Research On Wai-lim Yip’s Poetry Aesthetics

Having written works like Chinese Poetry, sinologist Wai-lim Yip always positively explores Chinese classical Poetics through Taoist Aesthetics and starts a brand-new way in his study, which is embodied as the integration of Chinese and Western literary theories on the pad of Chinese traditional Landscape Poetry. Technically, generalized as "Yi Wu Guan Wu (Observation with Objectivity)" by Yip, the repeatedly emphasized Chinese classical literary theories ought to be the basis of research on Yip, which however, have been being simplified or misread by scholars represented by Wang Wensheng who deems that Yip totally negates the subjectivity in "Yi Wu Guan Wu". Focusing on such problems, this thesis sets "Yi Wu Guan Wu" as a theoretical model and studies on it from angles of its raising, origins, as well as functions.This thesis firstly selects discourse of "Yi Wu Guan Wu" in Chinese Poetry to analyze its aesthetic connotation, expression tactics and related concepts. Followed by philological studies via Chinese ancient dictionaries and philosophical comparison of similar concepts of Lao Tzu, ShaoYong and Yip, This thesis also pays close attention on Yip’s theoretical contradictions. Beside historical values, the objectivity, rationality and representation of Yip’s "Yi Wu Guan Wu" are spread out by means of Wang Wei’s poetry text, through which we also discuss the methodology and meaning of Yip’s research.Still starting from Western Centralism, Yip’s research could be seen as the spokesperson of Anglo-American Imagism and modernism the United States. From this point, the significance of Yip must be promoted into macro problems, such as research angles and motivations.