PAINTING AND POETRY: EZRA POUND’S “SEVEN LAKES CANTO” AND EIGHT VIEWS OF XIAO XIANG

Abstract

In the history of cultural exchange between China and the West, it’s a deed praised far and wide that the Chinese paintings Eight Views of Xiao Xiang had exerted great influence on Ezra Pound’s poetic work “Seven Lakes Canto” or “Canto 49.” By exploring the details of the paintings and tracing the influence of the paintings on the creation of the poem, this paper reveals that the etymological and compositional use of Chinese ideograms had an enormous impact on Pound’s thinking about poetry and cultural matters, and on the writing of The Cantos. Pound, by adopting the images of China in Eight Views of Xiao Xiang, finds another paradise, so the Chinese cultural elements enabled him to create a new entity in its own right: the Poundian poem. Discussion of Pound’s “Seven Lakes Canto” from his poetic and translation theories certifies that the poem can actually be perceived as a unique way of interpreting and displaying China.