Indeed, it is very helpful to look into your translation process.
Here I list the symbolic expressions in the poem as defined by Wenlin:
尘网 = Wordly existence.
恋旧 = Yearn for the past
开荒 = Cultivate a virgin land.
守拙 = Remain free from ambitions.
It would be great, I think, if following the posting of the proposed poems you can provide us with a list of expressions such as that, based on Wenlin.
I'll tell you my procedure.
What I usually do is, first, to find out about the poet's life and times, when I do not know about that. Then I pass the poem through the Babelfish mechanical translator, which provides horrors, but usually tells me a little about the theme of the poem. Then I use Dimsum for character by character analysis and try to find the sense of the poem. Rarely I can fully find it , so I search for translations in the internet. If I cannot find translations, I ask for a little help from my friends in the workshop, through personal messages (Thanks, Liu, Sylvester!). On that basis, I then complete a "literal" translation. And from that I start to compose the English and the Spanish versions. In English, I use from time to time an electronic synonym dictionary.
In composing the versions, I try to achieve a balance between poetic quality and accuracy. I try not to add to the poem, and also try to translate all meanings. I do not use rhyme; when I have tried it, I find it very limiting and the results I get are not worth the effort. But I make an effort to give the poem some rhythm.
There is a Song painting on the poem and the poet. It is in
http://en.wikipedia....e:Freer_020.jpg
So it seems that many have enjoyed Tao Yuanming, through these centuries. We are in good company.
