Studies in Literature and Language
Zhou Zuoren’s Vernacular Poetry and His Cult of Childhood
Abstract
Pioneering modern Chinese children’s literature, Zhou Zuoren personifies the child as an angel of peace. In his view, the child is neither an object of pedagogy nor a ward of the adult. Indeed, the child becomes an unwitting teacher and spiritual warden of the adult. He worships the innocence of childhood and believes that efforts to use a scientific approach to rectify children would be more harmful than beneficial because it would hinder the natural development of children’s capacity for imagination. This paper examines the development of Zhou Zuoren’s conceptualisation of childhood through analysing three of his vernacular poems.
Key words: Zhou Zuoren; Childhood; Chinese vernacular poetry
References
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