Kenneth Rexroth And Taoism

Taoism is a combination of religious beliefs and philosophy in China. It embodies forms of Chinese beliefs and traditions practiced from the early days of Chinese civilization. Taoists think that Tao follows nature, and nature rules as an ongoing entity unrestricted by human makeover. In Taoism, nature is not merely the background of human activities, nor only the object of human meditation. On the contrary, Taoists clearly realize that human being is only a small part of nature, not the ruler of nature. Taoism calls for a return to simplicity and to meditate Tao in mountains and waters, which is a type of thought as well as a model of life. Taoists hold that femininity exceeds mightiness, thus Taoism has its emphasis on femininity.Taoist thoughts have influenced the literature and arts in many countries. America is no exception. In the mind of most American poets, Taoism is the essence of Chinese poetry and Taoism is even considered to be the real spirit of Chinese culture.Among the poets influenced by Taoist thoughts, American poet Rexroth is very notable. In his translation of Tu Fu's poems, he fuses his own understanding of Taoism with the rereading of Tu Fu, thus making Tu Fu, a Confucian poet, into a Taoist hermit. He has absorbed the essence of Taoist thoughts, and applied Taoist aesthetics into his poetry creation.This paper aims to explore the influence of Taoist thoughts on Rexroth's poetry translation of Tu Fu and his own poetry creation.