Born in the Literary Revolution of 1917, Modern Poetry was the
culmination of discontent with the status quo of Classical Poetry and
attempts to reform it that had begun in the late nineteenth century.
Going beyond previous efforts, Modern Poetry as theorized by Hu Shi
sought to revolutionize the language as well as the form. But I hope
even the few examples that we have seen above make it clear that, as
a conscious break with Classical Poetry, Modern Poetry does not dis-
miss Tradition as a significant resource, just as it draws freely on other
literary traditions of the world. In practice, Modern Poets do not write
againstTradition but throughTradition; they reappropriate Tradition
in imaginative ways, finding new meanings and bringing forth new
insights from therein. In a sense, it is not even a choice whether or not
to engage in a dialogue with Tradition because the modern vernacular
is always already fused with classical Chinese. One cannot fully appre-
ciate the beauty and ingenuity of Modern Poetry without a deep
understanding of Classical Poetry, as the two are mutually defined.
Why do I enjoy reading Modern Poetry? A simple answer would be:
because it is not Classical Poetry. This by no means suggests that I do
not enjoy reading Classical Poetry just as much; however, we should
“give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to
God.” To compare Classical and Modern Poetry is, as the saying goes,
to compare apples and oranges. One does not read Modern Poetry to
find a Li Bo or Du Fu because there can never be a Li Bo or Du Fu in
the twenty-first century, just as one cannot find a Dai Wangshu or
Chen Li in Tang poetry. The difficulty for many readers of Modern
Poetry derives from the fact that they bring to it long-established
expectations inherited from Classical Poetry, with which they are
far more familiar, such as rhyme, parallelism, formal symmetry,
condensed imagery, recurrent themes and moods. For many Chinese
readers, the process of acculturation into Modern Poetry is far from
complete. However, as Modern Poetry gets more and more integrated
into the curriculum in the Chinese education system, as it exerts a
greater influence, through its best works, on the Chinese language,
and as it becomes more and more available in multimedia, including
the Internet, we can be reasonably optimistic about the future of
Modern Poetry.
From a historical perspective, Modern Poetry has established itself
as a new branch of Chinese poetry that is parallel to, not in
competition with, various branches of Classical Poetry. Classical
Poetry, especially in the shiand ci<modes, continues to be written in
modern times. In recent years, poetry clubs and journals devoted toModern Chinese Poetry 259781403976079ts03.qxp:Layout 1 11/9/07 11:08 AM Page 25