On Influences Of Chinese Culture On Pound's Poetic Creation

Ezra Pound was a legendary person in the 20th century western literature. Although he became a controversial poet in American history because of his supporting to Mussolini and anti-Semitism, it could not be ignored that his poems and Imagism added a bright color to the 20th century western literature.American Imagist movement was one of important literary schools in American modernist literature. As one of leaders of Imagist movement, Pound emphasized that poets should brightly, accurately and implicitly treat and present the"thing"through images, and imply their emotion and feelings in lines. His imagist poetic principles benefited a lot from aesthetics of Chinese classical poetry."Beauty of image","beauty of concision"and"beauty of rhythm"of Chinese classical poetry became the main motive power of Pound's Imagism and poetic creation.The Cantos, Pound's masterpiece to which he devoted the entirety of his life, not only revealed the social evils of western modern society, but also narrated the rise and fall of ancient China from Emperor Yao to Emperor Yong Tching. The thriving prosperity of ancient China and the disorder of western modern society formed a sharp contrast. In The Cantos, Pound used a large number of Chinese ideograms and Confucian classics to interpret the central ideas of Confucianism. The Confucian theme, which ran through The Cantos, reflected his yearning for"Confucius'order".Since Taoism and Chinese traditional aesthetics made much influence on Chinese classical poetry, Pound's poetic creation was influenced by Taoism and Chinese traditional aesthetics."Integration of nature with human beings"and"Governing by noninterference"of Taoism, and Chinese traditional aesthetics gave him much creative inspiration.Pound was not only one of founders of American Imagism, but also a worshiper and disseminator of Chinese classical literature and Chinese culture in the western world. He made an indelible contribution to cultural exchanges between East and West. The research of relationship between Pound and Chinese culture still needs further research, and this field benefits to the development of"the eastern civilization spreading to the west".The purpose of this research is to discuss the influence of Chinese culture on Pound's Imagism and poetic creation on the basis of the analysis of Pound's Imagism and"Chinese elements"in his poems.