Page 113 - Translation Journal July 2015
P. 113
ning “The light of the candle reflects on /gives light to half of the quilt embroidered with gold kingfisher”.
Soame Jenyns (a British politician, poet and translator，who published Selections from the Three Hundred Poems of the T’ang
Dynasty in 1940) fails to see that metonymy, not knowing “the gold kingfisher”(“金翡翠”) is the metonym of the quilt and translating
the line as “On the top of the cage the light of the wax lanterns reflects the gold kingfisher feathers”, which is wrong. There is also a
metonymy in the following line “麝熏微度绣芙蓉”. Similarly, “the embroidered hibiscus”( “绣芙蓉”) is the metonym of the curtains with
the embroidered hibiscus. Fortunately, Jenyns sees this metonymy and translates this line as “The musk perfume floats faintly through
the embroidered hibiscus (curtains)”, which is right.
(8) Use the substituted in the place of the substitute. At times, the translator understands the metonymy but may choose to use
the substituted in the place of the substitute in the original poem. For example, Kenneth Rexroth ( 1905-1982, an American poet and
translator) knows that “the masts and oars” (“樯橹”) in the line “The masts and oars vanished like smoke and dust”（ “樯橹灰飞烟灭”
）of the poem “The Red Cliff” by the Song Dynasty poet Su Shi (苏轼) is metonym of Ts’ao Ts’ao (曹操) navy. But he uses “the navy of
Ts’ao Ts’ao” instead of “the masts and oars”. That is, he uses the substituted to replace the substitute. The line “谈笑间，樯橹灰飞烟
灭” is translated as “Smiling and chatting as he /Burned the navy of Ts’ao Ts’ao.” Of course, the meaning is the same.
In Giles’s translation of “To A Man”（《诗经·卫风·氓》）, he replaces the name of the man’s village “Fu Guan”(“复关”) , which
is the metonym for the man, with “my darling boy”. Fu Guan is the place where the woman speaker’s beloved lives in, and the woman
in the poem will often go to the ruined wall and watch whether her beloved is coming. If he is, she is happy; if he’s not, she weeps. In
the following lines, the poet uses Fu Guan three times to depict the woman’s love and devotion for the man. The images of the wall and
of the man’s village create a vivid picture of the scene.
The repetition of the name of the man’s village helps create a woman deeply in love with the unworthy man. Giles replaces Fu Guan
with “you” and “my darling boy”. That is, he uses the substituted “my darling boy” in the place of the substitute “Fu Guan”, reducing
the effect of repetition in the original poem and alters the constrained, controlled tone of the original poem. Below is Giles’ translation of
one stanza of the poem.
乘彼垝垣，以望复关。 And then I used to watch and wait
To see you passing through the gate;
不见复关，泣涕涟涟。 And sometimes, when I watched in vain,
My tears would flow like falling rain;
既见复关，载笑载言。 But when I saw my darling boy,
I laughed and cried aloud for joy.
As we can see, in Giles’ translation, the woman narrator is overflowing with her happiness and sorrow. However, the original poem
exhibits a controlled and plain narrative style. As Confucius stated, all forms of arts, as well as people, should control their emotions
and let them out in a controlled, gentle way. One should experience and express his or her “grief without being hurtfully excessive” (“哀
而不傷”) . This is one of the principles classical Chinese works have been following. The translator’s alteration of metonymies results in a
change of this narrative style.
Conclusion
As images are the most important elements of poems and metaphors and metonymies consist of inspiring and culture-loaded
images, translators must be very careful when making alterations on them. What we have examined in this paper are Chinese-English
translations in late nineteenth and early twentieth century. As translators get a more profound understanding of classical Chinese poetry
and as translation studies develop, serious translators have gradually reached the professional consensus that images in the original
poems are not to be replaced or left out. On the other hand, as different styles of translations are needed to serve different groups
of readers and for different purposes, translators have a certain amount of liberty to decide whether they should keep the original
metaphor or not. For instance, the interpreter can be more flexible in oral interpretation. But for serious translation, the images in a
poem should center on the poem scene and no alien image should be there to damage the integrity and effectiveness of the original
poem.
References
Bynner, W. & Kiang Kang-hu. (trans.) (1929). The Jade Mountain, New York: Knopf.
Cranmer-Byng, L. (trans.) (1920). Book of Odes (Shi-Jing). London: J. Murray.
Fletcher, W. J. B. (1925). Gems of Chinese Verse, translated into English Verse (Fourth Edition). Shanghai, China: The Commercial
Press.
Translation Journal - July 2015 | 113
Soame Jenyns (a British politician, poet and translator，who published Selections from the Three Hundred Poems of the T’ang
Dynasty in 1940) fails to see that metonymy, not knowing “the gold kingfisher”(“金翡翠”) is the metonym of the quilt and translating
the line as “On the top of the cage the light of the wax lanterns reflects the gold kingfisher feathers”, which is wrong. There is also a
metonymy in the following line “麝熏微度绣芙蓉”. Similarly, “the embroidered hibiscus”( “绣芙蓉”) is the metonym of the curtains with
the embroidered hibiscus. Fortunately, Jenyns sees this metonymy and translates this line as “The musk perfume floats faintly through
the embroidered hibiscus (curtains)”, which is right.
(8) Use the substituted in the place of the substitute. At times, the translator understands the metonymy but may choose to use
the substituted in the place of the substitute in the original poem. For example, Kenneth Rexroth ( 1905-1982, an American poet and
translator) knows that “the masts and oars” (“樯橹”) in the line “The masts and oars vanished like smoke and dust”（ “樯橹灰飞烟灭”
）of the poem “The Red Cliff” by the Song Dynasty poet Su Shi (苏轼) is metonym of Ts’ao Ts’ao (曹操) navy. But he uses “the navy of
Ts’ao Ts’ao” instead of “the masts and oars”. That is, he uses the substituted to replace the substitute. The line “谈笑间，樯橹灰飞烟
灭” is translated as “Smiling and chatting as he /Burned the navy of Ts’ao Ts’ao.” Of course, the meaning is the same.
In Giles’s translation of “To A Man”（《诗经·卫风·氓》）, he replaces the name of the man’s village “Fu Guan”(“复关”) , which
is the metonym for the man, with “my darling boy”. Fu Guan is the place where the woman speaker’s beloved lives in, and the woman
in the poem will often go to the ruined wall and watch whether her beloved is coming. If he is, she is happy; if he’s not, she weeps. In
the following lines, the poet uses Fu Guan three times to depict the woman’s love and devotion for the man. The images of the wall and
of the man’s village create a vivid picture of the scene.
The repetition of the name of the man’s village helps create a woman deeply in love with the unworthy man. Giles replaces Fu Guan
with “you” and “my darling boy”. That is, he uses the substituted “my darling boy” in the place of the substitute “Fu Guan”, reducing
the effect of repetition in the original poem and alters the constrained, controlled tone of the original poem. Below is Giles’ translation of
one stanza of the poem.
乘彼垝垣，以望复关。 And then I used to watch and wait
To see you passing through the gate;
不见复关，泣涕涟涟。 And sometimes, when I watched in vain,
My tears would flow like falling rain;
既见复关，载笑载言。 But when I saw my darling boy,
I laughed and cried aloud for joy.
As we can see, in Giles’ translation, the woman narrator is overflowing with her happiness and sorrow. However, the original poem
exhibits a controlled and plain narrative style. As Confucius stated, all forms of arts, as well as people, should control their emotions
and let them out in a controlled, gentle way. One should experience and express his or her “grief without being hurtfully excessive” (“哀
而不傷”) . This is one of the principles classical Chinese works have been following. The translator’s alteration of metonymies results in a
change of this narrative style.
Conclusion
As images are the most important elements of poems and metaphors and metonymies consist of inspiring and culture-loaded
images, translators must be very careful when making alterations on them. What we have examined in this paper are Chinese-English
translations in late nineteenth and early twentieth century. As translators get a more profound understanding of classical Chinese poetry
and as translation studies develop, serious translators have gradually reached the professional consensus that images in the original
poems are not to be replaced or left out. On the other hand, as different styles of translations are needed to serve different groups
of readers and for different purposes, translators have a certain amount of liberty to decide whether they should keep the original
metaphor or not. For instance, the interpreter can be more flexible in oral interpretation. But for serious translation, the images in a
poem should center on the poem scene and no alien image should be there to damage the integrity and effectiveness of the original
poem.
References
Bynner, W. & Kiang Kang-hu. (trans.) (1929). The Jade Mountain, New York: Knopf.
Cranmer-Byng, L. (trans.) (1920). Book of Odes (Shi-Jing). London: J. Murray.
Fletcher, W. J. B. (1925). Gems of Chinese Verse, translated into English Verse (Fourth Edition). Shanghai, China: The Commercial
Press.
Translation Journal - July 2015 | 113
