Translating the Iconicity of Classical Chinese Poetry

This open access book offers a groundbreaking exploration of how iconicity: language's resemblance to its referents—is central to classical Chinese poetry and how it intersects with the visual expressiveness of English digital poetry. Drawing on semiotic theory and phenomenological aesthetics, this study proposes a translator-centered approach to rendering lexical, syntactic, and textual iconicity in poetry. It analyzes the iconic roles of lianzi (??), wenju (??), lvju (??), aoju (??), and yimai (??), offering practical insights for translators. Inspired by digital poetry's visual and sonic dimensions, the book argues for the integration of Chinese ideograms into programming languages to enhance poetic expression. Bridging comparative literature, semiotics, and digital art, this is a timely contribution to translation studies and the evolving field of digital poetics.