On Ezra Pound’s Aesthetic Identity with Chinese Classical Poetry

Abstract

This article analyzes and presents Ezra Pound’s ideal of aesthetic actualization in the process of creation and translation of poems, which is associated with his approach to Chinese classical poetry and culture. This article next shows how Chinese classical poetry meets Pound’s aesthetic pursuit in light of common elements in aesthetic creation and appreciation, particularly in his practicing Imagism. Finally, I have generalized three specific viewpoints: equation of human emotion, aesthetic images, and individual cultivation in Pound’s aesthetic identity with Chinese classical poetry, which gives rise to our vision of aesthetic realization as world-rooted, and so indicates further how it can serve as common grounds of transcending cultural barriers and individual discrepancy.