ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a reassessment of the nativist turn in the history of modern poetry in Taiwan in the 1970s and 1980s. Reacting against the modernist movement of the 1950s and 1960s, in conjunction with the national crises in diplomacy, the Modern Poetry Debate erupted with a twofold emphasis on returning to the Chinese tradition and embracing Taiwanese society. By relating nativism to what came before and after in modern poetry, the chapter offers a new analysis of its achievements and long-term impact.
