II. A Historical Retrospection of English Poetry Translation.

2.1 Creativity in Poetry Translation

     Poetry translation is a creative activity, the leading role of the translator in translation activities gradually get full understanding, they are not simply the mouthpiece, translation is the stage to show their personality and talent. Translators only truly understand the composition characteristic and image, is possible with the original author and produce the same passion for creation, thus obtained the inspiration, Artistic reproduction of the creation. Can be said that translation activities is a kind of spiritual creation. And there are inherent differences between the Chinese and Western culture and language. Research shows that the western mode of thinking to logic, analysis and linear, Oriental is intuitive wholeness and harmony of the dialectical. Reflected in the way of thinking, the people of the east to take a casual way of thinking, while the focus of the Western way of thinking. Therefore, in the translation of poetry pursuit of formal equivalence is impossible, is not realistic, translation or create that domestication in the target language, similar in both externality and internality is the important means of pursuit in poetry translation.

William Blake’s poems is transcendental, primitive, dream of characteristics, the poet of strength and beauty of the search, and his secret of the human soul, his pure and profound is known for British Art and the most important one of the characters. If you really want to read Blake’s poems, or said to really want to express the cultural aspirations of black, must with poet together into his imagination world: ‘in the heart of the wilderness, fingers can be touch the sky.’ This is perhaps the modern people think black is fantasy poets of the most outstanding representative, his poems are full of mysterious color is one of the important reasons.

2.2 Cultural Compatibility in the Translation of English Poetry

In the eyes of the Brazilian poet and translator Augusto De Campos, poetry should belongs to not only a country but also a broader territory. The translator is entitled to help poetry across the language barrier to make it being appreciated by all mankind together. In short, the translation of the poetry text is not only the process of accepting the source culture, but making an important influence on the target culture. Therefore, the poetry translation may cause to lose some elements with source cultural traits. At the same time, such translation will produce tremendous power in the target language. Therein, the needs of the target cultural system is the source of the power, while the translator’s superb skills are a strong guarantee for the power.

Frederic proposed to reconsider the relationship between the translation text and the source text. First of all, the translator should pay attention to the vocabulary and grammar of the source language. Poetry translation requires comprehending the source text and decoding it carefully. The translator should not only considers the characteristics of the text, but also considers the factors beyond the text. Secondly, while reading the poem, the translator should understand the dialectical relationship between the literal meaning and the hidden thoughts behind the characters. The poetry translation would not go into the dead end only if the relationship is settled down, and the pros and cons are distinguished accurately. James Holmes also put forward his unique insights on poetry translation, who argued that the poetry translation should be classified, and a variety of basic translation strategies were proposed aiming at a series of poetic forms. In his theory, the first strategy is to imitate the form, which means translators use the target language to recreate the source language in the purpose of substituting the form which readers are quite familiar with for the original form. The second strategy refers to the conversion of the form of poetry. The translator must first determine what the function of the original form is, and then look for the same form from the target language. The most typical example is Alexandrine English-French translation. The third strategy is called “derived form” or “organic form”. The form and the content are separated apart. The forth strategy is known as the “abnormal form” or “indirect form”. In the use of such translation strategies, the translator uses a form which seems unrelated to the original form and content. Finally, one thing should be pointed out that the third and forth strategies are always considered as one, being called “organic strategy”.