ABSTRACT
This chapter examines both the continuities and differences between post-war Taiwan poetry and its predecessors on the mainland. Poets in post-war Taiwan carry on the reflection on fundamental theoretical issues that concerned earlier poets as: the nature and essence of poetry, the role of the poet, and the relation of the poet to the world. In sharp contrast to the scenario in China under communist rule, where poetry is harnessed to political agendas and ideological dictates, poets in Taiwan uphold the independence and autonomy of poetry and insist on the creative freedom of the poet. The tension between internal and external reality is even more keenly felt by the poets in post-war Taiwan. Poets in post-war Taiwan have continued in this direction and have made many important contributions. Besides a wider range of subject matter and styles and a better command of form organically integrated with content, Taiwan poetry displays a high degree of consciousness of language.
