| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 台灣文化暨語言文學研究所 === 95 === Yang Hua (1900-1936), a Taiwanese poet who living when the island
was under Japanese rule, had written 328 pieces of Chinese new poetry
(only 320 of them could be found today), two vernacular Chinese
novels in addition to many Chinese traditional poetry which were
carried on newspapers, periodicals and collections of poetry and
thereby earned a shinning place in the island's literature history
despite of his short lifespan of 36 years.
This study focused on Yang's literary career in an attempt to
grab the pulse of his times, and his personal feelings for life. His
literary adventure started from and ended at Chinese traditional
poetry. As a writer grew against the background of bitter fighting
between the new and traditional Chinese poetry, and with the pride of
literary figure of the second generation, Yang carefully stayed away
from the bad habits considered to be traditional literary men's
hallmark. Because of his refusal to pursue fashion by imitating
others' verses, and his devotion to creating new literary works,
Yang's traditional Chinese poets were limited in quantity, and most
were composed during gatherings of poets when they competed to come
up with the best verses on specific subjects in time and rhymes
restricted by organizers. Nevertheless, his poems were a vivid mirror
of his soul in a unique form, which are expression of his deep
feelings for life.
Although his Chinese new poetry bore obvious resemblances to
verses of Chinese writers Bin Xin and Liang Zong-dai, they formed a
unique style of his own because of his digestion of the two Chinese
writers works. They also reflected a sense of his time when Taiwan
was governed by Japan, his personal thinking, and the way he thought
the Taiwanese of that time should respond to their situation and to
tide over it. Notable among those works was "A Female Worker's Sorrow
Song" which exposed the differences between social classes, and the
miserable lives of laborers. This poem was brought about by the
believe in popular literary, and a backlash prompted by the
dissolution of Taiwan Culture Association at the time. Both "A Female
Worker's Sorrow Song" and "Heart String" were written in Taiwanese
dialect and were thereby considered as cornerstones of Taiwanese
literature.
Yang wrote two novels in vernacular Chinese with an eye to
sparkle a social revolution. "A Laborer's Demise" was an accusation
that Japanese rulers' bully and oppression had kept the impoverished,
miserable, defenseless laborers to the bay, and capitalists'
accumulation of assets by trickery or by force had led to the
deceases of workers; "Ill Fate" was a vivid story about women's
incapability to control their own lives in society of the time and a
microcosm of the traditional Taiwanese society. Both of the two
novels are remarkable works of Taiwan literature.
Yang's life was a tragedy because of its shortness, but his
legacy in literature is Taiwan's treasure, they are the few classic
works marking Taiwan literature's progress from beginning to maturity
before the World War II.
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