From Imitation to Self-Discovery: The Staged Awakening of Female Subjectivity in Li Qingzhao and Emily Dickinso

Abstract

Ancient Chinese poet Li Qingzhao and American poet Emily Dickinson are prestigious female poets with great significance in both poetry and female writing. Guided by Elaine Showalter’s three-phase framework (feminine, feminist and female) with the concept of creative life cycle, six poems from Li and Dickinson are appreciated and analyzed. It finds their female subjectivity advanced from imitation patriarchal norms to beyond the constraints and the creation of unique styles (“Yi’an Style” and “Dickinsonian Style”), setting subjective expression benchmarks for women’s writing.