Comparative Study on the Changes of Chinese and Western Poetry under the Influence of Deconstructionism

Abstract

Taking deconstructionism as the theoretical entry point, this paper systematically examines the developmental trajectories and differential characteristics of Chinese and Western contemporary poetry under the influence of deconstructionism in the mid-to-late 20th century. The study finds that during the period of social transformation, Chinese contemporary poetry demonstrated a paradigmatic shift from the collective narrative of Misty Poetry to the individual experience writing of Third Generation poets, deconstructing traditional authority through colloquial expressions and everyday narratives. Western poetry, by contrast, focused on linguistic experimentation, constructing a new postmodern poetic ecology through fragmented narratives, visual poetics, and the dissolution of genre boundaries. The disparities between the two are rooted in three factors: Chinese poetry faced dual deconstructive pressures from traditional aesthetic paradigms and power discourses, while Western poetry concentrated on internal innovation within the self-sufficient poetic system; Chinese poets utilized deconstructionism to highlight the epochal nature of individual experiences, Western poets achieve the transfer of interpretive authority to readers through linguistic decentering; China's politico-cultural genes and the critical thinking tradition in Western philosophy shaped distinct deconstructive paths respectively. This research reveals the complex mechanism by which literary development is co-shaped by social context, cultural genetics, and theoretical reception purposes, providing a novel perspective for cross-cultural poetic studies in the context of globalization.