A Comparative Study of Chinese and Western Poetry

一．The differences
1. Difference on Theme
There are two main themes in expressing the poets’ love view in the Chinese love poetry. Firstly, the protagonists tend to love each other after they get married. Secondly, once the lover passes away, the other inclines to miss the dead one deeply. However, the theme of western poetry is involved in “extramarital love” and “premarital love”.
2. Difference on Emotion
The Chinese poetry often depicts the feeling of hidden bitterness of love, and the lovers dare not pursue their love and many laments are written by Chinese poets. On the contrary, western love poets often express the lively and happy aspect of love. The lovers dare to pursue their love and show their intense adoration to their lover.
3. Difference on Religious Emotion
Chinese traditional love poetry is influenced by Chinese religion. Because C hinese people don’t believe in the existence of the next world, Chinese traditional love poems emphasize the love of this life. Therefore love is realistic and sentimental. On the other hand, the lover is depicted as common person, even though she or he is flawless.
But western love poetry is different. As we all know, the influence of God does not disappear in the western culture since the Bible was born. So the idea of the existence of paradise largely influences the tendency of the creation of love poetry.
Therefore, the existence of heaven endows them with the hope of reunion. At the same time, his lover is imagined to be angel.
When love is continued in the heaven, it is beyond secular life and becomes mystical. Meanwhile, Platonic love is generalized and easily seen in the western poetry.
4．Different goals of description
The western poets are good at delineating the lover’s lovely voice and happy countenance with details to show the beautiful shape of one’s body.Such as the gentle eyesight, ruddy cheeks, sexual lips and the waving blonde hair. However, Chinese love poets devout themselves to pursuing the harmony of human, scenery and emotion. They seldom simply describe the single person without the surroundings.
5. Different value to the poets
The lovers usually are treated as the moral kingpin of the poets in western poetry. This spiritual power leads to the perfection of the personality and elevation of the soul. When they fall deeply into love, the lovers are just like the beautiful angel and goddess,
shining star, the bright moon and dazzling sun in the eyes of the poets. But Chinese poets pay more attention to the happiness of the yearning between lovers and the sorrow of departing with their lovers. So the Chinese love poetry is mostly about the boudoir repining,seeing friends off and the sadness towards the lost lover.
6. Different language and style
The western poetry tends to use impassioned and enthusiastic words to show their love and they dare to directly express their heartfelt love. Different with the western poetry, the language of Chinese love poetry is obscure and misty with the exercise of simile, metaphor and symbolism. They show their love indirectly and implicitly.
二．The reason of the difference
1.different background
The westerners advocate individualism, so love, one of the most important constituent parts of one’s personal life is indispensable and deserve their undivided attention. But Chinese place particular emphasis on the service of the government. In the feudal society, most of the poets try their best to secure an official position and leave their wives in the hometown.
2.different women’s status
In the western countries which uphold the equality and freedom,
women have a higher social status and are respected by men. But in the ancient china, women’s status is so low that their main task is to carry on the family line and then manage household affairs. To them, love is a luxurious and unrealistic thing.
3.different love viewpoint
The westerners think that love is all and love is the most beautiful thing in the world with the combination of the purest soul. It is a symbolic of beauty and deserves us to devout our whole life to pursue. But Chinese attach more importance to marriage rather than love. It is considered a shame for men to stay together with his wife all day long.
4.different value on poetry
The Chinese poetry stress that the poets should use moderate language to show their emotion, while westerners tend to reflect the real life in their poetry.
孔子有“兴观群怨”之说，讲究“发乎情，止乎礼仪”，讲究“温柔敦厚”。

就是在当代，郭小川的《白雪的赞歌》也是受到批评的。

而西方，在亚里斯多德的时代，强调诗是客观之再现，强调主观之移情作用：华兹华斯强调“自然”，柯尔律治强调“想象”，雪莱强调“情感”，济慈追求“美感”，都有一种“唯美主义”倾向。

钱钟书先生在《七缀集》中说，和西洋诗相形之下，中国旧诗大体上显得情感不奔放，说话不唠叨，嗓门不提得那么高，力气不使得那么狠，色彩不着得那么浓。

在中国诗里算是浪漫的，和西洋诗相形之下，仍是古典的；在中国诗里算是痛快的，比起西洋诗，仍然不失为含蓄的。