Anglo-American Lyric Traditions In Poetry Of Marilyn Chin

Marilyn Chin, a Chinese American woman poet, is one of the most important poets in Asian American poetry. Chin's poetry has received numerous honors and awards. Many critics are interested in her poetry and have done a lot of research. Up until now Marilyn Chin has published three collections of poetry, including: Dwarf Bamboo, published in 1987, The Phoenix Gone, the Terrace Empty, published in 1994, and Rhapsody in Plain Yellow published in 2002. Though literary criticism of Chinese American literature in mainland of China has achieved rapid progress in recent years, the achievement mainly focuses on the critical study of novel. The study to poetry has been a neglected area for a long time. The situation is similar to that of America because poetry as an elite genre is difficult to read and interpret due to the texts written in verse. Of the limited amount of criticism that existed, much dealt with Asian American poets as a whole, giving relatively little notice to individual poets. In addition, among them much explored Asian American poetry in a way of thematic studies or cultural studies, which can not display the essence of poetry. Therefore the thesis will go to the critical blank to study an individual poet, Marilyn Chin, in theory of New Criticism which employs close reading to give the detailed analysis of poetry.The poetry of Marilyn Chin inherits western poetic traditions in many ways. The thesis will deal with the relationship between Chin's poetry and Anglo-American lyric tradition. Lyric is one of the main forms in western poetry. It has a great variety in different period. In the 16th century, sonnet is its main form. In the 17th century lyric poetry is represented by Metaphysical poetry. In Romantic period Wordsworth writes autobiographical poems. In the twentieth century in America Walt Whitman creates a new form of lyric poetry --- Free verse, which is employed by numerous poets today. William Carlos Williams goes even further. He is one of forerunners of visual poetry and one of fathers of modernist poetry. The description of lyric's development will lay the foundation for the analysis of Marilyn Chin's poetry. The thesis, on the background of Anglo-American lyric's development and in term of literary evolution, aims to provide a new perspective to study Marilyn Chin's poetry as well as Chinese American poetry.Most of Chinese American literature studies emphasize ethnic identity of works instead of its literariness, and Chinese American literature is always put into the margins. This thesis will discuss its literariness and treat poetry as such --- in Eliot's words,"primarily as poetry and not another thing". In addition, the thesis argues Marilyn Chin's poetry is an integral part of American literature, and Chinese American poetry should be situated in the centre of the American poetic scene.