Joy Across Two Culture

Fei Ma(English name William Marr),the Chinese-American poet,is a great master in the field of modern Chinese poetry.In the 1990's,he was called "the King of short poetry" by Liu Huangtian.Fei Ma also writes bilingual poetry which is the biggest difference between him and other modern Chinese poets such as Ji Xian,Yu Guangzhong and Luo Fu.And the bilingual poetry written by Fei Ma is very unique.Firstly,Fei Ma has created modern Chinese poetry for more than 60 years since the 1950s.And his work is considered by many as among the greatest achievements of Chinese modern poetry.Secondly,his English poetry has also achieved brilliant results and is quite popular in the Western world.Autumn Window,his book of English poems,was reviewed in Chicago Tribune,an important newspaper in America,and received many praises.Thirdly,Fei Ma is also an outstanding bilingual poet.His bilingual poetry,like his Chinese poetry,with refreshing themes and a constant effort of trying to surpass existing modernism,has made a remarkable artistic achievement.His bilingual poetry not only promotes a dialogue between Eastern and Western cultures,it also makes a unique contribution to the world poetry.This paper focuses on studying Fei Ma's bilingual poetry,and exploring its advantages and shortcomings and to find some helpful revelations for the creation of contemporary bilingual poetry.This paper analyzes Fei Ma's poetry in the following four chapters:The first section of Chapter 1 presents an overview of Fei Ma's works;the second section discusses mainly the interaction between Fei Ma and the New World,a poetry magazine in North America.The third section introduces his bilingual poetry in detail and explores the following motivations of his creation:(1)to realize cross-cultural communication;(2)to gain some literary experience in improving his own writing skill;(3)to show his poetic ability to fellow American poets so as to improve the marginal status of non-native poets;and(4)to explore new literary patterns.The last section of Chapter 1 mainly explores the effects of Fei Ma's experience in translation on his own bilingual poetry writing.Fei Ma started translating western poetry before he began writing bilingual poetry.He has translated over one thousand modern European and American poems.Not only does this experience provide him the opportunity for spiritual exchange with western modern poets,it also improve his writing skill and lay the foundation of his creation of bilingual poetry.Chapter 2 discusses the themes of Fei Ma's bilingual poetry:homesickness,attention to human condition and human nature.And there are four points reflecting the latter:against war and violence,criticizing racial discrimination,reflections on urban civilization and concern with the nature environment.Chapter 3 studies the artistic exploration of Fei Ma's bilingual poetry,by first looking at the artistic exploration of his Chinese poetry from the angles of the language,form and rhythm,then discussing how they are reflected in his English poetry.The words used in Fei Ma's Chinese poetry are very concise,and his English poetry also has this trait.Fei Ma is good at setting up lines,he arranges the lines in a special way to express the content of the poem.The way of setting up lines in his Chinese poetry is influenced by modern western poetry,so it is used neatly in his English poetry as well.Fei Ma does not emphasize the use of rhyme in poetry,so he creates the rhythm by parallel sentences or mimetic words in his bilingual poetry.The first section of chapter 4 probes into the creation strategy of Fei Ma's bilingual poetry from medio-translatology.Considering the differences of language grammars and readers between the East and the West,Fei Ma usually writes bilingual poetry by way of adding,subtracting or rewriting some of the contents.The second section explores the significance of Fei Ma's bilingual poetry in the history of literature.As everyone knows,there are many Chinese-American writers creating fictions or dramas,but very few of them creating bilingual poetry.And of the few who have done so and succeeded,Fei Ma is among them.His bilingual poetry proves that it is possible to write poetry by using two languages.And it also shows to the world the writing ability of Chinese-American poets.Fei Ma's bilingual poetry is a bright star in the history of North American Chinese literature.