A Comparative Study Of Mythical Archetypal Imagery In Blake And Qu Yuan’s Poetry

William Blake (1757-1827) was the first important Romantic poet in Englishliterature, marking the beginning of English Romantic Poetry in the nineteenthcentury. As a poet, a painter, an engraver, a mystic, as well as a visionary full offancies, Blake is greatly respected by later generations. His poems are full ofmythical imagery, bright as golden sun, or profound as dark night, manifestingunique charm.Qu Yuan (340BC-278BC), with ancestral name Mi, clan name Qu, givenname Ping, courtesy name Yuan, alias given name Zheng-ze, alias courtesy nameLing-jun, was one of the greatest Romantic poets living in the State of Chu ofWarring States Period in ancient China. Qu Yuan’s poetry is filled with gorgeousdescription, novelty metaphor, strange imagination, profound meaning and mythicalimagery.Although many scholars have done researches about Blake and Qu Yuan’spoetry respectively, no comparative study has been made yet at home and abroad. Acomparative analysis of mythical imagery in their poems from the perspective ofarchetypal literary criticism will not only be conducive to the discovery of richconnotations in their poems, but also may provide poetic revelations and inspirationsfor contemporary poetry. Therefore, this thesis will macroscopically analyze themythical archetypal imagery in Blake and Qu Yuan’s poetry, and then make amicroscopic comparison of the mythical archetypal imagery in terms of the relativetheories of archetypal literary criticism.At the macroscopic level, the mythical imagery in Blake and Qu Yuan’s poetryfall into three categories: imagery of gods, imagery of humans and imagery of nature.Blake creates four mythical images: Urizen, Los, Orc and Tharmas. The “four Zoas”link his prophetic poems into a unique mythological system. Qu Yuan employs “theGods of Four Orientations”: Gou Mang, Ru Shou, Zhu Rong and Xuan Wu. Thesemythical images in the works of Blake and Qu Yuan are correspondent withgeographical directions and natural elements, and can be extended to the mythicalimagery of humans and nature. Blake represents imagery of humans such as Childand Bard. Qu Yuan portrays Yu, Yi, Xiao, Shun and other images. Their mythical imagery of nature includes animal imagery and plant imagery. There are images oftiger, lamb and ancient tree in Blake, and jade trees and vanilla in Qu Yuan. Theembodiment and archetypal meaning of mythical imagery in their poems show theideals of religion and politics respectively represented by the two poets. Blake hopesto rebuild his spiritual “Jerusalem”, a religious mythological kingdom; while QuYuan desires a better political kingdom gathered with wise people as in the ancientmythological times. The employment of a wide range of mythical imagery reflectsthe two poets’ disappointment and criticism for the real world and personalexpectation for the perfect mythological world.At the microscopic level, mythical imagery in the poetry of Blake and Qu Yuanwith their respective cultural sources will be compared with the application ofrelated theories of archetypal literary criticism. Blake creates a world of his ownimagination drawn from Western theological framework. Mythical images in Blake’spoetry are mainly derived from the Holy Bible and ancient Greek mythology. QuYuan is deeply influenced by shamanism in the region of Chu, so the mythicalimagery in Qu Yuan’s poetry is filled with the flavor of culture of Chu and ancientChinese mythology. Both poets reflect their spiritual vision and poetic creativity:“mythological imagination” and “rewriting mythology”. With the unique literarycognition, Blake rebuilds a large and complex mythological world, namely amythological system of poetic imagination. Qu Yuan reshapes a series of ancientmythology with his peculiar imagination, expecting a return to ancient mythologicaland pure fairyland.Through comparative analysis of the mythical archetypal imagery in Blake andQu Yuan’s poetry, this thesis concludes as follows: with bold imagination, Qu Yuanand Blake respectively represent the initial sources of Chinese and British RomanticPoetry. They transcend the self, suffering and darkness of reality. With gorgeous anddelicate mythical imagery, Blake and Qu Yuan commit to the construction ofmythological kingdoms in accordance with their emotional experiences and spiritualideals. However, due to different influences of the times, ethnics, and geographicaland cultural background, as well as their own living experience, individualtemperament and way of thinking, the two poets also display strikinglyheterogeneous features in their literary works. Blake tends to create mythical imagery with a mythological color of bright fire, while Qu Yuan is inclined toborrow mythical imagery with a mythological color of tragic gloom.