The Appeal Evolution Of Female Consciousness In Chinese Modern And Contemporary Feminine Poetry

Contemporary Chinese female poetry is an important component of contemporary Chinese literature,especially female literature.The evolution of female consciousness reflected in contemporary Chinese female poetry is the main topic of this thesis which takes female poetry from modern to contemporary times as an integrated whole of diachronism and synchronicity.With the help of feminism literary criticism,culturology and historical sociology,the thesis interprets the evolution of female consciousness and its internal rules in order to exhibit the whole process of the liberation and development of Chinese women in Chinese female literature.The reason why female poetry could convey and express female consciousness builds on the characteristics of poetry and poetry's “gender”.As the earliest literary form,poetry is always used to express human's experience of existence(the essence of human's internal emotion and spirit)through its unique thoughts and language which are embodied in poetry's artistic spirit.Poetry has no “gender” itself,but the differences between poets' genders make different poems have different genders.In addition,poetry emphasizes the expression,form and emotion,which endows poetry better qualities in “gender” expression than other literary forms.Therefore,as the artistic form which reflects women's desire for freedom,liberation and consciousness,female poetry makes it clear that female consciousness is the living experience which is always oppressed by social politics and ethical culture.Female poetry begins its pursuit of the real living experience without gender discrimination once the female consciousness is woken up,and it is the embodiment of pursuing the real living experience of human liberation and freedom.In order to clarify the discussion of this thesis,the conceptions of female consciousness and female poetry are defined and explained in detail.The female consciousness mentioned in the thesis means the female's value experience and recognition based on the history and cultural heritage,which is expressed by gender consciousness,self-consciousness and subject consciousness.The three aspects contain and interact with each other.In the modern process of women's fighting for freedom and liberation,the three aspects are more historical owing to social development and women's self-recognition.The female poetry mentioned in the thesis began during the May 4th Movement;it demonstrates the wakening,fighting,recognition,understanding and spreading of female consciousness,and reflects the unique features of female culture and consciousness.The core of it is the pursuit of freedom,liberation and women's value.The development of contemporary Chinese female poetry exhibits the evolution of Chinese female consciousness.The development of contemporary Chinese female poetry is tightly connected with the change and development of contemporary Chinese history and politics,which is the epochal nature of literature.Chinese traditional rules are bondages which prevent Chinese women from fighting for their own right as the western women.If Chinese women want to construct their own identity,they have to resort to social reforms and the rebellion and deconstruction of tradition.Through the historical inheritance of poetry,we could see ancient Chinese society took patriarchal idea as the core,and the moral orders based on patriarchal culture caused ancient female poets to focus on the theme of indoor women's loneliness and sadness.Even outstanding female poets,like Li Qingzhao,could only write about female emotion rather than female consciousness.In the late Qing dynasty,Hundred Days' Reform led to the development of the era,and female poets,like Qiu Jin,tried to break the bondage of tradition and firstly claimed female consciousness.After society reached the stage of respecting and liberating “human's sense”,female consciousness began its real awakening.The May 4th Movement interacted with western feminist movement,which accelerated the female consciousness awakening in China.When the anti-feudalism and anti-tradition of the New Culture Movement cooperated with western feminist movement,1920 s and 1930 s became the ages of enlightenment.The respect for women,the eagerness for equality,and the pursuit of freedom became the main topic of the age.Female poets,like Bing Xin,Shi Pingmei and Lin Huiyin took female self-awakening into their poems.Themes emphasizing female self-consciousness and gender consciousness,such as maternal love,romantic love and freedom,were their first choices,which realized the awakening of the female consciousness in contemporary female poetry.Although modern female poetry only conveyed the initial awakening of female consciousness because of the bondage of politics and culture,but the awakening of female conscious was of great epoch-making significance.Meanwhile,modern female poetry had got its achievement in poetic language,construction and expression;it's the first summit of 20 th century Chinese female literature.The development of contemporary Chinese female poetry was deeply influenced by political elements.The national movement for saving the nation in 1930 s and 1940 s,especially the Anti-Japanese War,provided literature and poetry with the function of “national salvation”.In their poems,female writers and poets,like Ding Ling and Yang Gang,began the age of “subject consciousness”,and their poems embodied their political will.17 years after the establishment of New China,with the revolution of women and the establishment of literature and art serving politics,Chinese female poetry became the endorsement of politics.In this period,the self-consciousness and gender consciousness were put into the shadow of politics;therefore female poetry found it hard to achieve its aesthetic value,and it was dipped into the bottom.The change of age and the blow of culture and thoughts influenced female consciousness again in the new period.In 1980 s,a new tide of ideological emancipation started self-consciousness in contemporary female poetry.Shu Ting and her misty poetry marked the turning point of transforming female poetry from political poetry into “my” poetry.Wang Xiaoni,Fu Tianlin and Yi Lei's effort in poetry creation achieved the blossom of self-consciousness in 1980 s,which is the call for the literary subjectivity,and the carol of human's subjectivity.In 1990 s,western feminism and female poetry combined together,which made female poetry,represented by Zhai Yongming's “nocturnal consciousness” and Tang Yaping's “black sense”,start “post-poetry”.In the new age and the post-poetry age,searching for and constructing self-identity became the core of female poetry.Female poetry separated itself from male poetry in its poetic language and construction,and it reached its summit gradually and consciously.New century‘s multicultural phenomenon witnesses the process from loss to reconstruction of female poetry.The secular cultures,like consumer culture and mass culture,deeply influenced the development and construction of Chinese advanced culture.The “absence” of “lofty” value and the loss of self-consciousness since 1980 s and 1990 s decided the female poetry must fall into the loss of self-identity.Afterward,because of the “misunderstanding” of western “body writing”,female poetry once fell into the wrong region of text creation.After the loss,the subject of female poetry changed again.The questioning of humanity,the exploration of human life and the description of irrational life view started the self-reconstruction of female poetry which transcends gender.Through the evolution of female consciousness in contemporary Chinese female poetry,its development has been influenced by the age,politics,culture,internal rules and poets themselves.Modern and contemporary female poetry has its achievements which are no less than the male's,but we have to notice that there are still many external factors which cause the unbalanced development,the lack of poetic theories and the lack of creative spirit of poetic language.But the development of modern and contemporary Chinese female poetry still exhibits the search and construction of female poetic language system and female culture,and reveals Chinese women's pursuit of liberation and freedom.The future of female poetry is worth looking forward to.