2017 NTU Literature Award Lecture II: “Poetry as a Bellwether and Scapegoat”

NTU Department of Chinese Literature invited two poets, Mr. Chih-Cheng Lo (羅志成) and Mr. Cheng-Chong Liu (劉正忠), to discuss poetry on Dec 6 in one of the lectures held for the 2017 NTU Literature Award. An alumnus of NTU, Mr. Lo established the NTU Modern Poetry Society with like-minded student poets/writers during his study at the university. Later, he went on to publish a wide range of poems, essays, and critiques, and has served in important positions in fields ranging from news agencies, magazines, broadcasting, and government media. Also a prolific poet, Mr. Cheng- Ching Liu, better known as Juan Tang (唐捐), is a professor of Chinese literature at NTU.

The two poets are going to discuss the multifaceted interplay between poetry and the world. Some poems come after the real world to record the poet’s experiences, whereas some dash forward to overtake and shape reality. The forward-looking characteristics of poetry bespeak the “bellwether” poetics. By contrast, poems created in the wake of real incidents serve as a mouthpiece or a substitute bearing the weight of life, thus the “scapegoat” poetics.

Title: Poetry as a Bellwether and Scapegoat
Time: 19:00-21:30, Wed., December 6, 2017
Venue: R102, Liberal Education Classroom Building
Speakers/Panelists: Mr. Chih-Cheng Lo and Mr. Cheng-Chong Liu (aka Juan Tang)