A Brief Analysis on the Significance of Rhetorical Figures Applied in Literary Works and Translation

许家瑞

Language is the foundation of human communication. We use language to express our own thoughts and feelings，and hope to get mutual understanding. Rhetoric figures are important elements in any language. According to Zhang Zhigong，rhetoric is a process of choosing language materials carefully according to a certain purpose when using language.[1] Rhetoric helps us express more clearly. These function must be the main reason that the devices are widely used both in our daily life and literary works. Even different types of form expressing differently，such as poem，prose and fiction，the rhetorical figures play same important role. Chen Wangdao believes that rhetoric means to convey meaning and sense more accurate by adjusting the words or phrases.[2] This is from a different angle of the significance of rhetoric. It means the rhetoric is distinguished from grammar in works，but it surely help the author to present his or her idea，and help the reader to understand. We will take some rhetorical figures as example，and see the significance of it in the literary works.

1.Personification

Personification is a type of metaphor. It involves presenting the animate in terms of the inanimate or the human in terms of non-human. Generally it has two types，Ni- Jen，personification of insentient things and Ni- wu，comparison of a human with an inanimate object.[3] It is a common used tool that literally exist in every works. By using this figure，the work can be more lively，and the truth can be revealed and  more emotions can be delivered to readers.[4] For example，in poem “DIE LIAN HUA”（“蝶戀花”）by Feng Yansi（冯廷巳，around Tang Dynasty），line “泪眼问花花不语，乱红飞过秋千去”，“花不语” means mute flowers. However，no flower can talk. This is a typical personification. In the poem，no one was there with the woman but only flowers and willows，so she treated them as people whom she could talk with. However，the flowers couldn’t talk nor understand the woman，what’s more，the fallen flowers also flied far away and left her lonely. Therefore，with personification the poet depicts a more sorrow picture，which shows how grief and sorrow she was. This makes the reader have a more clear and better understanding of the woman’s feeling.

Let’s see another example. The Irish poet Thomas Moore who personified rose as a lover in “Last Rose of Summer” line “Since the lovely are sleeping，Go，sleep thou with them”. He couldn’t make the last rose stay with him. The lovely roses “are sleeping” just like person. This causally shows how sad and sorrow the man was with the figure of speech.

From the above examples，we can see the function and the significance of the personification.

2.Hu-wen

Hu-wen means substitution for a parallel expression.[5] Both previous line and the following line are each others’ supplement. This makes the full expression with complete meaning. Hu-wen has been applied for many famous ancient Chinese poetry. Let’s see some lines from “Ballad of Mu Lan”（木蘭诗.乐府诗集）. In lines "开我东阁门，坐我西阁床” and “当窗理云鬓，对镜帖花黄”，“开我” and “坐我” are Hu-wen. In original text，it seems that the former line had no relationship with the later line，“open the east house door，and sit on the west house bed”：Actually they are two separate parts telling different thing，and supplying with each other. Therefore，the meaning should be “open the door of east and west house”. So does line “当窗”，it should be “brush hair and make up in front of the bronze mirror and window ”，which shows how happy Mulan was. This figure makes the text more dramatic.

Another great example of using Hu-wen is in Xin Qiji’s（辛弃疾，Song Dynasty）poem “Qing Yu-an”（青玉案）.

“东风夜放花千树。更吹落、星如雨。宝马雕车香满路。凤箫声动，玉壶光转，一夜鱼龙舞。

蛾儿雪柳黄金缕。笑语盈盈暗香去。众里寻他千百度。蓦然回首，那人却在，灯火阑珊处。”

In this poem，the Hu-wen part is from the fourth line to the end. First，the “horse” line and “moth” line are Hu-wen，they describe a joyful and happy night，and all people enjoyed the night. This then made that man/ woman “那人” more lonely，because s/he wanted to be alone，s/he had her/his own dream，may be can not be realized. This is an abnormal Hu-wen does make the poem more famous.

Rhetorical tools are not only showed up in ancient Chinese poems，but also in the Western poems. Such as Shakespeare’s Sonnet，many figures had been applied in sonnet. For example Sonnet 60，Shakespeare got a further step on the depiction of the cruelty of time by the metaphor of the sun，which goes through a whole day. In the second quatrain where crawl and confound are a set of opposite words to carry great implied meanings.

From the above samples，we could see that the significance of rhetorical devices in the literary works. Then talking about the figures applied in the process of translation，the essential still be great. We could see it from the following examples.

In the poem “Sheng Sheng Man”（声声慢）written by Li Qingzhao（李清照，Song Dynasty），we could see many figures had been used in the original text，such as gradation and repetition in the first three lines. Repetition could double the meaning of the words，and the repetition of sound created more sorrow feeling. Second，it used gradation to depict gradually from outside to inside，which makes readers feel the character’s feelings naturally. This poem has been translated by many scholars. Such as Rexroth did，he repeated “search” and “seek” in line 1，“cold” and “clear” in line 2，“sorrow” and “pain” in line 3，which is abnormal in English grammar，but it is faithful to the original text in form，and create the same function and effect.

Another poem “Man Jiang Hong” “满江红” by Yue Fei. Lets see the lines “怒发冲冠，凭栏处，潇潇雨歇” translated by Xu Yuanchong. “Wrath sets on end my hair，I lean on railings where，I see the drizzling rain has ceased.”[6] We would find out that in this three lines，Xu Yuanchong tried to keep as same rhetorical figures in the source text as possible. In the translation，he used “sets on” to emphasis how the wrath is，and try to keep rhyme in the end. In the original text，there is also yung-shih，however it may can’t be shown clearly. It already accurately conveys the meaning and sense.

To a conclusion，rhetorical figures are quite normal in the literary works. It let the work conveys meaning and sense more accurate. Also it is quite essential to apply rhetorical figures in the process of translation，which can make the foreign language readers get what the original sense.

References：

[1]  張志公. 修辞是一个选择过程. 当代修辞学，（01），3-5.

[2]  陳望道，修辭學發凡 = Xiu ci xue fa fan. 上海市：復旦大學出版社.

[3]  Karl Kao，“Rhetoric.” In William Nienhauser，ed. The Indiana Companion to Chinese Literature. Indian University Press.

[4]  張弓，現代漢語修辭學（初版. ed.），河北出版傳媒集團.

[5]  Karl Kao，“Rhetoric.” In William Nienhauser，ed. The Indiana Companion to Chinese Literature. Indian University Press.

[6]  许渊冲，照君，吴亥，& 林胜利.（1996）. 汉魏六朝诗一百五十首. 北京大学出版社.