The Kunming Circle of Modernism Poetry in China: The Risen & Fallen of Southwest Associated University Poetry Community / 中国现代主义诗歌的昆明大阵——西南联大诗歌群落的崛起与殒落

Abstract

Abstract
The Southwest Associated University was originally a major university in the rear of the Anti-Japanese War. Because of the presence of British poet and new critic William Empson and the first poet Feng Zhi of the Republic of China, Mu Dan, Du Yunxie, Zheng Min, Wang Zuoliang, and many other "seeds of the poetry of the Associated University", it became the stronghold of Chinese modernist poetry at that time, smoothly maintaining the operation of poetry aesthetics in the Guomindang District, and also created many significant modernist poetries. From the perspective of the literary image, it is a large Kunming array guarding Chinese modernist poetry. This article is closely tied to the background of war, from the cultural geography of Kunming, the war experience of individual poets, and the inheritance of modernist poetry aesthetics, it analyzes a batch of top poems from troubled times. The poetry community of Southwest Associated University was able to write the most glorious poems of their lives during the Anti-Japanese War, which is also a miracle in the history of poetry.
Keywords: Southwest Associated University, modernist poetry, Mu Dan, Feng Zhi