Between The Classical And Modern

Modernity has been becoming the focus of attention in the realm of philosophy sociology history and poetry in recent years. Modernity theory has opened a new approach to the study of early modern poetry. Huang Zun-xian was the representative figure in the reform of realm in poems in the end of 19th century. Huang undoubtedly occupies an important position in the modern transformation of Chinese early modern poetry. As a diplomat he had the opportunity to experience modernity in the Western world, which offered him a perspective to reflect on China and to create a unique figure of China in a realistic way. The study of the poems by Huang Zun-xian is still limited within categorizing his works and there have been almost no systematic research of the subject on the levels of experience forms, aesthetic features and artistic taste. This thesis aims to make an analysis of the modernity issue concerning the poems by Huang and at the same time attempts to deepen the study of modernity theory itself.The main body of the thesis is composed of three chapters, which is to make a systematic exploration of Huang's poetic ideas and his poetic texts through his poetic theory, works and his concepts, such as "'new artistic conception", "new words" and "new style".Chinese classical poem became a model since Tang and Song Dynasties, as the same time it also produced aesthetics crisis in itself. Later generations' imaginative power have been lost in front of the model. They could do nothing but begging inspiration from the ancients. In the middle nineteenth century, the sudden appearance of social crisis and. specially, the shock of modern industrial civilization enforced Chinese people to reflect their situation from every perspective, such as that of politics, economics, national defense and various levels of culture. The conscience of a school of people aiming to reform the society was awoken under the circumstances made by the aggressive West. They had a strong sense of commission to find the way to save their country and people. Poetry, originally an exquisite means of communication within circles of literati, became a tool to make a new people. So the early modern poets had to confront with the issues of the contradicts between the utilitarian functions of poetry and its autonomy and meeting the needs of the times.Facing to the predicament in the modern poetry, many poem group tried to find a method which could solve these problems. Huang also offered his own poetic thoughts in the predicament for modern poetry. He emphasized the thesis that "poetry is a way to express" whereas its concrete contents were different from the demands by the traditional teaching for poetry that poetry should be "gentle and honest". What he concerned of was the values that were helpful to curing the ills ofthe time and to social reform. The national ideas, equality among nations, scientific mentality, exotic customs and misery and admiration of a Chinese person facing to the Western civilization reflected in his works had never been seen in the aesthetic sphere prior to them. He openly challenged the practices of repeating and plagiarizing the ancients and maintained that "I write what I want to express without the limitations by the ancients." For the need of enlightenment, Huang claimed that "tongue and writing should be the same" and created "the Songs in Multiple Styles"(Zageyao) which has been greatly praised in later generations.But it should be noticed that Zageyao has not been included in his Renjinglu Poetic Scripts edited by himself, indicating his double standards for poetry. He wrote Military Songs was to "encourage my comrades"" while he edited his Renjinglu poems was to "enjoy myself". The difference wording is due to the different readers the poems was written for. The mismatch between the ambition to be known in later generation and the duty to enlighten the world is a universal characteristic of the proponents of the early modern enlightenment.Huang composed more than one thousand poems. His eleven volumes of Renjinglu Poetic Scripts, two volumes of The Miscellanea in Japan and Collection oj the Poems Outside Renjinglu Poetic Scripts are available today. One of his poems nicely characterizes his poetic creation: 'T cannot get rid of my attachment to words even I am abroad / The people have already been reciting it as soon as my new poem is accomplished / The Poetic scripts about Mingzhi Reform has just been completed / New songs are being composed about things outside the Central Empire". His poetic works include his identification with the Western modernity.The innovations of this thesis are embodied in the aspects as follows: In chapter four, my research is to make a detailed analysis of the experience of modernity and the new exploration in classic expressions in Huang's works in three aspects, that is. "new artistic conception"", "new words" and "new style".The artistic conception in Huang's works reflecting the light of the soul of the poet and embodying the personality of the poet is. more often than not, the so-called "the imagined situation where I find myself", that is. to observe the things from the viewpoint of the poetic ego. It is more worthy to notice that the changes in his thinking and emotion and the new conception in his works due to his experience in the Western countries, which definitely has widened his vision and refreshed his experiences. In his poem we can find the new experiences of "leaving" which based on the new ideas of time and space. We know the yearn for equal in each nation. We also know the poet was suffering with the rotten of the country. These are the new experience which were knew by Chinese people in the process of knowing industry civilization and political thoughts and traditional culture.Huang Zun-xian's poems has opened a new realm of early modern poetry. So he used many "New words", but he was cautious in using the new words. It has...