Misty Poets

The Misty Poets (Chinese: 朦胧诗人; pinyin: Ménglóng Shīrén) are a group of 20th-century Chinese poets who reacted against the restrictions on art during the Cultural Revolution.^[1]^[2]^[3] They are so named because their work has been officially denounced as "obscure", "misty", or "hazy" poetry (menglong shi).^[4] But according to Gu Cheng, "the defining characteristic of this new type of poetry is its realism—it begins with objective realism but veers towards a subjective realism; it moves from a passive reaction toward active creation."^[5] The movement was initially centered on the magazine Jintian, which was founded by Bei Dao and Mang Ke and published from 1978 until 1980, when it was banned.^[6]^[7]

Guo Lusheng is among the earliest poets of the sent-down youth generation poets and was an inspiration for several of the original Misty Poets. Five important misty poets, Bei Dao, Gu Cheng, Shu Ting, He Dong and Yang Lian, were exiled after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Jintian was resurrected in Sweden in 1990 as a forum for expatriate Chinese writers.

The work of the Misty Poets has had a strong influence on the lyrics of China's first generation of rock musicians, particularly Cui Jian.

^ "Introduction and commentary to Wang Ping's translations". Epc.buffalo.edu. 1995-02-20. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
^ Jeffrey Twitchell; Huang Fan (1997). "Avant Garde Poetry In China: The Nanjing Scene 1981 1992". World Literature Today. 71. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
^ Klein, Lucas (2017). "Poems from Underground". In Wang, David Der-wei (ed.). A New Literary History of Modern China. Harvard, Ma: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp. 718–724. ISBN 978-0-674-97887-4.
^ "Smoking People" (PDF). 39 (2). Beloit Poetry Journal. Winter 1988–1989. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-11-21. Retrieved 2010-10-28. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ Sze, ARthur ed., Chinese Writer on Writing, Trinity University Press, 2010
^ "A Brief Guide to Misty Poets". Poets.org. Archived from the original on 2010-04-12. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
^ Greene, Roland; et al., eds. (2012). "Modern poetry of China". The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (4th rev. ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. 232–234. ISBN 978-0-691-15491-6.

[1] "Introduction and commentary to Wang Ping's translations". Epc.buffalo.edu. 1995-02-20. Retrieved 2010-10-19.

[2] Jeffrey Twitchell; Huang Fan (1997). "Avant Garde Poetry In China: The Nanjing Scene 1981 1992". World Literature Today. 71. Retrieved 2010-10-19.

[Klein-3] Klein, Lucas (2017). "Poems from Underground". In Wang, David Der-wei (ed.). A New Literary History of Modern China. Harvard, Ma: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp. 718–724. ISBN 978-0-674-97887-4.

[4] "Smoking People" (PDF). 39 (2). Beloit Poetry Journal. Winter 1988–1989. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-11-21. Retrieved 2010-10-28. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[5] Sze, ARthur ed., Chinese Writer on Writing, Trinity University Press, 2010

[brief-6] "A Brief Guide to Misty Poets". Poets.org. Archived from the original on 2010-04-12. Retrieved 2010-10-19.

[Greene-7] Greene, Roland; et al., eds. (2012). "Modern poetry of China". The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (4th rev. ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. 232–234. ISBN 978-0-691-15491-6.

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