Classical Chinese Poetry Re-Created in English

Produced by two literary cultures Chinese and English the genre of classical Chinese poetry re-created as English poetry is subjected to critical scrutiny in both its original and re-created forms. This work explores changes in approaches to the interpretation of the genre during the twentieth century translations. Comparative analysis of publications by Ezra Pound and Arthur Waley; Burton Watson and Gary Snyder; James J. Y. Liu and Stephen Owen and Pauline Yu and Haun Saussy provides insight into what factors influenced their approaches to interpretation of the genre. Primary influences family, education and personal pursuits did affect interpreters of the genre but secondary influences critical theories, literary trends, political, religious and social movements had greater impact. Isogesis, an unavoidable factor of transcultural texts, insidiously influences how the genre is interpreted but late in the twentieth century, the use of montage and anthology reduced the effect of isogesis by returning the genre to its cultural roots, the Shijing. In the third millennium, multiple approaches employed as poetic montage can reduce isogesis in the genre.