Abstract Poetry translation is supposed to be the art of recreation. In China’s academic field of classical poetry translation, Xu Yuanchong has put forward his criteria, “Three Beauties”, which refer to “beauty in sense”, “beauty in sound” and “beauty in form”. A perfect poem translation must follow these three standards at the same time. However, any translation can not completely convey the sense beauty, sound beauty and form beauty of the original poem. Translated versions may have some advantages, and inevitably some disadvantages. Li Yu a very famous poet, created many popular poems. Among his works, the most famous one is Yu mei ren, and it has been translated into many different versions in other languages by lots of translators. This paper mainly deals with three English versions of Yu mei ren. Based on the comparison and the analysis of three versions from the perspective of Xu Yuanchong’s “Three Beauties”, this paper, hopes to help readers better understand different English versions, and provide them some possible skills of poem translation.  60715

Key words: Yu mei ren; poetry translation; “Three Beauties”; comparison

摘要诗歌翻译就是艺术的再创造。在中国古典诗歌翻译领域，许渊冲提出了他的翻译理论，“三美论”，即意美、音美、形美。一个完美的诗歌翻译必须同时遵循这三个标准。但是任何翻译都不可能在传递原诗的意美、音美、形美三个方面做倒尽善尽美，总会有得有失。李煜是一位著名的词人，创作了许多脍炙人口的词，其中，最著名的一首是《虞美人》。许多翻译家都把它翻译成不同译本。本文主要研究《虞美人》的三种英译本。本文从许渊冲的“三美”论的角度对这几个英译本进行分析比较，希望能帮助读者更好的理解不同的英译本，并尽可能地给他们提供一些古诗翻译的技巧。

毕业论文关键词：《虞美人》; 诗歌翻译; “三美”; 对比

Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Research Background 1

1.2 Research Purpose 1

1.3 Research Approach 1

2. Literature Review 2

2.1 Criteria for Poetry Translation 2

2.2 “Three Beauties” in Poetry Translation 3

3. A Brief Introduction of the Original Poem and Three English Versions 5

3.1 A Brief Introduction of the Original Poem and the Poet 5

3.2 A Brief Introduction of Three English Versions and Three Translators 6

4. The Comparison and Analysis of Three English Versions 8

4.1 Sense 8

4.2 Sound 11

4.3 Form 12

5. Conclusion 13

Works Cited 14

1. Introduction

1.1 Research Background

Ci is another peak of classic Chinese poetry creation. Until Song Dynasty, Ci has entered its golden age. So Ci is generally called Song Ci, or Song poetry. Generally speaking, Ci is a musical art form based on the development of Tang poetry. Especially characterized by elegant language, fluent expression and science emotion, Ci is not only a gem in Chinese literature but also an important part of the world literature. Hence the translation of Ci requires that translators possess a large amount of vocabulary, and a great knowledge of language culture. The most important, translators should give the vision in a different language the special beauty of musical rhythm, in that literature translation “should have all the ease of the original composition” (Tytler, 2010: 26). Yu mei ren, a widely-known poem, has been passed down throughout centuries. With the increasing cultural interaction between China and other countries, Yu mei ren has been translated into many different versions in English and in other languages, by a lot of distinguished poets, scholars and translators at home and abroad. This paper, in order to explore the internal differences, analyses the feathers of three English versions and expects readers to have a further understanding in the translation of classical Chinese poetry.