A study of poetic landscapes in danyings poems 1

A STUDY OF POETIC LANDSCAPES IN DANYING’S POEMS... i!Acknowledgement I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Prof!. Su Jui-Lung, for all of his supports, mentorsh

A STUDY OF POETIC LANDSCAPES IN DANYING’S

POEMS

! i!

Acknowledgement

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Prof Su Jui-Lung,

for all of his supports, mentorship, and commitment to this study project over the past

3 years He is broad-minded and was responsive to my interpretations of modern

poetry, and kept me on the right track through the whole project I also want to thank

Danying (Madame Liu Baozhen) for devoting time and efforts in the interviews Her

dedications to modern poetry and graceful attitude toward life impressed me and

inspired me in many perspectives Finally, I would like to express my wholehearted

appreciation to my family in Taiwan, and Singapore as well Without their supports

and encouragements, I would not be able to overcome all the pressure and continue my

study as a new mother

! iii!

! v!

Abstract

This thesis makes the claim that poetic landscapes in Danying’s poems reflect her

cultural nostalgia and her quests for subjectivity The poetic landscapes indicate

Danying’s perceptions of the world and can be seen as an interface where she

interprets her cultural nostalgia and her lurking fears of being rootless as an overseas

Chinese The continuous quests for a cultural root and the sense of belonging are

implied in the landscape of memory, which is represented in melancholic statements

similar to the feminine expressions of “guiyuan”( ) in traditional Chinese literature

Her anxiety about being rootless, on the other hand, is implied in the landscapes of

exile where the poetic speakers wonder lonely in the desolate fields or isolated cliffs

The landscapes of body display how Danying recollects her subjectivity by converting

body images into natural landscapes The poetic landscapes, therefore, encapsulate her

reconciling with the world and her reconstruction of subjectivity