On Variational Translation of Conceptual Metaphors in the Poetry from Honglou Meng

Metaphors in poems from Honglou Mengs (A Dream of Red Mansions《红楼梦》) are closely related to the theme of the novel. Conceptual metaphor theory helps to summarize translation strategies from the cognitive level. Firstly, this paper takes conceptual metaphors and their English translations in poems from Honglou Meng as the study subject, and classifies them into three types of conceptual metaphors, namely structural metaphors, ontological metaphors and orientational metaphors. Secondly, based on the mapping mechanism of conceptual metaphors and the strategy system of variational translation, this paper puts forward two variational translation strategies, interpretation and adaptation, to convey the metaphorical connotation of the poetry.