Innocence And Experience,Symbol And Reality

No matter in ancient China or in western world,child had for centuries been overlooked in literary history.This stagnation in child's artistic representation has not been improved much until the eighteenth century in the West and late Tang Dynasty in China.As a century passed,both the nineteenth century of the West and the Song period in China have witnessed an increasing concern about child image,which reaches its climax in literary production.To understand the shared concern about child image in both times,this thesis looks at the poetry of Wordsworth and Mei Yaochen specifically.In analyzing the child image in their poems,this thesis intends to situate the discussion of child image in a dialogue among poet,text,and social context.Among the existing studies on child image,most of them connected the image of child to innocence or nature.Even though child is necessarily a constitutive part of family and society,few researches have been made on analyzing child's attachment to the social world in literary works.Moreover,current studies about child image are mainly restricted to some individual poets or some specific periods.A comparative analysis of child image is demanded but rare to be found.Against such a background,I intend to explore the interpretive feasibilities of child image in this thesis.The study concerning the child image in poetry of Wordsworth and Mei Yaochen is conducted from three aspects according to three types of child images,namely,child of nature,child in family as well as premature death of child.In analyzing the representations and implications of these three kinds of child image,this thesis suggests that the child images of Wordsworth and Mei Yaochen are both characterized by their ambiguity.To elaborate it,the ambiguity of child image is manifested in two respects.Firstly,child images in poetry of Wordsworth and Mei Yaochen are both represented by the interplay of innocence and experience,as well as of natural disposition and social complication.Secondly,the child images in poetry of two poets both function as the spokesmen for the poet's literary appeals.As trailblazers of their own times,Wordsworth and Mei Yaochen have both exemplified their literary appeals in their depictions of child image.Therefore,the ambiguity of child image in their poetry not only presents a dialogue among poet,text and social context,but also calls for a multifaceted consideration about the connotations of child image.