The Sea as a Prism of Human Condition: A Comparative Study of Maritime Poetry in Bei Dao and Vicente Aleixandre

Abstract

The ocean, as a core archetypal image in world poetic traditions, provides a crucial dimension for cross-cultural literary comparison. Both Chinese and Spanish poetry possess rich traditions of maritime verse. This study adopts a comparative cross-cultural framework and close textual analysis to examine representative maritime poetry by the Chinese poet Bei Dao and the Spanish poet Vicente Aleixandre. It focuses on three analytical dimensions: imagery and symbolism, emotional tone, and form-stylistic features. Then the discussion further traces the historical-cultural contexts, poetic-philosophical traditions, and personal life experiences underlying these differences. The analysis reveals that Bei Dao, influenced by the Misty Poetry movement, employs maritime imagery to connect personal destiny with collective historical consciousness, articulating a poetics of historical memory and social responsibility. In contrast, Vicente Aleixandre, shaped by Western existentialism—particularly surrealism—uses the sea as a medium to explore the metaphysical union between the individual and the cosmos. Despite distinct historical, cultural, and philosophical foundations, both poets exemplify the common orientation of modern maritime poetry: employing natural imagery to establish a coherent symbolic system that mediates reflections on fundamental human themes—self, history, existence, and the cosmos. Through comparative analysis, this study aims to illuminate the distinctive characteristics of twentieth-century Chinese and Spanish maritime poetry, facilitate cross-cultural dialogue between the two poetic traditions, and highlight the commonality of world maritime literature in exploring these shared humanistic concerns.