Transnational Imagination of China in Ezra Pound’s and William Carlos Williams’ Poetics

Tang Wei

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12

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Transnational Imagination of China in Ezra Pound’s and William Carlos Williams’ Poetics

Tang Wei

Published in English Language, Literature & Culture (Volume 6, Issue 1)

Received: 9 February 2021 Accepted: 2 March 2021 Published: 10 March 2021

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Abstract

As a modernist movement in poetry emphasizing the clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images, Imagism drew inspiration from the poetic forms of different countries, among which an influential one was Chinese poetry. As the pioneer of the movement, Ezra Pound is noted for his profound interest in Chinese ideograph and skillful appropriation of Chinese poetry in his own works which inspire and influence a host of American poets of the Modern period including William Carlos Williams. Though Pound and Williams were both labelled as imagist poets, they departed from each other in their later poetics. Researchers have long noticed this departure, but paid scant attention to the influence of Chinese poetry on it. This paper is intended to conduct a study on the influence of Pound’s and Williams’ transnational imagination of China on their poetics which leads to two opposing directions in dealing with Chinese poetry and culture in modern American poetry. It tries to point out that, while Pound’s appropriation of classical Chinese poetry and traditional Confucian culture is in the purpose of renovating post-Victorian poetic style and attaining a cosmopolitan poetics, Williams’ appropriation of Chinese poetry focuses more on refining stylistic techniques and enhancing an objectivist poetics to better accommodate the local American imageries and colloquial American English.

Published in	English Language, Literature & Culture (Volume 6, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12
Page(s)	7-13
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Poetics, Classical Chinese Poetry, Chinese Culture

References

[1]	George Bornstein (1985). Ezra Pound Among the Poet, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 149.
[2]	Wu, Xinyu (2009). “From Ezra Pound’s Imagism to W. C. Williams’ Objectivism”, in Foreign Literature Review, Vol. 1, pp. 164-176.
[3]	Fu, Hao (2014). “Williams vs. Pound and Elliot: Their Poetics”, in Foreign Literature, Vol. 4, pp. 15-23.
[4]	Qian, Zhaoming (1995). Orientalism and Modernism: The Legacy of China in Pound and Williams. Durham: Duke University Press, 109.
[5]	Ruthven, K. K (1969). A Guide to Ezra Pound’s Personae, 1926. California: University of California Press. 222.
[6]	Tryphonopoulos, Demetres P. & Stephen Adams (2005). The Ezra Pound Encyclopedia. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc, 53, 54.
[7]	Tao, Naikan (2006). Pound and the Chinese Culture. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 3.
[8]	Hakutani, Yoshinobu (2009). Haiku and Modernist Poetics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 3.
[9]	Nadel, Ira B. (1999). The Cambridge Companion to Ezra Pound. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2.
[10]	Alexander, Michael (1981). The Poetic Achievement of Ezra Pound. California: University of California Press, 46.
[11]	Hayot, Eric R. J. (2009). Chinese Dreams: Pound, Brecht, Tel Quel. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 47, 48.
[12]	Pound, Ezra (1975). The Cantos. London: Faber&Faber Limited, 171.
[13]	Weinberger, Eliot [2004]. The New Directions Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry. New York: New Directions Publishing, xxv.
[14]	Qian, Zhaoming (2010). “Williams’ Minimal Spatial Design and His Preoccupation with Chinese Poetry”, in Foreign Literature, Vol. 1, pp. 57-66.
[15]	Williams, William Carlos (1967). The Autobiography of William Carlos Williams. New York: New Directions Publishing.
[16]	Greene, Roland & Stephen Cushman (2012). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 294.
[17]	Giles, Herbert A. (2008). A History of Chinese Literature. Wildside Press LLC, 146.
[18]	Weinberge, Eliot (2004). The New Directions Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry. New York: New Directions Publishing, 193.
[19]	Bohn, Willard (2001). Modern Visual Poetry. Cranbury: Associated University Press, 34.
[20]	Halter, Peter (1994). The Revolution in the Visual Arts and the Poetry of William Carlos, New York: Cambridge University Press, 171.
[21]	Pound, Ezra (1996). Pound/Williams: Selected Letters of Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams. New York: New Directions Publishing, 92.
[22]	Williams, William Carlos (1966). The William Carlos Williams Reader. New York: New Directions Publishing, 366.
[23]	Kinnahan, Linda A. (1994). Poetics of the Feminine: Authority and Literary Tradition in William Carlos Williams, Mina Loy, Denise Levertov, and Kathleen Fraser. New York: Cambridge University Press, 119.
[24]	Martin, Ronald E. (1991). American Literature and the Destruction of Knowledge: Innovative Writing in the Age of Epistemology. Durham: Duke University Press, 287.
[25]	Noel-Tod, Jeremy & Ian Hamilton (2013). The Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry in English. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 695.
[26]	Wai-lim, Yip (2004). “Taoist Aesthetics, Chinese Poetry and Modern American Poetry”, in Chinese Poetry Studies, Vol. 00, pp. 1-46.
[27]	Kent, Su (2021). “Landscapes and Taoism in Ezra Pound’s Cantos”, in Neohelicon.

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Tang Wei. (2021). Transnational Imagination of China in Ezra Pound’s and William Carlos Williams’ Poetics. English Language, Literature & Culture, 6(1), 7-13. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12

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Tang Wei. Transnational Imagination of China in Ezra Pound’s and William Carlos Williams’ Poetics. Engl. Lang. Lit. Cult. 2021, 6(1), 7-13. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12

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Tang Wei. Transnational Imagination of China in Ezra Pound’s and William Carlos Williams’ Poetics. Engl Lang Lit Cult. 2021;6(1):7-13. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12,
  author = {Tang Wei},
  title = {Transnational Imagination of China in Ezra Pound’s and William Carlos Williams’ Poetics},
  journal = {English Language, Literature & Culture},
  volume = {6},
  number = {1},
  pages = {7-13},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ellc.20210601.12},
  abstract = {As a modernist movement in poetry emphasizing the clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images, Imagism drew inspiration from the poetic forms of different countries, among which an influential one was Chinese poetry. As the pioneer of the movement, Ezra Pound is noted for his profound interest in Chinese ideograph and skillful appropriation of Chinese poetry in his own works which inspire and influence a host of American poets of the Modern period including William Carlos Williams. Though Pound and Williams were both labelled as imagist poets, they departed from each other in their later poetics. Researchers have long noticed this departure, but paid scant attention to the influence of Chinese poetry on it. This paper is intended to conduct a study on the influence of Pound’s and Williams’ transnational imagination of China on their poetics which leads to two opposing directions in dealing with Chinese poetry and culture in modern American poetry. It tries to point out that, while Pound’s appropriation of classical Chinese poetry and traditional Confucian culture is in the purpose of renovating post-Victorian poetic style and attaining a cosmopolitan poetics, Williams’ appropriation of Chinese poetry focuses more on refining stylistic techniques and enhancing an objectivist poetics to better accommodate the local American imageries and colloquial American English.},
 year = {2021}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Transnational Imagination of China in Ezra Pound’s and William Carlos Williams’ Poetics
AU  - Tang Wei
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PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12
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PB  - Science Publishing Group
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AB  - As a modernist movement in poetry emphasizing the clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images, Imagism drew inspiration from the poetic forms of different countries, among which an influential one was Chinese poetry. As the pioneer of the movement, Ezra Pound is noted for his profound interest in Chinese ideograph and skillful appropriation of Chinese poetry in his own works which inspire and influence a host of American poets of the Modern period including William Carlos Williams. Though Pound and Williams were both labelled as imagist poets, they departed from each other in their later poetics. Researchers have long noticed this departure, but paid scant attention to the influence of Chinese poetry on it. This paper is intended to conduct a study on the influence of Pound’s and Williams’ transnational imagination of China on their poetics which leads to two opposing directions in dealing with Chinese poetry and culture in modern American poetry. It tries to point out that, while Pound’s appropriation of classical Chinese poetry and traditional Confucian culture is in the purpose of renovating post-Victorian poetic style and attaining a cosmopolitan poetics, Williams’ appropriation of Chinese poetry focuses more on refining stylistic techniques and enhancing an objectivist poetics to better accommodate the local American imageries and colloquial American English.
VL  - 6
IS  - 1
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Author Information

Tang Wei

School of Foreign Languages, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

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Tang Wei. (2021). Transnational Imagination of China in Ezra Pound’s and William Carlos Williams’ Poetics. English Language, Literature & Culture, 6(1), 7-13. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12

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ACS Style

Tang Wei. Transnational Imagination of China in Ezra Pound’s and William Carlos Williams’ Poetics. Engl. Lang. Lit. Cult. 2021, 6(1), 7-13. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Tang Wei. Transnational Imagination of China in Ezra Pound’s and William Carlos Williams’ Poetics. Engl Lang Lit Cult. 2021;6(1):7-13. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12,
  author = {Tang Wei},
  title = {Transnational Imagination of China in Ezra Pound’s and William Carlos Williams’ Poetics},
  journal = {English Language, Literature & Culture},
  volume = {6},
  number = {1},
  pages = {7-13},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ellc.20210601.12},
  abstract = {As a modernist movement in poetry emphasizing the clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images, Imagism drew inspiration from the poetic forms of different countries, among which an influential one was Chinese poetry. As the pioneer of the movement, Ezra Pound is noted for his profound interest in Chinese ideograph and skillful appropriation of Chinese poetry in his own works which inspire and influence a host of American poets of the Modern period including William Carlos Williams. Though Pound and Williams were both labelled as imagist poets, they departed from each other in their later poetics. Researchers have long noticed this departure, but paid scant attention to the influence of Chinese poetry on it. This paper is intended to conduct a study on the influence of Pound’s and Williams’ transnational imagination of China on their poetics which leads to two opposing directions in dealing with Chinese poetry and culture in modern American poetry. It tries to point out that, while Pound’s appropriation of classical Chinese poetry and traditional Confucian culture is in the purpose of renovating post-Victorian poetic style and attaining a cosmopolitan poetics, Williams’ appropriation of Chinese poetry focuses more on refining stylistic techniques and enhancing an objectivist poetics to better accommodate the local American imageries and colloquial American English.},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Transnational Imagination of China in Ezra Pound’s and William Carlos Williams’ Poetics
AU  - Tang Wei
Y1  - 2021/03/10
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12
T2  - English Language, Literature & Culture
JF  - English Language, Literature & Culture
JO  - English Language, Literature & Culture
SP  - 7
EP  - 13
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-2413
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20210601.12
AB  - As a modernist movement in poetry emphasizing the clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images, Imagism drew inspiration from the poetic forms of different countries, among which an influential one was Chinese poetry. As the pioneer of the movement, Ezra Pound is noted for his profound interest in Chinese ideograph and skillful appropriation of Chinese poetry in his own works which inspire and influence a host of American poets of the Modern period including William Carlos Williams. Though Pound and Williams were both labelled as imagist poets, they departed from each other in their later poetics. Researchers have long noticed this departure, but paid scant attention to the influence of Chinese poetry on it. This paper is intended to conduct a study on the influence of Pound’s and Williams’ transnational imagination of China on their poetics which leads to two opposing directions in dealing with Chinese poetry and culture in modern American poetry. It tries to point out that, while Pound’s appropriation of classical Chinese poetry and traditional Confucian culture is in the purpose of renovating post-Victorian poetic style and attaining a cosmopolitan poetics, Williams’ appropriation of Chinese poetry focuses more on refining stylistic techniques and enhancing an objectivist poetics to better accommodate the local American imageries and colloquial American English.
VL  - 6
IS  - 1
ER  -

Copy | Download