On The Chinese Elements In Marianne Moore's Poems

Marianne Moore, one of the Pulitzer Prize winners, contributes a lot to the development of the modern American poetry through her own writing style and idea of poetics. As an active poet mainly in the first half of the 20th century, which was during the period of American Poetry Renaissance, Moore was much affected by Chinese culture in the forming and developing of her poetical concepts and literary production. The literature review shows that little study has been done on Moore's poetry in China. Though some profound studies have already been done on Moore and her works abroad from the 1970s, few did research from the perspective of her interaction with Chinese culture.Based on the research of Moore's acquaintance with Chinese culture, this paper tries to explore the influence that the Chinese painting and Chinese philosophy, particularly the Taoist aesthetics have brought to her and her poetry. Chapter 1 discusses how Moore finds and approaches Chinese culture in her time when Western society introduces and values Chinese art and works. Chapter 2 explores how Moore learns from Chinese painting and absorbs some elements of it in her poetry composing, through attending the exhibitions of Chinese art works. Three aspects are analyzed: enlargement of vocabulary, visual images and multiple perspectives. From the concepts and aesthetic ideas of"wholeness","wu wei"and"observing things in terms of things"promoted by Chinese philosophy, especially Taoism, Chapter 3 intends to approach Moore's understanding and application of"integrity","restraint"and"for things'own sake"in her poetry. This chapter investigates the influence of Taoist concepts on Moore's poetic ideas. The last chapter deals with Moore's different models in adopting Chinese elements in her early and late composing times. Moore simply takes in some elements of Chinese culture in her early poems as it is like, while she tries to infuse Chinese elements in American culture in her late poems. Lastly, the paper discusses the development of Moore's poetic ideas and her contribution to the modernization and nationalization of American poetry under the influence of Chinese painting and Taoism.