This study, conducted through an ¡¥aesthetics of reception¡¦ approach, analyzes the reception and transformation of Zhuangzi¡¦s philosophy in Taiwan¡¦s modern poetry, during the 1949 to 2008 period, with the focus on its development and accumulated value under Zhuangzi¡¦s influence. The value lies in the efforts of Taiwan¡¦s poets who inherited classical cultures from which they created a new spirit. This new spirit constructed the new aesthetics that paved the way for Taiwan¡¦s modern poetry (present and future), and even for Chinese poetry overall, in modern times.
Chapters 2 and 3 respectively discuss how Taiwan¡¦s modern poetry received and transformed the fish and butterfly images in The Book of Zhuangzi. In Chapter 2, the metaphorical images in Taiwan¡¦s modern poetry, like the legendary Big Fish, the stranded fish trapped in a dry rut, spit on one another to stay wet, and small fish are also discussed with the conclusion reached that the images are actually projections, the poets¡¦ self-images. The fish images embody some significant archetypes and represent the aesthetics of self-forgetfulness. Chapter 3 discusses the butterfly images with metaphors of formless life, joys of rebirth, understanding of true self and the pursuit of reincarnation. The butterfly images also reflect significant archetypes and represent the concepts of metamorphosis and the anthropomorphic aesthetics of endowing objects with the philosophies of human beings. The archetypes and aesthetics of fish and butterfly images are also the key to evaluating the aesthetics in The Book of Zhuangzi. This key value has been influential in the reception and transformation of Zhuangzi¡¦s philosophy in Taiwan¡¦s modern poetry.
Chapter 4 further explains that self-forgetfulness and the aesthetics of endowing objects with the philosophies of human beings can define the location of ¡¥I¡¦ in Zhuangzi¡¦s ¡§observing things by other things¡¨, the conceptual basis of Zhuangzi¡¦s insistence upon viewing all the natural beings from the same reflective perspective. These ideas not only served as spiritual nourishment for Taiwan¡¦s poets in hard times but also helped them to realize the unifying aesthetics: that all beings exist as a whole; this explains why Taiwan¡¦s modern poetry has a ¡¥self-forgetful¡¦ aesthetics in viewing things. It signifies a new stage of poetry and poetics in Taiwan.
This study also labors on the interpretation of individual modern poems. Many excellent poems involving Zhuangzi¡¦s philosophy are considered difficult to interpret, which is mainly due to people¡¦s unfamiliarity with the allusions, images and thoughts in The Book of Zhuangzi. This study provides the methodology for interpreting poems involving Zhuangzi and provides approaches of such reading. In regard to modern poetry, it provides a basic and practical contribution.
The Book of Zhuangzi has proven influential both to poets and modern poetry in general, in Taiwan, not only for the past 60 years but as the inspiration of a new spirit by enhancing the spiritual life of the whole of humanity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0727109-164607 |
| Date | 27 July 2009 |
| Creators | Ting, Hsu-hui |
| Contributors | Ya-Huei Yang, Hung-Sen Chen, Ming-The Lin, Chien Chang, Xian-Zong Gong |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | Cholon |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0727109-164607 |
| Rights | off_campus_withheld, Copyright information available at source archive |
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