The Intralingual and Interlingual Construction and Spread of Du Fu’s Images

Kunming University,Yunnan,China Email:chenwenhui716@126.com

[Abstract]Du Fu is one of the Chinese most famous classical poets and his poems are also valuable.However,his image as the Sage of Poetry was not constructed since his poems were composed.The process of Du Fu’s images construction at home and abroad is reviewed in this paper.The intralingual images are constructed from non-mainstream poet in the Tang Dynasty,to the Sage of Poetry in the Song Dynasty,to the diversification of the images including the Sage of Feelings in the modern times,to the Political Poet at the beginning of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China and the Sage of Poetry with more feelings in the present times.Interlingually,Du Fu is regarded as the top Chinese poet and even is compared favorably with Shakespeare and Dante.Nowadays,Du Fu and his poems are accepted by the readers in the English world and almost gains the world fame.

[Keywords]Du Fu;poem;image;translation

Introduction

Poetry,as almost the most ancient literary style,is both the living modes for literati and the folk individual interest.Poetry can always give readers endless topics and interpretation.Therefore,poetry translation is also an eternal research topic,and it continuously develops with the literary globalization.As far as the Chinese literature is concerned,poetry is always the most important part which is compared with the most brilliant pearl on a crown.Furthermore,Chinese classical poetry,as one part of Chinese classical literature,belongs to the world literature and then,the translation and transmission of these classics to the English world,even to the whole world,are the significant tasks for translation research.

It is almost impossible to make clear the number of the Chinese classical poets and Chinese classical poems.When Chinese classical poems are talked about,Tang poems are the most magnificent and Du Fu is the undisputed top one of the whole Chinese poetry history.Every Chinese classical poet owns his unique features for his poetry creation and so is Du Fu.From the Tang Dynasty to the present era,the image of Du Fu is constructed gradually as the Sage of Poetry because of his patriotism,which is recognized by readers of different dynasties.With the development of China,more and more significance of Du Fu and his poems are researched and with the development of the whole world,Du Fu’s poems attract more and more sinologists’eyeballs and they are translated and introduced to the English readers.The images of Du Fu cannot be changeless,and the construction of his images are sorted out from the original construction in China to the cross-cultural spread in the English world in this paper.

The Diachronic Construction of Du Fu’s Image in China

In 712,Du Fu was born in a comparatively rich family in which his forefathers and father were officials and his grandfather was even a contemporary famous poet.In this wealthy and literary family,Du Fu was well-educated as a child and then grew into a smart and healthy young man.Du Fu had a study tour at the age of 19,from which he learned a lot.After the tour and also at his age of 23,he returned home to take part in the imperial examination.However,he failed in this examination.After that,his family supported him to finish his second study tour.Surprisingly,he failed in his second imperial examination,and furthermore,with the death of his farther,he had to begin his poor and frustrated life.Later in his life,though Du Fu was given minor officials,poverty and frustration were the mainstream in his adult life.Du Fu was almost 40 years old when the An-shi Rebellion broke out,which became the most important transition for his life and his poetry creation.Chinese scholars have the common idea that it is the An-shi Rebellion that made Du Fu a great first-level poet,or on the contrary,Du Fu might be a second-level poet without the breaking out of the rebellion(Xi,2018,p.90).

It is said that there are almost 60 volumes,totally about 1500 poems by Du Fu,and most of his poems were created after the An-shi Rebellion.That is,the poet’s individual personality was formed in his middle age.Since the contemporary social conflicts,public sufferings and his patriotism and worrying for the nation can be found in his poems,Du Fu is named the Sage of Poetry and his poems the History of poetry.

The Absence of the Image Construction in the Tang Dynasty

Du Fu was not given the corresponding fame or the image construction in the contemporary era,though he is a famous poet in Tang Dynasty and his poems were also created in the Tang Dynasty,and the main reason is that his poems misfit the contemporary poetic mainstream.Before the Rebellion,the poetic style about the prosperous Tang Dynasty was advocated,and after the Rebellion,the revitalization of the literary style was needed.Du’poems are always outside of the contemporary literary mainstream andThe Anthology of Great Poets of Tang Dynasty(《河岳英靈集》)is one of the classic example.234 poems by 24 poets in Tang Dynasty are collected in The Anthology of Great Poets of Tang Dynasty which was collected by Yin Pan,who is the editor of this book.However,according to the scholar Weng Yuling,there are two acceptable reasons for the absence of Du’s poems in this anthology.One is that Du Fu did not gain his fame when this collection was edited,and the other major reason is that the conflicts exist between the Du’s poetic style,the aim of this anthology and the contemporary poetic aestheticism.(Weng,2006,p.48-51)

The poems which are about the prosperous Tang Dynasty from 714-753 are collected inThe Anthology of Great Poets of Tang Dynasty.Du Fu is a poet in the prosperous Tang Dynasty,but his great poems were mainly created after in his middle age and even in his old age,or after 756.So,the timing gap can be found between the poem creation and the anthology.Furthermore,as the editor,Yin Pan wants to collect the poems which can be the representatives for the prosperous Tang Dynasty and the poems are characteristic of vigor.From this perspective,Du’s poems which are famous for his melancholy and suffering do not meet the contemporary literary aestheticism and the editor’s literary aim.There are still some other examples to show the absence of Du Fu image construction.Du Fu’s poems did not collected in another poetic anthology in the Tang Dynasty edited by the Tang scholar,Yuan Jie,whose requirements for the poets were honesty and benevolence without any official ranks.Thus,Du’s poems were again rejected into this anthology.Generally,Du Fu’s image is not clear enough to be constructed in the Tang Dynasty.

The Construction of the Image in the Song Dynasty

In the late Tang Dynasty,Du Fu’s poems were more and more acceptable and attracted increasingly academic eyeballs.Till the Song Dynasty,Du Fu’s poems were praised highly because of their main ideas and thoughts,and his image as the Sage of Poetry has been constructed.With the timing development,Du’s poems came into the contemporary poetic mainstream,and a lot of scholars or poets regarded him to be their poetic idols,including Wang Anshi.Wang composed a poem namedThe Painting of Du Fu,in which Wang praised Du’s extraordinary and rare poems,gave his sympathy to Du Fu’s unsuccessful official career and suffering familyhood,and finally,admired Du’s individual charm.Du Fu and his poems are Wang Anshi’s favorite and Wang always appreciates the usage of words in Du’s poems since the exquisiteness,deepness and vigor of the words shows the dimensions of the universe,the various differences between beauty and ugliness,and the vitality in the poems describing the power of the universe.

Besides Wang Anshi,other poets are the fans of Du Fu and his poems.Wang Anshi’s close friend,Wang Ling also one of the Tang poet,regarded Du’s poems as the mirror,in which everything of the world can be found and the springs of the four hundred years can be shown as well.The famous patriotic general Wen Tianxiang read Du’s poems almost every day when he was put into prison and he thought that the feelings and emotions which he wanted to express had been in Du’s poems and he signed that Du Fu’s poems could be believed as the representative of his inner world.The Song Dynasty is the most important era for the image construction of Du Fu.A lot of scholars,poets and even officials admire Du Fu’s poems and their appreciation and efforts construct the image of Du Fu as the Sage of Poetry.

The Diversification of the Images in the Modern Times

From the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China,Du Fu and his poems gained continuous research and Du’s images were constructed diversely with more perspectives.Li Bai and Du Fu by the scholar,Fu Donghua,was published in 1927,reprinted in 1929 and in 1933,by the Commercial Press,and in this book,poems fromLi Bai and Du Fuare compared from different perspectives.(Fu,1927,p.11)In 1928,the scholar,Wang Jingzhi’s academic research book and the comparison of Li Bai and Du Fu was printed by the Commercial Press in Shanghai for the first edition and the two poets and their poems are studied from the perspectives of thinking,poetic styles,poets’individualities,life experiences and their hobbies,and Wang summaries that Du’s poems are public literature.(Wang,1935,p.151)Then,inDu Fu’s Lifeby Xie Yiwei published in 1929 by the World Books in Shanghai,the author thinks that readers can master Du’s poems better with the understanding of the poet’s personal experience.(Xie,1929,p.12)Later,in 1933,The Non-Combat Thoughts in Du Fu’s Poemsby Gu Pengnian,was printed by the Commercial Press,and as far as the author is concerned,the combats in Du’s poems are the reflection of the contemporary social situations and furthermore,the combats in Du’s poems show the non-combat thoughts from the poet on the contrary.(Gu,1933,p.8)

The research of Du Fu and his poems in this period of time makes a lot of achievements,and among them,Liang Qichao is the most representative.Responding to the literary thoughts in which public literature was advocated in this period of time,Liang Qichao not only accepted the image of the Sage of Poetry for Du Fu,but also regarded Du as the Sage of Feelings because of his admiration of Du’s deep love to ordinary people and the concerning with the reality.(Liang,1982,p.70)The“l(fā)ove”here does not refer to the feelings between lovers or couples but means the true love of broad meaning between human beings.It is the reflection of the universal love in Chinese traditional culture,and Liang believes that Du should be the top one who composed pomes with deep love in Chinese literary history.(Zhang,2015,pp.47-53)

The Image Construction at the Beginning of the Establishment of the People’s Republic of China

At the beginning of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China,that is,from 1949 to 1966,the research of Du Fu and his poems were also prosperous and the image of Du Fu was constructed differently from those in the previous periods of time.In this period of time,Du Fu’s image was constructed as People’s Poet based on the contemporary special social and historical situations.(Wu,2012,pp.58-66)

In this period of time,Du Fu’s poems were commented as the political poems when Chairman Mao Zedong visited Dufu's Thatched Cottage in 1958 and gave Du’s poems the connotation of politics after he went through some memorials and Du’s poems.Along with Chairman Mao’s viewpoint,Du Fu was regarded as the People’s Poet for the first time in 1962 by the scholar Xiao Difei.Xiao believes that Du Fu is a great sympathetic poet for the public in Chinese history and his poems are full of patriotism for the homeland and the public.(Xiao,1979,p.1)Therefore,Du’s pomes at that time were given the characteristics of realism and were believed as the peak of realism.

The Image Construction in the Present Time

With the development of time and society,the image of Du Fu has changed a lot and is constructed differently again with those in the past time.Du Fu’s images are enriched with the various perspectives by different scholars.

The scholar,Xi Chuan,thinks that Du Fu’s image which the public always talk about refers to the poet’s image in his old age.Though he had a rich life from his childhood to his youth,Du Fu composed most of great poems in his middle and even old age,and his image which is now always talked about represents his old age.In his new book,Xi Chuan analyzes Du’s image which is spiritually lone,physically withered and literarily thin with realism.In a word,Du Fu’s image is generally sad and suffering with a little happiness sometimes.(Xi,2018,p.129)

Another scholar,Ding Qizhen,reconstructs Du Fu’s image in his academic book about Du and his poems.Based on the reading of the chronological books about Du Fu,Ding analyzes Du from the various historical perspectives.He agrees with the historical ideas that Du Fu is the Sage of Poetry,his poems are the Historical Poems and even Du is Sage of Feelings,and Ding gives his own interpretation about these appellations.Furthermore,Ding summarizes that the true image of Du Fu is absolutely not the single one which is sad,suffering and worrying,but the great poet who coined a lot of idioms,composed many famous sentences and made great achievements for the Chinese language on one side,and is versatile and interesting on the other side.(Ding,2018,p.10)

Generally chronological speaking,Du Fu’s images in the domestic research experience vary from their beginning construction to those of nowadays,that is,from the non-mainstream in the Tang Dynasty,to the great the Sage of Poetry in the Song Dynasty,to the Sage of Feelings in the modern times,to the People’s Poet in the beginning of establishment of new China,even to image of the more richful personalities and features.

The Image Construction of Du Fu in English World

In 1741,the first English-translated poem by Du Fu was published in English world,which begins the transmission of Du’s poems to the western countries and the peaks of the transmission from his poems with the deep exchanges of Chinese and English cultures in the 20th century.With the translation and transmission of Du Fu’s poems,Du’s images are constructed in the heterogeneous culture which is so far away from the Chinese culture.

Kenneth Rexroth(1905-1982),as one of the poets of American literary history to begin the new era,also a translator,critic and philosopher,learns many languages including Chinese language since he was a child.When he learns about the Chinese poems,he is attracted by them,especially Du Fu’s poems,which are believed by Rexroth to be the poetic history.Rexroth believes that for him and most of the scholars who learn about and research Du’s poems,Du Fu is the greatest poet of non-history and non-drama in all the languages,and Rexroth immerses himself in Du’s poems for more than 30 years,and it is Du Fu and his poems make him to be a man with more nobility,more nationality and more insight.

After Rexroth,Stephen Owen is the representative,who is the professor of Harvard University,for the translation and research of Chinese poetry including Du Fu’s poems.Stephen finished the translation of all the Du’s poems within almost 8 years and the translation was published in 2016.Stephen regards Du Fu as a genius and he also thinks that Du is very special,just as Shakespeare in English literary history,and whatever the culture and values change,readers from every era can find the values of their times from this great poet.Du,not just on behalf of the past,helps readers to understand the current era since a lot in his poems can be found to be similar with those in present time.For Stephen,Du Fu has the Chinese literary position as important as Shakespeare in English literature.

Conclusion

The launch of the research on Du Fu and his poems in the English countries is later than that is in China,but the researches have something in common both abroad and domestically.That is,with the development of the society,the research perspectives have been variously rich and the poet’s images have been multi-dimensional.Meanwhile,the development and the variety of the poet’s images are the reflection of the contemporary social situations,and Du Fu gains greater and friendlier images than he did in the past.Especially in 2020,the documentaryDu Fuby BBC introduced this poet to the world again and regarded Du as the greatest poet in China who is comparable to Dante and Shakespeare.This is the similar cognition from the western culture to the eastern culture.Du Fu epitomizes the past world,and his poems tells the whole world that feelings and tolerance are human being’s the most valuable spiritual treasures.When COVID-19 is prevalent tragically in the world,the hostilities between countries are increasing and ethnic conflicts are stronger,Du Fu’s image is the model to show more understanding and tolerance facing disasters with humanitarianism.