| Abstract |
This study draws on Lefevere’s Manipulation Theory to explore how socio-cultural factors influence the treatment of imagery in poetry translation, through a comparative analysis of two Chinese versions of W.B. Yeats’s well-known poem When You Are Old—translated by Yuan Kejia and Fu Hao, respectively. Focusing on the poem’s core images and employing close reading and comparative methods, this research examines how ideology, poetics, and patronage shaped the two translations. The results show that Yuan Kejia’s version leans toward foreignization, preserving the religious-cultural imagery and symbolic poetics of the original. This approach reflects both the receptive attitude of Chinese ideology toward Western literature in the early Reform and Opening-Up era and the academic patronage demand for faithful reproduction of the source text’s artistic essence. In contrast, Fu Hao’s translation more frequently employs domestication, emphasizing universal appeal and readability. It softens specific religious references while enhancing the lyrical and visual qualities of the imagery. This reflects the translator’s responsiveness to contemporary readers’ diverse ideologies as well as market-driven expectations for aesthetic value, emotional impact, and acceptability. The study demonstrates that the pronounced differences in translating poetic imagery between the two versions ultimately stem from each translator’s negotiation with the source text, the target culture, and their own translational ethos, under the influence of distinct ideological conditions, prevailing poetic conventions, and patronage forces. This case strongly affirms that poetry translation is not merely a linguistic transfer or a narrow pursuit of “fidelity”. Rather, it constitutes a dynamic act of rewriting deeply embedded within socio-cultural constraints. To fully appreciate a translated work—especially one rich with cultural imagery like poetry—it must be situated within specific historical and cultural context, alongside careful consideration of the translator’s agency.
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