Abstract
Transitivity theory is a semantic system under the conceptual function put forward by Halliday, which expresses people’s experience and inner feelings through six processes, namely material process, mental process, relational process, behavioral process, verbal process and existential process. Thus, transitivity theory can provide a new perspective for discourse analysis. Based on the transitivity theory, this paper compares and analyzes two English versions of<i> Riverside Town•A Dream of the Night of the 20<sup>th</sup> Day of the 1st Moon 1075 English </i>— Xu Yuanchong’s and Burton Waston’s. By comparing the differences and similarities of the process types in each clause chosen by translators, the paper hopes to further help readers understand the main idea and language characteristics of the ancient poetry, and confirms the guiding function of transitivity theory in poetry translation practice. The comparison shows that Xu’s version is more flexible, which not only follows the transitivity process of the original text, but also deeply depicts the poet’s grief for his dead wife. As a foreign translator, Burton tends to take literal translation. But there is no doubt that both translations are excellent. At the same time, the author also believes that transitivity theory is operable in poetry translation.
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