An Analysis of English Translation of The Book of Poetry from the Perspective of Feminist Translation Theory

Abstract

The Book of Poetry is the earliest collection of poems in China, reflecting the ancient social life of 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, which is a microcosm of the society at that time, and also an important work for the study of female consciousness in the years during the Book of Poetry. Feminist translation theory is the combination of translation theory and culture, which emphasizes the translator’s intervention in the text, which is of great significance to the text translation with bright feminist color. This paper takes the translated texts of Xu Yuanchong and James Legge as the research object, makes a comparison between the two English versions of the Book of Poetry under the guidance of feminist translation theory, analyzes the embodiment of feminist consciousness in the two versions, for the purpose of exploring how feminist translators’ self-consciousness plays a specific role in translation practice, and how the two translators use the strategies in the theory to intervene the translations.