Constructing a System of Irregularities The Poetry of Bei Dao, Yang Lian, and Duoduo

This book investigates the poetics of three of the most internationally renowned contemporary Chinese poets â " Bei Dao, Yang Lian and Duoduo â " who were all exiled from China after the 1989 Tiananmen student movement. Their poetry was later to be labelled â ~Misty poetryâ (TM) (Menglongshi). Emphasising polyvalent imagery and irregular syntax, Misty poetry engenders a multiplicity of meanings, often leading to interpretational indeterminacy. This book examines three aspects of the â ~Mistinessâ (TM) of the poetsâ (TM) oeuvre: the socio-historic background where Misty poets live and write; imagery; and linguistic elements. After first identifying the roots of Mistiness, this book identifies imagistic and linguistic clues in order to construct a hermeneutical system that examines the irregularities of the Misty poetics and appreciates the polysemy of the poetsâ (TM) works. Stylometry is used to analyse image frequency and its significance in a stylistic manner, and a semiotic approach is then systematically applied to analyse the poetsâ (TM) highly irregular images, syntax and the different effects of their poemsâ (TM) obscurity. Through these approaches that unveil the poemsâ (TM) evocativeness, the irregularity of the poetryâ (TM)s Mistiness is established as its most powerful linguistic and imagistic aspect. The book then places the three poetsâ (TM) different misty characteristics into contrast: Bei Daoâ (TM)s twisted imagery and elliptical syntax, Yangâ (TM)s imagery in a classically-inspired syntax, and Duoduoâ (TM)s integration of images into a rhythmic syntax. While the poetsâ (TM) progressions from pre- to post-exile poetics suggest the potential of a non-nationally specific, or borderless poetics, their seemingly irregular poetic Mistiness is the most powerful trait of Misty poetry for evoking its system of multifaceted significations and alternative aesthetics.