiliarisation in the way we perceive the world.
Metonymy is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is called not by its own name but rather by the name of something
associated in meaning with that thing or concept. Both metonymy and metaphor involve the substitution of one term for another. In
metaphor, this substitution is based on some specific analogy between two things, whereas in metonymy the substitution is based on
some understood association or contiguity. In addition to its use in everyday speech, metonymy is a figure of speech in poetry and in
much rhetoric.
Chinese poets of more than two thousand years ago have perceived the association between natural phenomena and human
life, or the comparison between things in general. Shi Jing（《诗经》）, translated variously as the Classic of Poetry, the Book of
Songs, Book of Odes, is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, comprising 305 works dating from the 11th to 7th centuries
BC. In this anthology of poems, with which Chinese literature begins, three important figures of speech are frequently employed,
namely fu（赋）, bi（比）and xing（兴）. The poetic principle organizing the poem is often one of contrast. Often Chinese poetry
will juxtapose a natural scene with a social or personal situation. The reader of the poem sees the similarity in the natural description
and the human condition, and comes to a new awareness of each by this contrast. In Chinese, this idea is embodied in the
terms fu, bi, and xing.
Fu refers to a straightforward narrative with a beginning, middle, and conclusion. Bi, literally “against,” implies a comparison or
contrast, placing two things side by side. When one takes two different fu, and places them together, the two create a bi. This results
in xing, a mental stimulation or “lightning” that pervades the mind of the reader, bringing new insight or awareness into the nature of the
individual fu that compose the poem.
Confucius stated that this xing is the purpose of poetry, and that the point of a poem was to make the mind contemplate its
subject deeply. In other words, bi is another situation referred to in a round-about way through the poetic image (a kind of metaphor),
and xing the affection and realization that is stirred when the first sheds light on the second. As Zhu Xi（朱熹, a renowned Song
Dynasty poet and philosopher）put it, “xing is to say something first so as to lead to what the poet is going to sing”（“先言他物以引
起所咏之辞也”）(1980). It is a heuristic mode of expression which stresses inspirational and associational effect. Bi and xing differ in
form but are the same in essence. Kong Yingda（孔颖达, a descendant of Confucius and a Tang Dynasty scholar）said that “a xing
and a bi having different names but in reality mean the same thing” as both “drawing forth a comparison and linking the corresponding
category”(“引譬连类”)(1999).
From Shi Jing down to Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty poetry, the three figures of speech have undergone some transformations
but they have been always important in composing poems. Bi and xing involve reasoning by analogy and approximate the Western
figure of speech metaphor. Of course, due to different literary traditions, metaphors are not used in classical Chinese poetry as
intensely as in the Western poetry.
Agreement and Unity of Images in a Poem
The themes of classical Chinese poems range from frustrated ambition, sadness of saying goodbye to a friend, home-yearning,
loneliness of a wanderer, frustrated love, indignation toward injustice, love-sickness, praise of female beauty and masculine strength,
thinking of a loved one in a far-away place, criticism of extravagant life of the rich, etc. Some poets may be straight-forward in
expressing their feelings and sentiments. Yet more celebrated poets adopt various means in conveying their longings and emotions.
The devices they employ include irony, puns, metonymy, metaphors, simile, satire and so on. As far as the metaphor is concerned, the
vehicles poets of classical Chinese poetry commonly use include plants, birds, beasts, fish, insects, farm animals, the sun, the moon,
stars, rain, drought, thunder, lightening, and household stuff like fans, curtains, incense burner, stationery, perfume sachet, candles,
patterns on quilts or skirts, etc. The natural phenomenon or the behavior of birds or animals is compared to the event being discussed,
or serves as an introduction to the emotion of the poet or the subject-matter.
The images of a poem usually revolve around a setting or a scene. All the images in a poem work together to build up a mood and
to convey a message. An alien image in the translated work may violate the agreement and unity of the images in the original work.
Alterations of images will damage the integrity of the poem to some extent. As metaphors are comprised of images, either deleting
Translation Journal - July 2015 | 109
