Flow of Absence

The influence of Asian poetical and philosophical uses of absence on American poetry is a complex exchange, beginning with the influential modernist poet, Ezra Pound, and flourishing significantly in the contemporary poetry of Gary Snyder. This work examines the influence of absence on Gary Snyder and Ezra Pound, first looking at the flow of Asian influence through the evolving poetic technique of Ezra Pound. The influence of Pound in turn sheds light on the early work of Gary Snyder, whose own interaction with Chinese poetry and Buddhism lends the space in his poetry the philosophical depth of the Zen Void and makes the words in his poems guiding stones on a path to enlightenment. Concepts of Buddhist emptiness further guide an exploration of space within the epic poem composed by Snyder over the course of fifty years. Both Snyder and Pound enable a transmission of emptiness from East to West, and each of their journeys in kind are pilgrimages to bring healing back to the West. The examination of this complex, cross-cultural influence should enhance the study of modern American poetics, wherein the relevant fields of Chinese poetry and Asian philosophy remain understudied.