摘 要

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Research Background 1

1.2 Purpose of the Study 1

1.3 Organization of the Thesis 2

2. Literature Review 3

2.1 Previous Research on Skopos Theory 4

2.2 Previous Study on the Translation of Bob Dylan’s Poetry 4

2.3 Research Gap 4

3. Data and Methodology 5

3.1 Data 5

3.2 Methodology 6

4. Analysis of Translation of Bob Dylan’s poetry 7

4.1 Analysis of A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall 8

4.2 Analysis of Like a Rolling Stone 14

5. Conclusion 19

5.1 Summary of Major Findings 19

5.2 Significance of the Study 20

5.3 Limitations of the Study 20

5.4 Suggestions for Future Research 20

参考文献 21

致谢 23

Abstract

Bob Dylan is a famous American singer. His poetic works are mostly lyrics, with the language features of poetry and rhythm. His works have left a strong mark on American contemporary culture, which has profoundly affected the changes in American contemporary thoughts. Then, at present, the translation of Bob Dylan’s poetry in China is still in its infancy, and there are few studies on the quality of the Chinese translation of Bob Dylan’s poetry.

Poetry translation is very difficult. Bob Dylan’s poetry is very melodic, and the form is very flexible, full of metaphors and images. The evaluation standard of traditional translation theory is single and cannot cover all dimensions of the work. Skopos theory is more diversified and is suitable for the analysis of Chinese translations of Bob Dylan’s poetry.

Based on skopos theory, this thesis makes a detailed and in-depth analysis of the two representatives of Bob Dylan’s most famous poems, “A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall” and “Like a Rolling Stone”. It is found that currently there is a lack of rhythm in the Chinese translation of Dylan’s poetry works. Moreover, the translator prefers to use written language, and the language style is quite different from the original text. Consequently, the Chinese translation of Bob Dylan’s works still has a lot of room for improvement.

Keywords: Bob Dylan; poetry; Skopos Theory; English-Chinese Translation

中文摘要

鲍勃•迪伦作为著名的美国歌手，他的诗歌作品多以歌词为主，兼具诗歌的语言特色并富于韵律。他的作品在美国当代文化中留下浓墨重彩的印记，深刻影响美国当代思潮变化。然后，目前鲍勃•迪伦的诗歌在我国的译介还处在起步阶段，也鲜有分析鲍勃•迪伦诗歌中文译本质量的研究。

诗歌翻译本身就有一定难度，鲍勃•迪伦的诗歌又极具音律性，形式非常灵活，充满隐喻和意象。传统的翻译理论评价标准单一，无法涵盖作品的各个维度。而目的论的标准则更加多元化，适合用来指导分析鲍勃•迪伦诗歌作品的中文翻译。

本文以翻译目的论为理论依据对鲍勃•迪伦最具有代表性的两首诗歌《暴雨将至》和《像一块滚石》的中译本进行了细致深入的分析，研究发现目前对于鲍勃•迪伦诗歌作品的中译本中存在缺乏韵律，译者偏向于采用书面语，语言风格与原文本相差较大等问题。据此，本文认为鲍勃•迪伦作品的中文翻译还有较大的提升空间。

关键词：鲍勃•迪伦；诗歌；目的论；汉译

Introduction

1.1 Research Background

Bob Dylan (1941- ) is an American singer-songwriter, author, and visual artist, who has a great influence on popular music, youth culture and American politics. He combines music and literature to express his philosophical attitude towards life by lyrics. His accomplishments in the literary and musical world have influenced generations of Americans. Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016 because he created a new poetic expression in the great American song tradition.

Bob Dylan’s works are not primarily treated as songs by critics. In their eyes, his songs should be analyzed and translated from a literary perspective to help readers understand them more accurately. However, given his lyrics have both the characteristics of poetry and music, the thesis prefers to view them as poems in this thesis. Bob Dylan has become an icon of American pop culture in China, which reflects the spirit of the era, but there are few studies about the translation of Bob Dylan’s poetry.

1.2 Purpose of the Study

Research on Bob Dylan’s work began as early as the 1960s when his lyrics were first used for course design and promoted to schools by the former British poet Laureate Andrew Motion. Nevertheless, the number of studies concerned with the translation of Bob Dylan’s lyrics is still small in China now.