"THE RED WHEELBARROW" in the Light of the Taoist Concept of "Non-self" ——A Comparative Comment on the Five Chinese Translated Versions

With the introduction of the Taoist concept of "non-self" from the angle of life ideals and values, this article sheds light on the literary composition trend of employing natural ways, based on which further analysis is made upon appreciation and translation of THE RED WHEELBARROW while five translated versions of it are taken into account. This analysis consists of three parts: firstly, the original poem takes on a construction pattern of meaningful realm of object prominence with subject hidden, which demands a corresponding method of information concealment in the translated version; secondly, the original poem adopts the measure of contrasting and foiling of image groups, which can be reflected in its translation with simple, natural and static state of image compounding, and thirdly, the metrical structure of the original poem turns out to be artless, and thus the translated version should reproduce the same structure by using the unique Chinese rhymed verses. To sum up, the Taoist concept of "non-self" bears a high degree of significance both in theory and practice for poetic composition, appreciation and translation, and paves a new way for the research of Chinese and western poetry.