| John Donne (1572-1631) of England and Wang Wei (701-761) of China, his senior by close to 9 centuries, have a lot in common both in life and work. Researches into Donne the leading metaphysical poet started right in his lifetime. Having suffered misreading for 2 centuries, Donne's poetry experienced a renaissance in the early 20th century thanks to the recommendation by Professor H. J. Grierson (1866-1960) and the leading poet T. S. Eliot (1888-1965). In the 1940s and 1950s, "New Criticism" became very influential in America, which increased the popularity of metaphysical poetry in the English literary world. Up to the present day, interest in Donne has remained strong. However, in China, Donne's significance has not been fully realized and there is a lot of work undone. On the other hand, researches into Wang Wei the leading Buddhist poet have a long history too. From the Tang Dynasty (618-907) through the Qing (1644-1911), critics on poetry rarely spared him. Even today, interest in Wang Wei remains keen. Nevertheless, researches into Wang Wei so far do not seem to match his superb achievements and contribution. It is for the above reasons that the author of this dissertation thinks it incumbent on her to make a special study of Donne and Wang Wei, and by bringing these two poets together over a space of about 9 centuries and a distance of 9,000 kilometers for comparison, to try to find some food for thought. This paper is designed in three chapters.Chapter one, consisting of two sections, mainly discusses the similarities between the two poets in life and career. In the first section, the author thinks that the literary position of Donne and that of Wang Wei in their home countries are alike. Traditionally, both poets have been labelled as "great minor" rather than "great major" poets. However, their achievements and influence have both proved that they deserve to rank among the first-rate poets or all-time greats. The second section analyzes the life experience of Donne and Wang Wei, each undergoing two phases, which naturally correspond to the two periods in their poetry composition.Chapter Two and Chapter Three are principally a probe into the poetical works of John Donne and Wang Wei.In Chapter Two, a comparative study is made between the non-religious poems by Donne and those by Wang Wei, each in his first period. Both poets were passionate and active. In terms of subject matter, Donne covered various aspects of love and women revealing his joys, frustrations and pains in the secular world, while Wang Wei extended his concern beyond love and women writing about friendship, folk feelings and frontier wars. There are three sections in this chapter. The first section deals with the differences and similarities between the two poets' poems of love and women. Firstly, Donne's love poetry is direct and passionate while Wang Wei's is suggestive and delicate. Secondly, erotic love is prevalent in Donne's poetry while spiritual love prevails in Wang Wei's. Thirdly, their attitudes toward women, as reflected in their love poems, are totally different. Donne's was one of contempt for women on quite a number of occasions while Wang Wei was always sympathetic for them. Last, love as a subject matter is dominant in Donne's poetry while it is comparatively weak in Wang Wei's. On the whole, however, a persistent pursuit of truth in love and life is striking in both poets. The second section analyzes the politics in Donne and Wang Wei's poetry. In their early years, both poets had great expectations for their future and showed great concern for politics. Donne's poems of love, as a rule, betray his politics while Wang Wei wrote a great number of frontier and satirical poems to express his. The third section concentrates on Donne and Wang Wei's poems on parting. In Donne's poems, this kind of feeling is extremely moving. Of all Wang Wei's poems, more than one fourth are related to strong nostalgia and the grief of separation between friends. In sum, however their subject matter varies in this period, bot...
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