论毛泽东诗词翻译中意象的传达

REPLY TO LI SHUYI to the tune of Die Lian Hua
May 11，1957
I lost my proud poplar and you your willow，
Poplar and willow soar to the Ninth Heaven．
Wu Kang，asked what he can give，
Serves them a laurel brew．
The lonely moon goodness spreads her ample sleeves
To dance for these loyal souls in infinite space．
Earth suddenly reports the tiger subdued，
Tears of joy pour forth falling as mighty rain. [7]
                                               —Official translation
In this version, Chinese traditional images are translated directly or by Chinese pronunciation and spelling without any notes, which must prevent readers in western countries from understanding its original meanings. For example, “the Ninth Heaven” is an image full of cultural color. In Chinese culture, the heaven has nine layers while the heaven only has seven layers in western culture. So the mistranslation of “the Ninth Heaven” would make readers in western countries confused. As well as the image of “Wu kang”, which dose not exist in western culture, is translated by Chinese pronunciation and spelling directly. Readers do not know who is Wu Kang and can hardly associate anything when they only see several letters.

REPLY TO LI SHUYI
To the tune of Butterflies Love Flowers
You lost your darling Willow and I my Poplar proud，
Both Poplar and Willow soar gracefully farabove the cloud．
They ask Wu Gang about what he has there，
It’s the laurel wine that Wu offers them to share．
The lonely goddess of the moon spreads her sleeves long，
To console the loyal souls she dances in sky with a song．
Suddenly the news about the tiger subdued comes from the earth.
At once the rain pours down from our darlings’ tear of mirth. [7]
                                                      —Gu’s translation
Here, when Gu translates “You lost your darling Willow and I my Poplar proud”, he add “darling” before “willow”. In English, willow is called weeping willow for its wattles always droop to the ground, standing for melancholy. Apparently, he needs not to do so here. Furthermore, he makes detailed notes to images of “Wu Kang”, “The lonely goddess of the moon”, “the tiger” and so on, which would make the translation tedious and distract readers’ attention from the poem.                                                               

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