Poetry translation is a unique and complex task that requires balancing the aesthetic qualities of the original with linguistic and cultural differences in the target language. Among the central challenges is the rendering of end rhyme, a key prosodic feature that plays a significant role in shaping the rhythm and emotional resonance of poetry (Bassnett, 2013). This study investigates how different translation strategies for end rhyme affect the emotional and rhythmic transmission of poetry, using two English translations of Ode to the West Wind as case studies. By applying theories of prosody and emotional continuity, the research examines the pitch and duration of final rhyming vowels in the original poem and its translations, using Praat software for acoustic analysis and t-tests for statistical comparison. The comparative findings suggest that the preservation of prosodic features may support emotional continuity, but also highlight the complexity of achieving equivalence.

Poetry translation;End rhyme;Prosody;Emotional continuity;Acoustic analysis;Ode to the West Wind;Praat

[1] Banse, R., & Scherer, K. R. (1996). Acoustic profiles in vocal emotion expression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(3), 614–636. [2] Barnstone, W. (1994). Translation theory with a semiotic slant. Semiotica. 102(2), 89–100. [3] Black, J. W. (1961). Relationships among fundamental frequency, vocal sound pressure, and rate of speaking. Language and Speech, 4(4), 196–199. [4] Boersma, P., & Weenink, D. (2019). Praat: doing phonetics by computer [Computer program]. Version 6.0.52, retrieved 25 March 2019 from http://www.praat.org/. [5] Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015). For the Love of Language: An Introduction to Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. [6] Chen, J., & Duan, H. (2013). Wentixue shijiao xia “Xifeng Song” liang ge yiben de bijiao yanjiu [A comparative study of two translations of Ode to the West Wind from a stylistic perspective]. Modern Chinese, (9), 149–151. [7] Dahlgren, M. (2000). A relevance-based approach to poetry in translation. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 8(2), 97–108. [8] Dahlgren, M. (2005). “Preciser what we are”: Emily Dickinson's poems in translation: a study in literary pragmatics. Journal of Pragmatics, 37(7), 1081–1107. [9] Di Dio, C., Macaluso, E., & Rizzolatti, G. (2007). The golden beauty: Brain response to classical and renaissance sculptures. Plos One, 2(11), e1201. [10] Ferber, M. (2019). Poetry and Language: the Linguistics of Verse. Cambridge University Press. [11] Fox, A. (2002). Prosodic Features and Prosodic Structure: the Phonology of “Suprasegmentals”. OUP Oxford. [12] Hayes, B. (1989). The prosodic hierarchy in meter. Rhythm and Meter (pp. 201–260). [13] Hu, X. (2017). Experimental metafunction study of Ode to The West Wind and its Chinese translations. English Language and Literature Studies, 7(1), 20–29. [14] Jones, F. R. (2011). The Translation of Poetry. Oxford Handbooks Online. pp. 169–182. [15] Jacobsen, T., & Höfel, L. E. A. (2002). Aesthetic judgments of novel graphic patterns: Analyses of individual judgments. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 95(3), 755–766. [16] Jacobsen, T., Schubotz, R. I., Höfel, L., & Cramon, D. Y. V. (2006). Brain correlates of aesthetic judgment of beauty. Neuroimage, 29(1), 276–285. [17] Johnstone, T., & Scherer, K. R. (2000). Vocal communication of emotion. Handbook of Emotions (pp. 230-235). [18] Juslin, P. N., & Laukka, P. (2003). Communication of emotions in vocal expression and music performance: Different channels, same code? Psychological Bulletin, 129(5), 770–814. [19] Kwong, C. (2009). Translating classical Chinese poetry into rhymed English: A linguistic-aesthetic view. TTR, 22(1), 189–220. [20] Murray, I. R., & Arnott, J. L. (1993). Toward the simulation of emotion in synthetic speech: A review of the literature on human vocal emotion. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 93(2), 1097–1108. [21] Obermeier, C., Menninghaus, W., Von Koppenfels, M., Raettig, T., Schmidt-Kassow, M., Otterbein, S., & Kotz, S. A. (2013). Aesthetic and emotional effects of meter and rhyme in poetry. Frontiers in Psychology, 4(10), 1–10. [22] Ortleb, R. (1937). An objective study of emphasis in oral reading of emotional and unemotional material. Communications Monographs, 4(1), 56–68. [23] OBHRM. (n.d.). T distribution table. OBHRM. https://www.obhrm.net/index.php/T%E5%88%86%E5%B8%83%E8%A1%A8_t_distribution_table [24] Qin, M. (2018). “Xi Feng Song” si zhong yiwen de bijiao shangxi [A comparative appreciation of four translations of Ode to the West Wind]. Foreign Language Education and Translation Development Innovation Research. 7, 535–540. [25] Roach, P. (1982). On the distinction between “stress-timed” and “syllable-timed” languages. Linguistic Controversies, 73–79. [26] Scherer, K. R. (1986). Vocal affect expression: A review and a model for future research. Psychological Bulletin, 99(2), 143–165. [27] Scherer, K. R. (2003). Vocal communication of emotion: A review of research paradigms. Speech Communication, 40(1–2), 227–256. [28] Sidhu, D., & Pexman, P. M. (2018). Five mechanisms of sound symbolic association. Psychonomic Bulletin &Review, 25(5), 1619–1643. [29] Turner, F., and Pöppel, E. (1983). The neural lyre: poetic meter, the brain and time. Poetry, 142(5), 277–309. [30] Wei, Y., & Zhou, K. (2020). Cong mudi lun de san yuanze pingxi Jiang yi "Xi Feng Song". [An analysis of Jiang's translation of Ode to the West Wind from the perspective of skopos theory]. Overseas English, (17), 196–198. [31] Zhao, L., & Long, Y. (2014).Yin, xing, yi de wanmei tongyi–Xi “Xi Feng Song” zhong de yinyun gelv [The perfect unity of sound, form, and meaning: analysis of phonological rhythm in Ode to the West Wind]. Journal of Handan College, 01, 99–102. [32] Zhao, Y. G. (2018). Jufa–yinxi de jiaohu yu Hanyu yunlv cengji lilun yanjiu [The interaction between syntax and phonology and the study of Chinese prosodic hierarchy theory]. Journal of Beijing International Studies University, 262(2), 25–46.

DOI： https://doi.org/10.62639/sspjiess16.20250203

Published： 2025