A Study On The Influence Of Western Symbolism Poetry Upon Bian Zhi-lin's Early Poetry

Bian Zhi-lin is regarded as a characteristic poet whose works ingeniously integrate the style of Chinese poetry and western poetry. This article tries to investigate how Western Symbolism Poetry has a great influence on Bian Zhi-lin so as to understand his works ((1930-1937) more deeply. In some his articles, he listed the western poets who influenced his poetry style profoundly such as Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Paul Valery, T. S. Eliot and so on. Most critics think that from 1930 to 1933 it was French Symbolism Poetry that had a great influence upon Bian Zhi-lin and from 1935 to 1937 he showed a great interest in Paul Valery and T.S.Eliot. His poetry style changed accordingly. His poems in 1930-1933 are of strong lyrical style and most of them are expressed in a direct, obvious lyric pattern. However, during the four years of 1934-1937 he was inclined to learn the intellectual elements in Paul Valery's and T.S.Eliot's poems. Therefore the poems written in this period is relatively expressed by an implicit and indirect way. So Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 seek for the roots of western poetry of Bian Zhi-lin's poems(1930-1937)through discussing on what and how Bian Zhi-lin learned from the above-mentioned four Symbolism poets.Bian Zhi-lin's attitude towards his learning from western poetry is discussed in Chapter 3, Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. He doesn't embrace all the principles and ideas of Western Symbolism Poetry, instead, he takes a stand of accepting some and quitting the others at the same time. Sometimes, he even goes along an opposite way. That is the reason why Bian Zhi-lin's poetry is an integration of western style and his own style. According to his narration, Western Symbolism Poetry is the greatest influence upon him. Generally speaking, Western Symbolism Poetry has three features of musicality, implication, and transcendentalism. However, Bian Zhi-lin just accepts the musicality and implication but refuses the transcendentalism, it is his accumulation of traditional culture that influences his attitude towards learning from western poetry. So in chapter 5,the question is discussed from the prospective of his accumulation of traditional culture.