Xia Yu，the Supreme Stylist

This article offers a critical analysis of the poetry of Xia Yu(Hsia Yü夏宇), a leading poet and"fanatic of form"in the Chinese-speaking world. By focusing on the themes, language, and formal innovations of her work to date, the author highlights the unique style and contributions of the poet. Love has been a persistent theme in Xia Yu's poetry. While love may be the oldest theme of poetry, the author asserts that Xia Yu's treatment of the subject was refreshingly unconventional and iconoclastic. Language is another major theme that has emerged in Xia Yu's poetry, for her formal experiments are inseparable from her explorations of the signifying capacity of language and the essence of poetry. On top of that, the poet, whose pleasure in manipulating words is palpable, is not interested only in mastering rhetorical devices, but also in maneuvering her language. It is safe to say that the poet's style is not only embodied in her language and poetics but also in form. Although not all of Xia Yu's formal experiments are equally successful, her effort to make book designs truly an integral part of the reading process is not only admirable but also unprecedented in the history of modern Chinese poetry. Imaginative, obsessive-compulsive, ambitious, and fiercely unconventional and individualistic, the first-person narrator in Xia Yu's poetry extends into the publishing of her books. While self-publishing is not uncommon in the history of modern Chinese poetry, she takes an explicitly anti-commercial, anti-institutional position. Arguably, Xia Yu's bold experiments in form and her creative book designs, on top of her innovative writing style, have rendered her an icon in the Chinese-speaking world with a loyal following, a poet's poet who has exerted a significant influence on younger generations