On the English Translation of Tang Poetry in the Perspective of “Harmony-Guided Three-level Poetry Translation Criteria”—A Case Study of “Song of the Roosting Crows”

The translation of ancient Chinese poetry has always been an insurmountable mountain in literary translation, and Li Bai's poetic merits as a unique symbol of ancient Chinese poetry are more favored by Chinese and foreign translators. Some of the translations are to an extent mixed with drawbacks. Based on Dr. Wang Feng’s “Harmony-guided Three-Level poetry translation criteria”, this paper compares and analyzes four English versions of Li Bai’s “Song of the Roosting Crows”. It demonstrates the practical value of this theory in Chinese poetry translation, hoping to promote the dissemination of Chinese literature and culture. Keywords— Tang poetry translation, Harmony-guided Three-Level poetry translation criteria, “Song of the Roosting Crows”, Li Bai.

across some difficulties, which were also referred as "six disharmonies" (Wang Feng, 2015). Based on predecessors' outstanding translation theories, Dr. Wang Feng made an innovation in balancing the disharmonies in poetry translation. At the macro level, it emphasizes the "Harmony" theory. At the middle level, resemblance in style, sense and poetic realm is put in the first place. At the micro-level, the "Eight Beauties Criteria" is used to guide the practice of poetry translation.

The Macro Level: Harmony
The concept of "Harmony" inherits the beauty of moderation in classical Chinese aesthetics. Originated from The Book of Rites, "Harmony" or "Balanced Harmony" is regarded as the common principle of neither exceeding nor falling short of the line. Its highlight of the balanced state has helped poetry translation demystify the dilemma of theory, such as whether to adopt the method of foreignization or domestication and how to choose between form similarity and spirit similarity. The great differences between English and Chinese make it possible to obtain both of them in most cases. Therefore, the theory of Harmony, which emphasizes the beauty of internal balance, rises in response to this condition at the macro-level.

Similarity of styles
The "similarity of styles" means that the translation of poems should keep the original styles as much as possible.
Styles reflect the author's unique artistic expression and the temperament, which have close connection with the characters of the time as well. Although it has been emphasized that the translated text should be faithful to the original, the translator will consciously or unconsciously publicize his own translation style (Hu & Xie, 2017). To reach the similarity of styles, the translator's personality needs to be considered as well. The style of Tang poetry varies from powerfulness to melancholy, subtle suggestion to broad-mindedness. In order to keep its unique styles and cultural characteristics in the target language, a variety of translation methods or strategies should be used.
Translators needs to realize whether the poem to be translated is close to his/her translation style or not and try to reproduce the original style.

Similarity of senses
The "similarity of sense" refers to the poetic meaning of translated poem coincides with that of the original one. It's acknowledged that meaning must be translated in translation. However, under the high-context culture, Chinese poetry stresses the expression of emotion in a subtly suggestive manner. While under the low-context culture, English poems tend to adopt a straightforward and factual manner of expression. It is dangerous to try to impose the value system of the source language on the translated culture (Bassnett, 2004). Generally, an explicit translation strategy is used to translate the poetry of high-context culture (as in China) into low-context culture; information reduction usually appears in translating the poetry of low-context culture (as in Britain and America) into high-context culture.

Similarity of artistic conceptions
The "similarity of artistic conceptions" holds that the comprehensive effect of artistic conception produced by the translated poems in the readers' mind is similar to that produced by the original poems. Emotion and scenery are mutually generated, and the scene and emotion internalize to construct artistic conceptions (Yang, 2010). Aesthetic conception or Yijing refers to a state where the scene described in a literary or artistic work reflects the intended sense and sensibility. This concept developed into an important criterion to judge the quality of a literary or artistic work, representing an accomplishment drawing on classical writings through ages. It has also become a hallmark for all outstanding literary and artistic works. But the artistic conceptions can hardly be reproduced in translation practice. The inability to reproduce does not exclude "approximation" which the excellent translation is usually based on (Guo, 1999).

The Micro level: Eight Beauties
The eight-beauty standards cover the beauty of form, music,

Middle Level
At the middle level, the similarity of styles, senses and artistic conceptions will be included. In terms of "similarity of style", "Song of the Roosting Crows" doesn't follow the free and unstrained style which is typical of Li Bai. Instead, it tends to be implicit and concise but with rich feelings and implications (Mu, 2009). Although Li Bai didn't make In this respect, Xu Yuanchong did better than the rest three.
The use of "beak-like mountain-peaks" and "peck" personalize the mountain, giving a strong sense of movement and a wealth of imagination. "坠" has the same function of "衔". Stephen Owen and Sun Dayu both used "sink low" as a substitute, while Xu Yuanchong translated it with "hang low" and Rewi Alley described it as "fell down" to the river. "Sink low" implies a sense of urgency since there is not much time left, while the expression of "hang low" lacks of the dynamic state. Rewi Alley's "fell down" personalized the moon but deviated from the original meaning.
Seventh, the beauty of allusion makes the poetry concise and implicit. Besides, the deep meaning in context will arouse rich association, thoughts and feelings that are not easy to tell directly can also be conveyed to the readers  (Wang, 2015). Built on the authentic history, "Song of the Roosting Crows" is filled with allusions. " 姑 苏 台 " The gray hill is to swallow half of the sun.
From the water clock more water drips away.
To the river autumn moon makes its headway.