The Western and Chinese Poetic Traditions: “The Prelude” and “Encountering Sorrow” as Examples

This paper presents a cross-cultural analysis of major examples of the Western and Chinese poetic traditions. The origins of these differences among philosophers and critics are discussed. The paper then analyzes in detail Qu Yuan’s Encountering Sorrow and Wordsworth\u27s The Prelude, two important poems in the two poetic traditions, to support the arguments. I conclude that Classical Chinese poetry is based on a monistic and humanistic worldview, while Romantic English poetry focuses on the split between the mundane world and the suprasensory realm, or mind and Nature