The Development of Modern Chinese Mythological Poetry from Western References and Rewriting of Eastern Mythological Elements in Guo Moruo's The Goddess

School of Arts and Social Sciences, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, 999077 30 Mok Oi Street, Ho Man Tin, China

^* Corresponding author: villasakumoto@gmail.com

Abstract

Guo Moruo (1892-1978) was a Chinese literary scholar, historian, and social activist. Guo Moruo has been criticized in different ways, but when it comes to literature and poetry, thanks to his study in Japan, his works have been influenced by many Western literary works, and he has written about gods and goddesses in both eastern and western styles, with passionate and romantic phrases; and he has brought these changes back to China, which has brought special nourishment to the pursuit of literary and poetic innovation in the country at that time. Therefore, this paper will analyze Guo Moruo's new collection of poems, The Goddess, in terms of the quotation of Western mythological elements and the rewriting of Eastern mythological elements, and use a few Western poems to demonstrate the similarity between the May Fourth New Culture Movement and the development of Western literature and art, and thus to show the development of modern mythological poetry in China.