The Generation And Characteristics Of Chinese Modern Poetics

There are several phenomena existing in the researches of literary theory or poetics in China at the present time: (1) More study in the Chinese ancient literary ideas and western poetics, less in the Chinese modern ones. This tendency suggests , to some extent, that modern China has too few literary theories or poetics of its own to be studied. (2) More general study of literary theory or poetics, less special case study of individual ones, and even less in Chinese modern poetics about which some of researchers still fell uncertain. And it is much more difficult to make a thorough research of the literary theories respectively. (3) In the study of literary theories, including the study of poetic theory, more follow the patterns of historical descriptions and spot perspectives, less study of the generation of the modern literary, especially, poetic theories, and almost no special study of the growth of the modern poetic theories. This phenomenon is related to some preconceived ideas and the lack of classification of the modern poetic theories. (4) There are several patterns in the present research of the modern poetic theories. The first is the descriptive pattern of "Flowing-Changing Theory" by Long Quanming. The second is "Theoretical Structure" mentioned in the part of Modern Poetics in the series books of Chinese Poetics composed by Lu Yaodong. The third is "List of Men of Poetics" by Pan Songde. The fourth is the "MonographicStudy" by Lu Jin. The fifth is the "long- time-pattern" "Modernity Poetics" of Wang Yichuan. The sixth is the "Modern Chinese Poetry" by Wang Guangming. The seventh is the "Modernist Poetry" represented by Sun Yushi and Lan Lizhi. None, but Wang Yichuan' s, of the above patterns, is especially used for the study of the generation of modern poetics. As for Wang Yichan' s study, it is on one hand mostly a study of the modern literary theory instead of especially poetics; on the other hand, it has a notable shortcoming, which is that it tries to include all the poetic matters within Modernity, neglecting the fact that in 1950s to 1970s there was a tendency of anti-modernity in China. It also covers a too long period of time from 1920s to 1980s. The most important misleading is that he denies the individual characteristic of the Chinese modern poetics in 1920s—1940s. (5) The concepts involving poetics vary in the established poetic studies, such as literary theory, poetics, modern, etc. therefore they cannot be used until they are clearly defined. Moreover, they consist of more chronological description than systematic study, lacking classification of the concepts, especially the key concepts that formed during the procedure of poetics' generation and development. Therefore, we often face a group of concepts within contradicting paradigms without a common context. (6) The methodologies of study are often employed in a unilateral fashion, leading to arbitrary conclusions. In my observation, the Chinese poetic studies abroad often pay great attention to the Chinese ancient literary ideas, giving most people an impression that Sinology within the domain of literature means mostly the study of Chinese ancient literature, leaving little space for the Chinese modern literature.It is based on the above research that this thesis tries to set up the study of Chinese modern poetics' generation, the basic aim of this study is to distinguish Chinese modern poetics from Chinese ancientliterary ideas and western poetics so as to prove that the characteristics of it are neither imitation of the western poetics nor the hermeneutical expansion of Chinese ancient literary ideas, neither similar to western poetics nor Chinese ancient literary ideas, This thesis tries to show that the Chinese modern poetics has its own Chinese "modern" characteristics, it is "the third" poetics so to speak. It has its own "Chinese character" that differentiates it form the western, its "modernity" differentiates it from the ancient Chinese. It is based upon this premises that this thesis tries to explore the generation and development of the above ideas, this paper explores the start and development of the Chinese modern poetics in the following six aspects: philosophic foundation, essence, basic structure, language evolution, poetic form and generative mechanism .In view of relationship between Chinese modern culture and philosophy and the generation of Chinese modern poetics, we believe that the growth of Chinese modern poetics is decided by Chinese modern culture and philosophy. It can only be defined , in its basic form, spirit and disposition, in this context. Chinese modern culture and philosophy are different from the western and Chinese ancient ones. They are also of Chinese modern spirit and disposition, which influence Chinese modern poetics and its characteristics. Our understanding of its basic character is based on "non-Dao and non-Logos" . In regard of values, Chinese modern poetics was influenced, during the process of its generation, by the western philosophies and the Chinese traditional ideologies, therefore, it developed into two sorts of either clearly distinguished or interacted concepts of poetics, namely, the pragmatic and the aesthetic represented respectively by Liang Qichao and Wang Guowei. From this viewpoint we can decide that the Chinese modern poetics cherished early in the "May 4th" times is an original creation.As for the concept of essence of Chinese modern poetics, this thesis tries to explain, firstly, the way of research for the essence of Chinese modern poetics has changed from "Zheye" to "Yes" , which reflects the gradual formation of the modern poetics forms terminologies; secondly, there is a fission of the essence of artistic conception, which is an interim stage in the generation of the concept of essence about the Chinese modern poetics. More concepts of essence can be described as emotionalism, self-expressionism, formalism and concept of life. All these brought about the pluralistic concept of modern poetics' essence at the period of its generation. As philosophic outlooks influence establishment of the concept of essence in the Chinese modern poetics, this thesis tries to show that the concept of essence in the Chinese modern poetics is closely related to that in the Western poetics and the Chinese ancient literary ideas, but it is not the copy or deduction of them. While embracing the western poetic concept of essence, Chinese modern poetics rejects some of its ideas; while inheriting Chinese ancient literary ideas, it also reforms its traditions. This might be called the unique "adoptively contradictory" way of forming the Chinese modern poetics' concept of essence.there were several changes in the ideas about the structure of poetry itself in the history of the Chinese poetry, as from The Book of Songs to poetry, but the essential fission took place just in the resent decades. Such fission was brought about by the "invasion" of the western culture. It started the epoch turning in the Chinese poetic structure, which gradually established the modern poetic structure. The establishment of the structural concepts of Chinese modern poetics is a direct result from the "spreading the Western culture in the east" , although it began in the natural change of literary language itself. The construction of the Chinese new modern poetic structure developed rapidly with the effortof Mr. Hu Shi. And a large group of poets, such as Song Baihua, Kang Baiqing, Guo Moruo, Wen Yiduo and so on, made a great deal of contribution to it. They, especially Guo Moruo and Wen Yiduo, set up a fundamental structure of the new Chinese modern poetry both in its content and form in the first few years after the May 4th Movement. Yet, it is not until the appearance of the New Moon School, Symbolism, and Modernism that the theoretical structure of the modern poetics became mature. It is either a reform of the Chinese ancient concept of " XingZhi" (form and content) or a remould of the western concept of "content and form" . It inherits the western basic form, and also seems to have something of Chinese ancient character, but in fact it has been filled with a Chinese modern content. Therefore, many elements in the structure of Chinese modern poetics have their unique implication and characteristics.In the matter of language evolution, Chinese modern poetics was heavily indebt to the modern Chinese language conditions. Therefore, the generating context of the modern Chinese language directly influenced the generation of Chinese modern poetics' language. The language of the Chinese modern poetics is mainly composed with three parts: ancient Chinese language, the Western languages and modern vernacular and spoken Chinese. Its vocabulary is composed with the western, the ancient Chinese, the modern vernacular and spoken Chinese. Its grammar is mainly western. The three merged into the modern Chinese and acquired respectively the fresh qualities of the modern Chinese language system. From the viewpoint of the modern linguistics, the Chinese modern poetic language is a new language system, which is like neither the western nor the ancient Chinese. It is actually a "third" language system—the language system of Chinese modern poetics. It is not only different in the language form (the tool), but also different in the ideology, thinking and outlook. The creation of Chinese modern poetry is varied in the development ofthe concept of the language in Chinese modern poetics. It is a common cognition that language is a tool. The more profound the cognition is, the higher the artistic level of the poems would be. The language concept of Chinese modern poetics still has a number of problems because of the limitation of history and the development of the modern linguistics. Some concepts and ideas should be re-examined and recognized from a higher linguistic view to consider the language of the modern poetics.There are mainly three categories in the morphological classification of Chinese modern poetics: realistic, romantic and modernistic. Although these three categories are clearly distinguished, there is also a blending area among them. The idea of realism was borrowed for the West and it had gradually become a general ideology in china through the stages of initial acceptance. The realism in Chinese modern poetics is quite different from the ancient Chinese one which stressed on expressing people' s sufferings in life, and it is also different from the poetic ideas of the Western anti-romanticism. And the formation of romantic poetics is, too, a pioneer against the Western classicism. The "pseudoromanticism" in modern China is am unique character of Chinese modern poetics. In study of the formation of Chinese modernist poetics, we should chiefly focus it on the generation and development of symbolism and imagism which were borrowed from the West but had been greatly Chinese-characterized, it is easy to tell the differences of them from the related ideas of the Western and the Chinese ancient traditions. However, it is also easy to show they are either connected, or filled with fresh elements, or mingled into one another.This thesis believes that it is the generative mechanism that ushered the appearance of poetics. There are three key factors in the generative mechanism: the first is cultural, which decides its foundation and its spirit; the second is language, which acts as the "switch" of its start,altered not only the state of Chinese modern poetics in the respect of tool, but also the spirit of Chinese modern poetics in the respects of ideology and thoughts; the third is "looking for literariness" , which is the running principle or the pursued goal of Chinese modern poetics. All the three factors mentioned above are related with each other, forming a generative procedure of Chinese modern poetics roughly from its start to maturity. After a period of development, the Chinese modern poetics gradually formed a generative pattern, which this thesis terms as a "Passive-Ail-Embracing Pattern" . In study of it, we will put more emphasis on its initiative attitude to absorb and integrate the different ideas and on the unique structure of the Chinese modern poetics, we also try to prove, during the discussion, it is this very Passive-Ail-Embracing attitude and pose of the Chinese modern poetics that establishes itself against various Western and Chinese ancient poetics and theories.