An analysis on You are this world’s April day translatedby Mr. Zhao

（天津外國語大學，天津 300202）

【Abstract】： You are this world’s April day is a poem which can enlighten people’s hope after reading it. The author aims to analyze its English version created by the translator Mr.Zhao from the perspective of reception aesthetics that emphasizes the target audience.

【Key words】： a poem translation； reception aesthetics； the target audience

1. The background and the author of the original text

The original author of this poem is Lin Huiyin who was born in a bureaucratic family in 1904. She once published poems， essays and literature reviews. This poem is her most well-known work published in 1934.

2.The analysis based on the reception aesthetics

For instance， “那輕，那娉婷，你是，鮮妍” is translated as “So light， so lithe， you are the bright fay”. The author thinks that this sentence is difficult to translate due to different grammar structure between Chinese and English. The translator gives a solution to this problem by adding “the bright fay” to the translation. “fay” is the literary form of the fairy and it is used especially in poetry. The elusive dimension of the reading experience which does not appear on paper is grasped by such a translation. The “reception aesthetics” starting premise—that literary texts need readers to acquire meaning that remains convincing.” （Fluck， 365） Besides， “instead of asking what the text means， I asked what it does to its potential readers.” （Iser， 311） Here， the western readers are quite familiar with the fairy who appears countless times in the fairy tales and this meaning isn’t beyond their recognition. Moreover， “ the sound（ the rhyme） is an indispensable component of the beauty of a poem.” （Chen， 2010：3） In this translation， “day”， “roundelay”， “ray”， “gay”， “fay”， “way”， “sway” and “lay” at the end of a sentence are all rhyming words. The musical beauty and poetic rhyme are thus shown in translation due to the translator’s creativity.

3.The conclusion

The reception theory provides a perspective to judge the translation of poetry based on the central position of the target audience. Due to the difficulty in translating a Chinese poem， the translation of it should be reviewed from different angels. Undoubtedly， the meaning of the original text is important. If it is lost in translation， such a work is a failure. Whereas， for a translator， he or she also should deal with the relationship between the target audience and the target text well. He or she should let target audience realize the potential of the original and target text.

References：

1. Chen Guojun. From “the musical beauty” to “ the pure poem”[J]. Journal of of Shaanxi Normal University， 2010.

2.Iser， Wolfgang. “Image und Montage. Zur Bildkonzeption in der imagistischen Lyrik und in T.S. Eliots Waste Land.” Immanente ?sthetik， ?sthetische Reflexion. Lyrik als Paradigma der Moderne. Poetik und Hermeneutik. Vol. II. Ed. Wolfgang Iser. München： Fink， 1966. 361-93.

3. Winfried Fluck. Romance with America[M]. Duke University Press， 2002.

作者簡介：譚方雨（1992.3～），女，籍貫：安徽蕪湖，單位：天津外國語大學，學歷（2015級碩士）研究方向：翻譯理論與實踐。