Confucian Thoughts in Ezra Pound＇s The Pisan Cantos.pdf

Journal ofLiterature and Art Studies，ISSN 2159—5836 October 2013，Vo1．3，No．10，601-610 Confucian Thoughts in Ezra Pound’s The Pisan Cantos WANG Gui-ming Beijing Institute ofTechnology，Beijing，China aLl暑1,4IN墨 The Pisan Cantos(1 948)，Ezra Pound’s great epic，which reflects major social，cultural，and historical themes，is based on Western and Chinese cultures，especially Chinese Confucian thoughts．This paper attempts to provide an analysis of Confucian classics and Chinese characters／ideograms as cited in The Pisan Cantos，and to present the unique way in which Pound expresses his emotions and enriches his poetic art．Since，Chinese culture that emphases such concepts as“benevolence”and“sincerity”offers a more philosophical and poetical foundation to the cantos，it is understandable that The Pisan Cantos embodies Pound’s ambition to reestablish the war-ruined Western world by Chinese Confucian thoughts，which he regards as an important foundation stone for establishing an idealistic regime． Keywords．"Ezra Pound，The Pisan Cantos，Confucian thoughts，The Book ofFour，Chinese ideogram Introduction Pound’s original intention for his poetic creation was to attenuate“a history of Western civilization in poetic form”(Nolde，1 984，P．1 7)．He expected The Cantos(1 987)to be a morality tale and a mirror for people in the future to understand the truth of history．Therefore，in the opening Cantos，which were much influenced by Homer’s Odyssey(1997)and Dante’s Divine Cornedy(1 555)，he illustrated some major events of self-destruction in Western history with similar themes to James Joyce’s Ulysses(1922)and T．S．Elliot’s The Waste Land r1922)．Because ofPound’s early exposure to Chinese literature and philosophy through translating or adopting Chinese poetry and Confucian classics，the influence of Chinese culture on his poetic creation is visible as early as in l 9 1 5 with Cathay and Canto XIII of The Cantos．Pound was impressed by the“sage—king” conception of Confucius，from which he got to know what a wise emperor was like，what the situation of ancient Chinese civilization was like，and why Chinese feudal institution was able to last so long．After basically comprehending The Four Books《四耆》(i．e．，Great Learning《大翠》， P Dialectics ofConfucius《 捂》， PDoctrineoftheMean(orTheMiddle Way)《中庸》andMencius《孟子》；they are，accordingto Pound’s terms，The Great Digest or Ta Hsio，The Dialects，Unwobbling Pivot，and Mencius)，he came to be a believer ofConfucian thoughts．That may be the reason why in The Pisan Cantos(1 948)Pound quoted more than fifty fragments from Confucian classics．Pound praised highly the governance theory with the values of Confucian philosophy and ethics，and believed that this system of benevolent politics and capable governance can be taken as the very foundation for establishing a Utopia．As early as in l 928，when being asked by T．S． Note：The author died ofillness on October 4，2013． WANG Gui-ming，Ph．D．，professor at School ofForeign Languages，BeOing Institute ofTechnology 602 C0NFUCIAN TH0UGHTS IN EZRA POUND’S E P Ⅳ( Ⅳ D Elliot what“Mr．Pound believes in”，Pound responded with little hesitation，“I believe in the Ta Hio”(Nolde， 1 984，P．1 9)．There after，Pound’s thinking integrated with the Confucian thoughts and there are more elements of Chinese culture can be found in his poetry． Confucian Philosophy and The Cantos Pound managed to implement Chinese Confucian thoughts in his poetry by quoting statements and by comparing and criticizing the Western society with the key Confucian concepts．In The Cantos，Canto XIII presents us an image of Confucius as a sage through an adoption of Confucius’dialogue with his disciples； Canto ILVII describes a vivid picture of Chinese natural scene through which Westerners may get to know some typical Chinese traditional things；the China Cantos(Cantos LIII to LXI)gives a diagrammatic interpretation of Chinese history；and the second half of The Cantos，especially The Pisan Cantos(Cantos LXXIV to LXXXIV)fully expresses Pound’s belief that Confucius thoughts can be adopted as the foundation for establishing an ideal state． More importantly，Pound quoted in The Cantos all the main Confucian philosophical concepts through the ideograms with the key concepts of Confucian philosophy that he learned from his translation of The Four 00 一“仁ren／jen，benevolence or humanity”；“羲yi，justice，or equity，or righteousness”；“褪li，rites”； “智zhi，wisdom”；“信xin，fidelity”；“馘cheng／chung，sincerity”；“中zhong，middle，or centre，neutrality， pivot．or point of balance”；“道dao／tao，way／road or process，or course，or orientation，or morality，or doctrine’’；“德de，virtue or morality”；“正zheng／cheng，correct”；and“名ming，name(s)”，the two ideograms form a phrase that means‘‘define the correct terms”or in Pound’s rl948)words“calling things by their names fsee Canto LIII)”．Based on the method of interpreting Chinese ideograms in Fenollosa’s essay“The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry”(1 920)，Pound glossed some of the ideograms in Confucius(1 95 1) as follows。