Still Night by Li Bai

signalize Words metrical composition, translation, comparison Text Introduction Still night thoughts Is one of the most popular poems In china, for Its countersigns argon simple, sentences are easily understood, and Its meaning arouses sympathy. It depicts in a silent moon night, the compose sitting on the bed saw bright moonlight on the history, and then he raised(a) his head and watched the same moon that was above him and also above his homeland, which reminded him of his home. After that, he hung his hand, missing his hometown.There are dozens of Still night thoughts% translations, I pick up volt of them and compare them as future(a) to present the effect of recreation and word selection in the poetry translation. Comparative Analysis bound one Night Meditation In front of my flooded with moonbeam, I mistook for frost appears on the floor change by reversaling my head trying to watch the moon, I snitchped again for missing our home town. This version is from a exper ient writer Line Juliann The length of sentence Is almost the same that each sentence Is composed of sevener or eight words.At this point, It resembles five character quatrains. Meanwhile, the meaning of e really sentence Is very closely to the pilot light one and there Is only a little adjustment of rod order In commencement ceremony two sentences. Obviously, Len tried and true hard to accommodate his translation with the original one. In terms of form, this version Is very faithful. However, the use of several(prenominal) verbs Is not proper. For example, trying means make an attempt or effort, but in the third sentence, the author raised his head spontaneously when he found the light from the ground.In the fourth sentence, the verb overleap means Tall suddenly, out In Tanat scene, writer was adsorbed In nostalgia odometer, according to common sense, he essential not lay down made such a big strawman. In addition, there are most commendable creations in this version. In the first sentence, Line used the verb flooded vividly to highlight the smarting of the moonbeam. In the fourth sentence, our hometown instead of my hometown arouses association that someone in the authors hometown is also watching the moon and missing him. They are the translators recreation of the original poem.In general, it is a advantageously translation and evokees Lie Basis emotion accurately. var. two thoughts in a Tranquil Night Athwart the bed I watch the moonbeams regorge a trail So bright, so cold, so frail, That for a space it gleams Like hoarfrost on the margin of my dreams. I raise my head -? The splendid moon I see Then drop my head, And sink to dreams of thee -? My fatherland, of thee This version is from the British gemologist L. Crammer-Bang. His translation is very different from the original poem in form and meaning. The sentences are change and the expressions are too far away from the original one.We can find no evidence in Lie Basis poem slightly so c old, so frail in the second sentence and on the margin of my dreams in the fifth sentence. Also, in the last sentence, the noun fatherland bygone from the authors opinion, because the creation time of Still night thoughts was in the glorious age of Tang dynasty, Lie ABA wrote this poem to express his homesickness rather than patriotism. I suppose the translator was not familiar with the creation background of the original poem, yet the culture background is the important part to analysis the motivation of writers work and to comprehend it better.Though L. Crammer-Bang tried hard to recreate Still night thoughts, his lacking of culture background led to improper change. As a whole, this version is not a successful translation. Version ternion So bright a gleam on the foot of my bed, Could there have been a frost already? Lifting my head to look, I found that it was moonlight, Sinking back again, I thought suddenly of home. This version is from a Harold Witter Banner, an American po et. Though its form differs from the original one, it is a simple and beautiful poem.It began with the phrase so bright attracting the readers to read introductory and distinctively showed ten Darlingness AT ten Mooney. In ten second sentence, ten translator a mention what the bright gleam was, instead he wrote a rhetorical question Could here have been a frost already? he did not used any words to express R in the original poem, his expression manifested it well. In the next sentences, he selected the word lift and sink to display the writers effect. Lift and sink comported the slow movement which implied the complex emotion of he writer.In the last sentence, Banner utilized the adverb the suddenly which added the conclusion touch the pen. Despite of no related words in the original poem about the word suddenly, we can feel from the scene that Lie ABA watched the moon which associated him with he homeland, and then the strong emotion of homesickness occurred to him, so the nost algia was a spasm. Banner stretched his imagination moderately and added the hidden meaning into the translation. Overall, this version not only displays the dish antenna of Still night thoughts, but also showed the translator bilingual language accomplishment.Version four As by my bed The moon did beam, It seemed as if with frost the earth were spread. But soft I raise My head, to descry At the fair moon. And now, With head curing low, Of home I dream. This version is also from a unknown John Turner. This version and it is a typical English poem. There are various sentence patterns and some sentences are separated into different cables and different in size. For instance, in the last two sentences, With head bent IoW is an independent nominative sentence and of home I dream is an inverted sentence.All these sentences in picturesque disorderliness present the irregular steady of the English poem. As for selection of words, Turner did a good product line as well. Since the tra nslator has already mentioned the moon in the first line, it is proper to use seemed as to express Also, the verb gaze emphasized the writer looked at the moon for a long time that well displayed the complicated feelings in the writers heart. The phrase bent IoW used by Turner accurately depicts the slowly and gently movement of the writers head. Anther apparent characteristic of this translation is its rhyme.It adopts iambic pentameter that is ABA CD b rhyme which makes the poem full of yellowish pink of sound. However, the word beam in the second sentence is not suitable, for beam is used to indict a line of light which is different from the scene that the moonlight covered the ground. Soft in the fourth line is unnecessary, for the reason that the writer is not prepared to feel sad and he raised his head naturally when he saw the light on the floor. It is superfluous to add the word soft here to heighten the emotion of homesickness.In general, it is a good translation and dis plays Still night thoughts with the beauty of English language. Version cardinal Moonlight before my bed, Could it be frost instead? notch up, I watch the moon Head down, I think of home. This version is from Chaos Sheehan This translation is simple and easily understood, its structure is clear and lucid, and it is booming to read, sing and memory. At this aspect, this version is very alike the original poem. But this translation is a good poem, because the wording of it is rough.For example, head up and head down in the last two sentences express the movement of raising head and falling head of the writer too straight and directly that they can not present the subtle emotions implied in the movement. In the first two sentences, the translator omitted all words about the brightness of the moonlight in order to keep the translation succinct. However, moon is the most important imaginativeness in this poem in that moon as a special meaning in the Chinese culture that it often close ly related to the family, hometown or motherland, and it is the key to arouse the nostalgia of the writer in this poem.Therefore, this remissness is not desirable. Meanwhile, Chaos made little creative changes in the translations. Although this version gets on for the regular beauty of Chinese ancient poem, it is not a beautiful English poem and can not submit the splendor of Still night thoughts. Conclusion Generally speaking, the criteria of poetry translation are according to three sections fidelity, expressiveness and elegance. Without enough knowledge of the culture background and the accurate understanding of the original poem, it is hard to achieve faithfulness and will mislead the readers, as version two mistakes homesickness with patriotism.On the base of faithfulness, excellent bilingual language skill is a must otherwise original poem will lose its beauty under the translators hand, as version five is a plain and too direct poem. In addition, apt recreation is ask to cater for different language user and even add beauty to the poem. Version one, three and five are successful examples with the translators ingenuity, including wording, sentence pattern and organization.