绝大多数中文古诗的直译方式都是不美满的，缺乏了原诗的灵魂意境。英文诗没有像中文诗独特的那么多的严格文法要求，所以意译就会更好体现中文诗的意境。大多数中国人因为深受中文诗的影响，翻译的诗过于强调文字的一对一的表达，这样就限制了诗意翻译。我认为翻译中文诗最重要的是把诗的意境表达出来同时兼顾文字的美感和韵律。摘录几个西方人的翻译，并不是说他们翻译得有多好，而是看看有什么不同作为参考。我个人认为他们表达出来的意境更贴切一点同时他们的文字更流畅一些。
In the Quiet Night
So bright a gleam on the foot of my bed---
Could there have been a frost already?
Lifting my head to look, I found that it was moonlight.
Sinking back again, I thought suddenly of home.
(Tr. Witter Bynner)
Night Thoughts
I wake, and moonbeams play around my bed,
Glittering like hoar-frost to my wandering eyes;
Up towards the glorious moon I raise my head,
Then lay me down---and thoughts of home arise.
( Tr. Herbert A. Giles)
（ Nostalgia）
A splash of white on my bedroom floor. Hoarfrost?
I raise my eyes to the moon, the bright noon.
As scenes long past come to mind, my eyes fall again on the splash of white, and my heartaches for home.
