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摘要：文學作品的语言具有主观性和艺术加工的成分，而诗歌作为最为凝练的文学语言，翻译起来就更加具有难度。如果以目的语读者为中心，当目的语读者对翻译文本的解读就有不同层次的感受，这就导致了翻译作品的多值现象。既然多值现象存在，那么中国古典意象派诗歌应该用什么方法翻译，既不会破坏多值现象，又可以更加接近完美地翻译更值得探讨。
作为中国意象诗歌的典范，马致远的《天净沙·秋思》无疑是最好的例子之一，这首元曲小令以九种事物的叠加创造出一种苍凉壮阔的画面，勾起读者心中的孤独之美。原汁原味的翻译如果被翻译者过多介入太多主观因素，就会破坏多值化现象，而意象派诗歌的翻译应该遵循这一标准。文章是以《天净沙·秋思》为例，从几个翻译文本着手来讨论翻译多值现象来看中国意象派诗歌的翻译。
关键词：《天净沙·秋思》；意象派诗歌；翻译；多值化
Abstract:The language used in literature contains many personal and components of art process, especially in poetry translation because poetic language is the one which is highly refined; it enhances the difficulty to be translated. If taking the target language (TL) reader as the center, the centralized definition to the translated work will lead to the Polyvalence. If this phenomenon exists, the question of approach of translation with the requirement not to harm the Polyvalence and approximately perfect translation are crucial to be discussed.
As the model of Chinese Imagism poetry, Autumn Thoughts by Ma Zhiyuan is one of the best examples; this poem is complied with nine compiling visions to create a kind of marvelous but desolate picture, which causes the mental response of feeling about beauty of loneliness. If the translator intrudes more self points of view or extra-imagination, the polyvalence would be destroyed. So the translation of imagism poems should consider the theory of Polyvalence. With the given examples, the paper draws on the Chinese Imagism Poetry translation on the Polyvalence with the example of Autumn Thoughts.
Key words: “Autumn Thoughts”; Imagism Poetry; translation; polyvalence;
1. Introduction
Imagism poetry is a kind of poem genres which seizes the momentary scenery appearing in mind and directly puts it out without any hesitation. It flourishes from 1910s to 1920s, and the most famous figure is Ezra Pound. What is Imagism poetry? T·E·Hulm, the first Imagist theorist, suggests that modern art deals with expression and communication of momentary phase in the poet’s mind. Poetic techniques, he goes on to state, should become subtle enough to record exactly the momentary impressions. The key word here is “momentary.”(Chang Yaoxin, 2003, 159) It means every moment should be an image, and an impression through our eyes or mind where we get from should have an domain image, according to Ezra Pound’s words, no matter subjective or objective, treat any things directly. Here, things mean the image, but moment does not mean the curd or lump but should be composed as sequence. By this theory, it is probably to say that “Autumn Thougts” by Ma Zhiyuan can be categorized into Imagism poetry. And the examples below are the Chinese original text and three translated texts:
天凈沙·秋思
马致远
枯藤老树昏鸦，小桥流水人家，古道西风瘦马，夕阳西下，断肠人在天涯。
Three translation examples: Version 1：Autumn Thoughts。Dry vine, old tree, crows at dusk. Low bridge, stream running, cottages. Ancient road, west wind, lean nag. The sun westering. And one with breaking heart at the sky’s edge. (trans. Cytril Birch)
Version 2:Crows hovering over rugged old trees wreathed with rotten vine——the day is about done. Yonder is a tiny bridge over a sparkling stream, and on the far bank, a pretty little village. But the traveler has to go on down this ancient road, the west wind moaning, his bony horse groaning, trudging towards the sinking sun, father and father away from home.（trans. 翁显良）
Version 3：Autumn Thoughts。Withered vines, olden tree, evening crows; Tiny bridge, flowing brook, hamlet homes; Ancient road, wind from west, bony horse; The sun is setting. Broken man, far from home, roam and roams. (trans.赵甄陶、茆东莲)。
Comparing these three translations with the original Chinese poem, it is clear to find that the second one is more alike a prose but not a poem, and the first and third one subject to the principle of Imagism poetry, because according to one of Ezra Pound’s definition, it is cliché to use words which has no contribution to compose a poem; if a translator change a imagism poetry into a prose or something like a short paragraph, he cannot avoid using the words which has no help to the presentation.
As a stylist, Jonathan Swift “insists on choosing the right words to the right place to do its utmost work” (Chang Yaoxin, 2008，139), so it is very necessary to re-defy the poem by Ma Zhiyuan. Chinese word has its own fantasy, and if it has a adjective and a non to make a word, the adjective is used to tell what kind of quality the noun is. For example, in“枯藤”, “枯”is used to describe the condition of“藤”， and “古道”cannot wake up the imagination of any avenue appearing in nowadays New York city, so that is the charm of Chinese words.
However, what “枯”is just an image in the translator’s mind; no matter what the word he or she choose, dry or withered, it is just the approximate one but cannot be judged as the correct.
2. Polyvalence
Polyvalence is a science term which can be used in chemistry, toxicology, and antibody study; it is also found in logic and music. Although they are different subjects and all of them are specialized in different area, the basic factor is “more than one” or many value, because poly means many and valence in chemistry means value. 2.1 Polyvalence in poetry
“Beaugrande (1978) suggests that a common failing in translators of poetry is the urge to resolve polyvalence a crucial feature of the poetic discourse is to allow a multiplicity of responses among SL readers, it follows that the translator’s task should be to preserve, as far as possible, the range of possible responses; in other words, not to reduce the dynamic role of reader.”
From this point of view, polyvalence is a crucial feature but some translators of poetry ignore the multiplicity of responses among SL reader. Actually, Chinese reader prefer to asking what the meaning of a poem is, and most poems have one concept, for example Chu He, Yong Liu or Qiang Jin Jiu, however, English poet, for example, Wallace Stevens dislike someone asking him what his poem is about (“Anecdote of the Jar”), this poem can be defied from many dimensions, so most comprehension uses “maybe”, “probably” and some words like that. When the reader with Chinese as their mother tongue reads a Chinese poetry, and only if they get systematic education, they could speak some ideas approaching the theme of what he just reads, and if there are any changes, it is the reason that the semantic links the poem with the time; time changes, meaning changes. But the biggest theme is there, so a Chinese reader is hard to shake himself out of the limitation to ask, to increase the trouble, but not a dynamic one.
2.2 Polyvalence in the Translation of Autumn Thoughts
In translation, it is not so scientific to say which version is good, but for a critic, he or she focuses on researching which one is better. Through the three examples given before, it is explicit that the first one is translated by a foreign translator; the way he use is literal translation, especially, word for word translation. Although the third line doesn’t conform to the grammatical usage of syntax, he approximately translates every word out. Crytil’s translation exhibits the culture of western world county picturesque——the bridge is not tiny but low one, and still the “人家” is not a house or village but cottages. Crystil knows clearly that the readers who read this poem are not Chinese, so he changed the word to make it more exotic.
He reserves the extra meaning to force every reader to know the connotation of every word under the line. Because every word though likes a “curd”, each of them delineates a picture, and this picture shows a feeling or a powerful impact in readers’ hearts. “Nag” is the most accurate word which delivers the healthy condition of a horse, and if it is not vivid, the wise translator adds another word “lean”, so together with nag, it means the horse is not only bony but old. What the translator to do is to leave the reader to think the extra meaning under the surface word. Polyvalence gives the translator a restriction that he or she should be an out of the poem translating every word in imagism poetry straightforwardly, no personal intrusion, if there is some emotional colorization existing, it should be in a admitted area, otherwise, the polyvalence will be disturbed.
Now it is the time to analyze the second and the third version; they are translated by Wen Xianliang and Zhao Zhentao respectively. One is the famous translator in China, and anther one is the honorable professor in Hunan Normal University.
Translation joins the persons with different languages together, and the process of translation, if it is really a recreation, it should be a process transferring veraciously what the poem refers to . But just because two languages initially contain two systems of culture, especially in two different countries, equivalence is hard to be achieved.
“二十世紀初期，英国汉学家韦利（Waley）认为译诗用韵不可能不因声损义，因此他把唐诗译成自由诗或散体。我国学者翁显良先生也是三体的身体力行者之一。一方面，他主张古典汉诗英译要包邮中华古国的情味，“完全西化，本色尽失”。…… 另一方面，他又认为“但求形似，势必变相，舍形取神，才能保持本色”。在他看来，对英汉两种语言，两种文化传统，两种民族心理，要见其同，尤其要见其异，要见其外表的差异，尤其要见其深刻的内在差异。既然鱼和熊掌不能兼得，那就只得舍其一，保其二。”（丛滋航 2008，ⅪⅤ）
According to the selected paragraph from the book On the Arts of Poetry Between Western and Eastern World (trans), Chong Zihang gives a rough argument on Weng Xianliang’s translational theory. But Mr. Weng forgets one thing that his job is using a language which is not born originally in China, and he is just trying his best to make his translation a domestic one. “本色尽失”，“色”here can be read as “spirit” or “style”, and if going deeply into this word, it is the feeling which contains the Chinese culture. However, the usage of a foreign language to translate Chinese poem, the spirit, style, or culture’s change or decline is certain.
Another problem is the “adding extra information”.
The first line: “ 枯藤老树昏鸦”. Mr. Weng translates it as “Crows hovering over rugged old trees wreathed with rotten vine——the day is about done.” From this Chinese edition, it is difficult to find out any evidence of hovering, and “hover” means fly back an forth over one’s head, maybe in a circle. “枯”, “老”, “昏” these three characters transfer one atmosphere——death, or inanimate, wit little movement. So “hover” is too eruptive in the first line’s translation.
“小桥流水人家”: Yonder is a tiny bridge over a sparkling stream, and on the far bank, a pretty little village. Comparing this line with the first, more action is add in it, and it is just because the action of people comes into the picture which makes it more active, and the whole poem is dotted with a little color. In spite of this, “yonder”, “far bank”, “pretty” are three words out of thin air. One interesting translation is the third version, and the sparkling word is “hamlet”. This word means, in British English, it means a village without church, and the synonym is crossroad. How exact but ambiguous definition is that this word refers to a village which is smaller than a town.With out church means no faith, on other respects means no direction, and on the crossroad, people often do the option to decide the direction he should choose to go.
The last better translation is “broken man”. “Broken” can be used to describe the situation of heart, a broken heart, but here, broken should be exalted to a stature of psychological layer, the broken body with a sentimental, melancholy broken heart, and “broken” can be denoted from many categories.
To conclude, the artificial recreation will break up the translation of imagism poetry, from the words the translator choose, the syntax, and the diagnosing of the original context these three aspects, polyvalence should give a (target language) TL reader more flexible rights to read, to think, and to value.
3. Polyvalence in Chinese Ancient Imagism Poetry
There is a big problem in two schools that the image in China is not what the image the British or American critics talk about in Imagism Poetry, but another school insists that certainly is. For example:
“中國的意象与意象派不同。中国诗学运用的不是理性思辨，不是演绎推理，也不是感性经验，而是‘理性直觉’的一种臻美图画……而意象派是一个诗歌流派，庞德、艾略特等人虽竭力否认象征主义对他们的影响，坚持说意象主义不是象征主义，但它的特征是用象征，凭意象暗示，不对主题直接表述。可以说，意象派诗歌是对生活的曲折表现和反应。事实上，意象派诗歌中的意象应为物象更合适。中国意象的物我相容和情理相契与西方意象派的‘客观对应物’、‘非个性化’在实质上是相异的。”（丛慈航，2008:9）
3.1 Image or Imagism Poetry.
From this paragraph, the author preaches clearly that Chinese image is not the term used in Imagism Poetry. But later on he gives some contradictive samples, the translation of 《早发白帝城》. Regardless of the image appears in this poem, just talking about what the author’s offering: first, there is no vestige to indicate this poem to be a standard Imagism Poetry; second, if the translation is approachable, like what the author said, hardly had anyone found the true meaning what Li Po wanted to talk about, because Chinese poem has no connotation.
So how to categorize this poem if no connotation appears in it? “Arts for arts sake.” But as a matter of fact, it is not an Imagism Poetry.
Suppose it is an Imagism Poetry, and put the term Impersonality by T·S Eliot wrongly speaking, the poet Li Po’s purpose to write this poem is to voice the happy feeling when he knows the decree of pardon, so he composes this poem. But if no one gets the theme, only guesses from the title, readers will take it as a modern poet wants to travel from a place named Bai Di City. So does a Chinese poem treat a theme directly but western one likes talking roundabout way? Here is the structure composition of one line of this poem: 修饰语+中心语：枯+藤、老+树、昏+鸦、小+桥、流+水 古+道、西+风、瘦+马 中心语： 人家(黄国文，2007:91)
From this analyses, there will be no insertion into 枯 and 藤，if the translator adds some other words in it, it can break the polyvalence.
3.2 Polyvalence in the Traditional Culture of China。China held the Researching Conference on Translation Study of Chinese Classic two times both in 2002 and 2003. In these two rounds of meeting, Yang Xiaorong proposed one theory named “The Third Option” (Trans.)
“ 我国儒家思想中的‘中庸’之道，极为‘无过无不及之道’……在翻译中，如果既不是借原作者之名以营私的胡译，又不是拼凑字典的死译，信息含量乃至轻重、色彩、分寸等都很妥帖，呵护具体翻译目的的要求，那么这种状态就是‘中道’……诗歌的符号性存在望望大于它的物性存在……这种存在需要人在具体时间和境遇中的解读才能活跃起来，因此必然会引起诗歌中原有信息的变化以及审美特质的嬗变。译者作为诗歌翻译的主体同样也是解读着。诗歌的这种当下性、历史性和时间性的存在方式必须借助于人的主体性解读活动才能实现。”（丛慈航，2008，ⅩⅥ）
Here, Yang Xiaorong said that the semiotic existence is more metaphysical than the true material because every material in the world if being treated as a semiotic, it has its symbol. If it does not have symbol, it show something psychological. Take one famous Imagism Poetry for example:
In a Station of the Metro
By Ezra Pound
The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.
And there are two versions of translation：Version 1: 人群中這些脸庞的闪现，湿漉漉，黑黝黝的树枝上的花瓣。（丛慈航，12）；Version 2: 这几张脸在人群中幻影般闪现；湿漉漉的黑树枝上花瓣数点。(飞白译)
Through these two translation, the two translators put their eyes on different points, the first one translates more alike the Imagism but he forgets the semiotic aspects,; the second one though translate every line as a sentence but he focuses on one word and translate it vividly——apparition. So if anyone want to translate it well, he would translate it into “鬼影, a kind of via media which lefts the polyvalence for any readers.
3.3 The Proof to Polyvalence from Western Works
In the book Approaches to Translation by Peter Newmark, Chapter three, Communicative and semantic translation (Ⅰ), he exemplified twelve notes for translation:1. A translation must give the words of the original.2. A translation must give the ideas of the original.3. A translation should read like an original work.4. A translation should read like a translation.5. A translation should reflect the style of the original.6. A translation should possess the of the translation.7. A translation should read as a contemporary of the original.8. A translation should read as a contemporary of the transla
-tion.9. A translation may add to or omit from the original.10. A translation may never add to or omit from the original.…
References:
[1]Basil Hatim & Ian Mason, Discourse and the Translator, Longman, London and Newyork, 1994, ed, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2007.
[2]Chang Yaoxin, A Survey of American Literature, Nankai University Press, the second edition, 2004; A Survey of English Literature, Nankai University Press, 2008.
[3]丛滋杭.中西方诗学的碰撞[M].国防工业出版社，2008.
[4]茆东莲，从《天净沙·秋思》的英译刊文学翻译的多样性》[J].合肥工业大学报（社会科学版）第18卷第15期，2004.
[5]赵红英.美国文学第二版学习指南[M].中国传媒大学出版社，2006.
（作者简介：崔璨（1986-）男，汉族，河南三门峡人，现为贵州师范大学外国语学院2012级外国语言学与应用语言学专业研究生，研究方向：语言文化与翻译。）
作为中国意象诗歌的典范，马致远的《天净沙·秋思》无疑是最好的例子之一，这首元曲小令以九种事物的叠加创造出一种苍凉壮阔的画面，勾起读者心中的孤独之美。原汁原味的翻译如果被翻译者过多介入太多主观因素，就会破坏多值化现象，而意象派诗歌的翻译应该遵循这一标准。文章是以《天净沙·秋思》为例，从几个翻译文本着手来讨论翻译多值现象来看中国意象派诗歌的翻译。
关键词：《天净沙·秋思》；意象派诗歌；翻译；多值化
Abstract:The language used in literature contains many personal and components of art process, especially in poetry translation because poetic language is the one which is highly refined; it enhances the difficulty to be translated. If taking the target language (TL) reader as the center, the centralized definition to the translated work will lead to the Polyvalence. If this phenomenon exists, the question of approach of translation with the requirement not to harm the Polyvalence and approximately perfect translation are crucial to be discussed.
As the model of Chinese Imagism poetry, Autumn Thoughts by Ma Zhiyuan is one of the best examples; this poem is complied with nine compiling visions to create a kind of marvelous but desolate picture, which causes the mental response of feeling about beauty of loneliness. If the translator intrudes more self points of view or extra-imagination, the polyvalence would be destroyed. So the translation of imagism poems should consider the theory of Polyvalence. With the given examples, the paper draws on the Chinese Imagism Poetry translation on the Polyvalence with the example of Autumn Thoughts.
Key words: “Autumn Thoughts”; Imagism Poetry; translation; polyvalence;
1. Introduction
Imagism poetry is a kind of poem genres which seizes the momentary scenery appearing in mind and directly puts it out without any hesitation. It flourishes from 1910s to 1920s, and the most famous figure is Ezra Pound. What is Imagism poetry? T·E·Hulm, the first Imagist theorist, suggests that modern art deals with expression and communication of momentary phase in the poet’s mind. Poetic techniques, he goes on to state, should become subtle enough to record exactly the momentary impressions. The key word here is “momentary.”(Chang Yaoxin, 2003, 159) It means every moment should be an image, and an impression through our eyes or mind where we get from should have an domain image, according to Ezra Pound’s words, no matter subjective or objective, treat any things directly. Here, things mean the image, but moment does not mean the curd or lump but should be composed as sequence. By this theory, it is probably to say that “Autumn Thougts” by Ma Zhiyuan can be categorized into Imagism poetry. And the examples below are the Chinese original text and three translated texts:
天凈沙·秋思
马致远
枯藤老树昏鸦，小桥流水人家，古道西风瘦马，夕阳西下，断肠人在天涯。
Three translation examples: Version 1：Autumn Thoughts。Dry vine, old tree, crows at dusk. Low bridge, stream running, cottages. Ancient road, west wind, lean nag. The sun westering. And one with breaking heart at the sky’s edge. (trans. Cytril Birch)
Version 2:Crows hovering over rugged old trees wreathed with rotten vine——the day is about done. Yonder is a tiny bridge over a sparkling stream, and on the far bank, a pretty little village. But the traveler has to go on down this ancient road, the west wind moaning, his bony horse groaning, trudging towards the sinking sun, father and father away from home.（trans. 翁显良）
Version 3：Autumn Thoughts。Withered vines, olden tree, evening crows; Tiny bridge, flowing brook, hamlet homes; Ancient road, wind from west, bony horse; The sun is setting. Broken man, far from home, roam and roams. (trans.赵甄陶、茆东莲)。
Comparing these three translations with the original Chinese poem, it is clear to find that the second one is more alike a prose but not a poem, and the first and third one subject to the principle of Imagism poetry, because according to one of Ezra Pound’s definition, it is cliché to use words which has no contribution to compose a poem; if a translator change a imagism poetry into a prose or something like a short paragraph, he cannot avoid using the words which has no help to the presentation.
As a stylist, Jonathan Swift “insists on choosing the right words to the right place to do its utmost work” (Chang Yaoxin, 2008，139), so it is very necessary to re-defy the poem by Ma Zhiyuan. Chinese word has its own fantasy, and if it has a adjective and a non to make a word, the adjective is used to tell what kind of quality the noun is. For example, in“枯藤”, “枯”is used to describe the condition of“藤”， and “古道”cannot wake up the imagination of any avenue appearing in nowadays New York city, so that is the charm of Chinese words.
However, what “枯”is just an image in the translator’s mind; no matter what the word he or she choose, dry or withered, it is just the approximate one but cannot be judged as the correct.
2. Polyvalence
Polyvalence is a science term which can be used in chemistry, toxicology, and antibody study; it is also found in logic and music. Although they are different subjects and all of them are specialized in different area, the basic factor is “more than one” or many value, because poly means many and valence in chemistry means value. 2.1 Polyvalence in poetry
“Beaugrande (1978) suggests that a common failing in translators of poetry is the urge to resolve polyvalence a crucial feature of the poetic discourse is to allow a multiplicity of responses among SL readers, it follows that the translator’s task should be to preserve, as far as possible, the range of possible responses; in other words, not to reduce the dynamic role of reader.”
From this point of view, polyvalence is a crucial feature but some translators of poetry ignore the multiplicity of responses among SL reader. Actually, Chinese reader prefer to asking what the meaning of a poem is, and most poems have one concept, for example Chu He, Yong Liu or Qiang Jin Jiu, however, English poet, for example, Wallace Stevens dislike someone asking him what his poem is about (“Anecdote of the Jar”), this poem can be defied from many dimensions, so most comprehension uses “maybe”, “probably” and some words like that. When the reader with Chinese as their mother tongue reads a Chinese poetry, and only if they get systematic education, they could speak some ideas approaching the theme of what he just reads, and if there are any changes, it is the reason that the semantic links the poem with the time; time changes, meaning changes. But the biggest theme is there, so a Chinese reader is hard to shake himself out of the limitation to ask, to increase the trouble, but not a dynamic one.
2.2 Polyvalence in the Translation of Autumn Thoughts
In translation, it is not so scientific to say which version is good, but for a critic, he or she focuses on researching which one is better. Through the three examples given before, it is explicit that the first one is translated by a foreign translator; the way he use is literal translation, especially, word for word translation. Although the third line doesn’t conform to the grammatical usage of syntax, he approximately translates every word out. Crytil’s translation exhibits the culture of western world county picturesque——the bridge is not tiny but low one, and still the “人家” is not a house or village but cottages. Crystil knows clearly that the readers who read this poem are not Chinese, so he changed the word to make it more exotic.
He reserves the extra meaning to force every reader to know the connotation of every word under the line. Because every word though likes a “curd”, each of them delineates a picture, and this picture shows a feeling or a powerful impact in readers’ hearts. “Nag” is the most accurate word which delivers the healthy condition of a horse, and if it is not vivid, the wise translator adds another word “lean”, so together with nag, it means the horse is not only bony but old. What the translator to do is to leave the reader to think the extra meaning under the surface word. Polyvalence gives the translator a restriction that he or she should be an out of the poem translating every word in imagism poetry straightforwardly, no personal intrusion, if there is some emotional colorization existing, it should be in a admitted area, otherwise, the polyvalence will be disturbed.
Now it is the time to analyze the second and the third version; they are translated by Wen Xianliang and Zhao Zhentao respectively. One is the famous translator in China, and anther one is the honorable professor in Hunan Normal University.
Translation joins the persons with different languages together, and the process of translation, if it is really a recreation, it should be a process transferring veraciously what the poem refers to . But just because two languages initially contain two systems of culture, especially in two different countries, equivalence is hard to be achieved.
“二十世紀初期，英国汉学家韦利（Waley）认为译诗用韵不可能不因声损义，因此他把唐诗译成自由诗或散体。我国学者翁显良先生也是三体的身体力行者之一。一方面，他主张古典汉诗英译要包邮中华古国的情味，“完全西化，本色尽失”。…… 另一方面，他又认为“但求形似，势必变相，舍形取神，才能保持本色”。在他看来，对英汉两种语言，两种文化传统，两种民族心理，要见其同，尤其要见其异，要见其外表的差异，尤其要见其深刻的内在差异。既然鱼和熊掌不能兼得，那就只得舍其一，保其二。”（丛滋航 2008，ⅪⅤ）
According to the selected paragraph from the book On the Arts of Poetry Between Western and Eastern World (trans), Chong Zihang gives a rough argument on Weng Xianliang’s translational theory. But Mr. Weng forgets one thing that his job is using a language which is not born originally in China, and he is just trying his best to make his translation a domestic one. “本色尽失”，“色”here can be read as “spirit” or “style”, and if going deeply into this word, it is the feeling which contains the Chinese culture. However, the usage of a foreign language to translate Chinese poem, the spirit, style, or culture’s change or decline is certain.
Another problem is the “adding extra information”.
The first line: “ 枯藤老树昏鸦”. Mr. Weng translates it as “Crows hovering over rugged old trees wreathed with rotten vine——the day is about done.” From this Chinese edition, it is difficult to find out any evidence of hovering, and “hover” means fly back an forth over one’s head, maybe in a circle. “枯”, “老”, “昏” these three characters transfer one atmosphere——death, or inanimate, wit little movement. So “hover” is too eruptive in the first line’s translation.
“小桥流水人家”: Yonder is a tiny bridge over a sparkling stream, and on the far bank, a pretty little village. Comparing this line with the first, more action is add in it, and it is just because the action of people comes into the picture which makes it more active, and the whole poem is dotted with a little color. In spite of this, “yonder”, “far bank”, “pretty” are three words out of thin air. One interesting translation is the third version, and the sparkling word is “hamlet”. This word means, in British English, it means a village without church, and the synonym is crossroad. How exact but ambiguous definition is that this word refers to a village which is smaller than a town.With out church means no faith, on other respects means no direction, and on the crossroad, people often do the option to decide the direction he should choose to go.
The last better translation is “broken man”. “Broken” can be used to describe the situation of heart, a broken heart, but here, broken should be exalted to a stature of psychological layer, the broken body with a sentimental, melancholy broken heart, and “broken” can be denoted from many categories.
To conclude, the artificial recreation will break up the translation of imagism poetry, from the words the translator choose, the syntax, and the diagnosing of the original context these three aspects, polyvalence should give a (target language) TL reader more flexible rights to read, to think, and to value.
3. Polyvalence in Chinese Ancient Imagism Poetry
There is a big problem in two schools that the image in China is not what the image the British or American critics talk about in Imagism Poetry, but another school insists that certainly is. For example:
“中國的意象与意象派不同。中国诗学运用的不是理性思辨，不是演绎推理，也不是感性经验，而是‘理性直觉’的一种臻美图画……而意象派是一个诗歌流派，庞德、艾略特等人虽竭力否认象征主义对他们的影响，坚持说意象主义不是象征主义，但它的特征是用象征，凭意象暗示，不对主题直接表述。可以说，意象派诗歌是对生活的曲折表现和反应。事实上，意象派诗歌中的意象应为物象更合适。中国意象的物我相容和情理相契与西方意象派的‘客观对应物’、‘非个性化’在实质上是相异的。”（丛慈航，2008:9）
3.1 Image or Imagism Poetry.
From this paragraph, the author preaches clearly that Chinese image is not the term used in Imagism Poetry. But later on he gives some contradictive samples, the translation of 《早发白帝城》. Regardless of the image appears in this poem, just talking about what the author’s offering: first, there is no vestige to indicate this poem to be a standard Imagism Poetry; second, if the translation is approachable, like what the author said, hardly had anyone found the true meaning what Li Po wanted to talk about, because Chinese poem has no connotation.
So how to categorize this poem if no connotation appears in it? “Arts for arts sake.” But as a matter of fact, it is not an Imagism Poetry.
Suppose it is an Imagism Poetry, and put the term Impersonality by T·S Eliot wrongly speaking, the poet Li Po’s purpose to write this poem is to voice the happy feeling when he knows the decree of pardon, so he composes this poem. But if no one gets the theme, only guesses from the title, readers will take it as a modern poet wants to travel from a place named Bai Di City. So does a Chinese poem treat a theme directly but western one likes talking roundabout way? Here is the structure composition of one line of this poem: 修饰语+中心语：枯+藤、老+树、昏+鸦、小+桥、流+水 古+道、西+风、瘦+马 中心语： 人家(黄国文，2007:91)
From this analyses, there will be no insertion into 枯 and 藤，if the translator adds some other words in it, it can break the polyvalence.
3.2 Polyvalence in the Traditional Culture of China。China held the Researching Conference on Translation Study of Chinese Classic two times both in 2002 and 2003. In these two rounds of meeting, Yang Xiaorong proposed one theory named “The Third Option” (Trans.)
“ 我国儒家思想中的‘中庸’之道，极为‘无过无不及之道’……在翻译中，如果既不是借原作者之名以营私的胡译，又不是拼凑字典的死译，信息含量乃至轻重、色彩、分寸等都很妥帖，呵护具体翻译目的的要求，那么这种状态就是‘中道’……诗歌的符号性存在望望大于它的物性存在……这种存在需要人在具体时间和境遇中的解读才能活跃起来，因此必然会引起诗歌中原有信息的变化以及审美特质的嬗变。译者作为诗歌翻译的主体同样也是解读着。诗歌的这种当下性、历史性和时间性的存在方式必须借助于人的主体性解读活动才能实现。”（丛慈航，2008，ⅩⅥ）
Here, Yang Xiaorong said that the semiotic existence is more metaphysical than the true material because every material in the world if being treated as a semiotic, it has its symbol. If it does not have symbol, it show something psychological. Take one famous Imagism Poetry for example:
In a Station of the Metro
By Ezra Pound
The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.
And there are two versions of translation：Version 1: 人群中這些脸庞的闪现，湿漉漉，黑黝黝的树枝上的花瓣。（丛慈航，12）；Version 2: 这几张脸在人群中幻影般闪现；湿漉漉的黑树枝上花瓣数点。(飞白译)
Through these two translation, the two translators put their eyes on different points, the first one translates more alike the Imagism but he forgets the semiotic aspects,; the second one though translate every line as a sentence but he focuses on one word and translate it vividly——apparition. So if anyone want to translate it well, he would translate it into “鬼影, a kind of via media which lefts the polyvalence for any readers.
3.3 The Proof to Polyvalence from Western Works
In the book Approaches to Translation by Peter Newmark, Chapter three, Communicative and semantic translation (Ⅰ), he exemplified twelve notes for translation:1. A translation must give the words of the original.2. A translation must give the ideas of the original.3. A translation should read like an original work.4. A translation should read like a translation.5. A translation should reflect the style of the original.6. A translation should possess the of the translation.7. A translation should read as a contemporary of the original.8. A translation should read as a contemporary of the transla
-tion.9. A translation may add to or omit from the original.10. A translation may never add to or omit from the original.…
References:
[1]Basil Hatim & Ian Mason, Discourse and the Translator, Longman, London and Newyork, 1994, ed, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2007.
[2]Chang Yaoxin, A Survey of American Literature, Nankai University Press, the second edition, 2004; A Survey of English Literature, Nankai University Press, 2008.
[3]丛滋杭.中西方诗学的碰撞[M].国防工业出版社，2008.
[4]茆东莲，从《天净沙·秋思》的英译刊文学翻译的多样性》[J].合肥工业大学报（社会科学版）第18卷第15期，2004.
[5]赵红英.美国文学第二版学习指南[M].中国传媒大学出版社，2006.
（作者简介：崔璨（1986-）男，汉族，河南三门峡人，现为贵州师范大学外国语学院2012级外国语言学与应用语言学专业研究生，研究方向：语言文化与翻译。）