On the Colloquialism in New Style Poetry
Colloquialism is a controversial topic in new style poetry studies. It is a topic both of contemporary poetry criticism and the history of new style poetry. The complexity of colloquialism lies in that it blurs the boundary of“poetry”and“non-poetry”, moreover, lies in the multiplicity of colloquialism. The method of poetic treatment for colloquialism is varying in different poets. The development of colloquialism in new style poetry cannot be separated from the development of modern Chinese language and the social-historical background. All these complexities render the topic of colloquialism beyond the sphere of poetics. This dissertation tries to comb the evolution of colloquialism in new style poetry, and to restore the connotation of colloquialism in particular historical context, it also tries to give an explanation for the appearance of colloquialism in new style poetry. The purpose of historical studies is to argue against the tendency of essentialism and universalism for colloquialism.Chapter one makes clear the concepts of classical Chinese, vernacular, written and spoken language. It ascertains the generation and development of modern Chinese, describes the situation of new-style poem in the development of modern Chinese, and discusses the relation between spoken language and literary language.Chapter two explores the colloquialization of nascent new-style poem, talks about design of new style poem of Hu Shi and others. It studies the repulsion for colloquialization in subsequently arisen poets and endeavors to construct written language of new-style poem and discusses the differences of their understanding of new-style poetry. The dispute about the spoken form of new-style poetry can be upheld in different imaginations of new-style poem language.Chapter three is a discussion of some topics in new style poetry that is closely related to colloquialism:“the popularity”,“the dialect”and“the dispersing of the culture”, which overlap each other, whereas, they stepped onto the different ways in the vicissitude of historical linguistic environment. The winding and disputed relation which was under the various historical linguistic environments was also discussed in this chapter.In chapter four, the occurrence of the“the spoken language writing”in the 1980s was studied. The constructive process of it was also inspected. And we have the reconsideration of the limitation of the“colloquialism”. Regarding to the spoken language occurring in the new-style poem, this chapter focuses on two pivotal ages: the beginning of the 20th century and the 1980s.This dissertation holds that the problem of colloquialization of new-style poem should be discussed in the context of the construction of new-style poetry language. The new-style poetry should capture all forms of poetic language rather than be restricted to a particular language resource. At the same time, the new-style poem should actively summarize its traditional linguistic features and establish its own position in both the history of poetry and the circle of world literature, in order to pioneer the possibilities of new presentation and new aesthetics.