Taoist Ideas in A. R. Ammons and Seungho Choi's Ecopoetry
Comparative American Studies
Format:
Journal Article
Publication Date:
Nov 30, 2008
Pages:
128 - 139
Sources ID:
35766
Notes:
DOI 10.1179/147757009X12482516275647; ISSN 1477-5700
Collection:
Contemplation and Ecology
Visibility:
Public (group default)
Abstract:
(Show)
Though Taoist ideas, an alternative to the Western anthropocentric tradition, have played a crucial role in Deep Ecology and an environmentally-friendly way of life, ecological (re)interpretation of Taoism is still in a rudimentary stage. More detailed studies beyond merely indicating some affinity between ecological ideas and Taoism are needed. In a rare conflation of US and Korean poetry, this article analyses how Taoist ideas are embodied in the ecopoems of A. R. Ammons and Seungho Choi. This comparative study examines how these two poets, placed in different cultures, respectively respond to or appropriate Taoist ideas in their works. Ammons's poems are more metaphysical, using the concepts of Tao, polarity, and wu-wei to provide a foundation for his cosmogony, while Choi employs the concept of Tao and nature in general as norms enabling him to virulently criticize the modern industrial world and to suggest a more ecologically harmonious one.