絕大多數中文古詩的直譯方式都是不美滿的，缺乏了原詩的靈魂意境。英文詩沒有像中文詩獨特的那麽多的嚴格文法要求，所以意譯就會更好體現中文詩的意境。大多數中國人因為深受中文詩的影響，翻譯的詩過於強調文字的一對一的表達，這樣就限製了詩意翻譯。我認為翻譯中文詩最重要的是把詩的意境表達出來同時兼顧文字的美感和韻律。摘錄幾個西方人的翻譯，並不是說他們翻譯得有多好，而是看看有什麽不同作為參考。我個人認為他們表達出來的意境更貼切一點同時他們的文字更流暢一些。
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.
