Mapping poetic pathways: A phenomenological psychological study of writing Hong Kong New Poetry
Keywords:
New Poetry, Hong Kong Poetry, phenomenological psychology, writing processAbstract
New Poetry, a genre of modern Chinese poetry, is characterized by its free form and the absence of fixed rules regarding tone, rhyme, and structure. Adopting a psychological phenomenological approach, this study uses Hong Kong New Poetry as a case study to explore the mental processes involved in writing Chinese poetry. Eight Hong Kong poets were invited to complete a poetry writing task while being observed by researchers, followed by in-depth interviews about their creative experiences. We propose a Dual-Pathway model that reflects two general processes of poetry writing. The Natural Pathway represents an optimal state of creativity within Chinese poetics. It manifests as an undisrupted subconscious flow of creative ideas directed by the poet’s mastery, emotions, and creative intent, with the rational mind operating beneath metacognitive awareness. The Effortful Pathway unfolds in four recursive stages: (1) Develop Candidate Ideas, (2) Evaluation and Selection of Candidate Ideas, (3) Connect Selected Ideas and Structure Poem, and (4) Continuous Evaluation and Editing. In this pathway, poets strategically loosen cognitive control to generate candidate ideas before gradually reintroducing executive processes to evaluate, develop lines, and structure the poem in alignment with their conscious creative goals.
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