The Inception And Construction Of Modern Chinese Poetic Styles Of The Period Around The May Fourth Movement Under The Field Of Power

The driving forces of the inception and construction of poetic styles have been studied extensively by scholars both ancient and contemporary, focusing primarily on the aspects of the historical background, the author, the poetic styles per se, and the audience.The investigations thus conducted have laid down the groundwork for our pursuit of what lie behind the inception and construction of poetic styles, but so far they have failed to answer the following questions:among the numerous factors that are actual and may impact the construction of poetic styles, why is it that some exert more influence than the others? Among the numerous poetic styles of each historical period, why is it that some became more significant and held general sway over the poetic creations of the period? Who is making such choices for us, and how do these choices take effect? The studies on the inception and construction of poetic styles can be furthered only when these answers are found, as is the goal of this dissertation.This dissertation addresses the questions above from the aspect of power, and concludes that the inception of poetic styles results from power struggle. By disciplining the poets. the discourse of power in the literature field achieves its covering and uncovering of the various factors related to the construction of poetic styles, and thereby defines the basic shapes of poetic styles.This dissertation focuses on modern Chinese poetic styles of the period around the May Fourth Movement, and examines the inception and construction of various poetic styles as disciplined by different discourses of power. This dissertation consists of three parts:Part one demonstrates the applicability of the power perspective to a study on poetic styles, and shows, with the aid of Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of literature field, the inception of new poetic styles to be a result of power struggle.Part two examines the emergence of the May Fourth enlightenment discourse into the literature field, and its coming to be a discourse of power in the field. Also examined are the inception and construction of two poetic styles in particular, the early vernacular style and the style of "The Goddesses", under the discipline of the enlightenment discourse.Part three discusses how, when the enlightenment discourse had depreciated, the discourse of aesthetical autonomy gradually gained a central stage and became a new discourse of power. It is shown that the devotion of the new regulated style and symbolist style to poetic forms and "pure poetry" is a result of the discipline by the discourse of aesthetical autonomv.