A Study Of The “intertextual” Elements Between Stevens' Poetics And Chinese Traditional Poetics

Wallace Stevens' poetry composition was influenced by Chinese poetry arts to a certain extent,and his poetic thoughts also in various aspects contain the borrowing of Chinese poetic elements,as well as the resonance with Chinese poetic spirit.Based on the facts of cross-cultural influences,this thesis mainly takes the perspective of parallel reading,intending to verify the existence of a series of “intertextuality”between Stevens' poetics and Chinese traditional poetics.The main body is composed of three chapters,respectively focusing on the“intertextuality” in three layers--poetic imagery,poetic metaphor and the philosophical interpretation of poetry's essence.First of all,Stevens keenly pursues symbolic meanings behind the natural images,which echoes with the essence of a series of concepts in Chinese poetics,including “an image beyond the image”,“a scene beyond the scene”,“a meaning beyond the flavor”,etc.All these highlight an expression of “connotation”,as well as the personal emotions and mental orders hidden behind the images.Secondly,in his continuous exploration into an ideal form of poetic “metaphor”,Stevens explicitly recommends the “Chinese poetic metaphor”.It is Chinese poetic metaphor that provides Stevens with an inspiration to unravel the“reality-imagination” dilemma.Thirdly,Stevens' philosophical interpretation of the essence of poetry,especially the concept of “supreme fiction” he put forward,again shows resonance with Chinese “Tao”.Both are set as metaphysical ideals of poetry,while at the same time based on senses of the physical world.In pursuit of either“Tao” or “supreme fiction”,both requires the poet to cultivate an “absent mind”,then to meditate,and ultimately to achieve an epiphany.By analyzing the elements of “intertextuality” between Wallace Stevens' poetic thoughts and Chinese traditional poetic theories,this study on the one hand reveals that Stevens shares the spirits of Chinese poetic theorists in various perspectives,and on the other demonstrates the uniqueness of Wallace Stevens' poetics in the vogue of American modernism.