【正文】 returns to the rural life from the officialdom, he gradually knows the essence of life by means of farming. By describing his farming experiences and feelings of the rustic life in his poems, Tao Yuanming voices his understanding of life. Being close to the rustic life and the rural people, Tao Yuanming writes his pastoral poems in a language that is simple and fresh without any intentional ornament. Tao Yuanming is not only the founder of Chinese pastoral poetry school but also the pioneer of the simple poetic style. His pastoral poetry is a unique phenomenon, and his poetic language is a revolutionary creation that has exerted great influence on the later poets, especially those in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Wordsworth once claims, “I bring my language near to the language of men” and Tao Yuanming actually employs “the language of rural men” in all his pastoral poems. In advocating and practicing a simple poetic style, the two poets echo each other through their creations. In fact, the literature today owes much to the revolutions they started. 3. Wordsworth’s and Tao Yuanming’s Pastoral Poetry: Differences Poetic Realm Although nature holds the same strong attraction to both Wordsworth and Tao Yuanming and bees the focus of their literary creation, there still exist differences in their pastoral poetry in that the two poets construct different poetic realms. Wordsworth uses his rich imagination and makes much meditation upon the objects of nature in his pastoral poems, while Tao Yuanming is apt to melt into nature without much contemplation. Wordsworth builds up a poetic realm of selfexistence. When reading Wordsworth?s poems, readers can always find that Wordsworth puts his personal opinions in the lines. On the contrary, Tao Yuanming seeks for another poetic realm where he identifies himself with the outer world. In other words, when reading Tao Yuanming?s poems, readers fail to encounter the poet?s personal opinions. Actually, this difference finds its origin in the different cultures of the West and the East. For instance, Wordsworth is willing to inquire into the root of the matter when he is enjoying the beauty of nature, and so he writes: To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tear. (Ode Intimations of Immortality) On the contrary, Tao Yuanming thinks that the “veritable truth” of life cannot be expressed with words but rather can only be sensed with the heart: The view provides some veritable truth, But my defining words seem to me uncouth. (Drinking Wine, the Fifth) On the basis of Christianity and the pantheism, Wordsworth constructs his own viewpoint on nature. According to the Old Testament, God creates both nature and human beings, so that they are equal in essence. Furthermore, the pantheism further considers that the glory of God is represented by everything on earth, and everything in the world possesses the divinity just like God himself. People should love not only mankind themselves but also all other things in the world, even including the little creatures. This interdependent relationship between man and nature is just what Wordsworth seeks for. In this way, Wordsworth sanctifies nature and transfers the holy properties of God into nature. People can sense the glory of God from every creature of nature, even from the “l(fā)ow and rustic life”. In the most famous poem Tintern Abbey, Wordsworth writes: Well pleased to recognize In nature and the language of the sense The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul Of all my moral being In the lines, Wordsworth speaks highly of nature. Wordsworth recognizes “the nurse, the guide, the guardian of his heart, and soul of all his moral being” in nature. He believes that nature is endowed with divinity by God, and that man can get strength and spiritual liberation from it. In Chinese culture, nature refers to not only the law of the existence and development of all beings in the world but also man?s actionless activity and obedience of the law. The Chinese have long cultivated a harmonious munion with nature. Taoism claims that the harmonious relationship between nature and human beings is that “Human beings follow the Earth, the Earth follows the Heaven, the Heaven follows the Tao, and the Tao follows Nature.” Tao Yuanming accepts the thoughts of Taoism on nature, and he emphasizes to explore how to obey the law of nature and how to keep in harmony with nature. In his famous prose of Come away Home, Tao Yuanming writes: Thus let it be What earthly journey can last forever Why not then let nature take its own course Whither should we go? Why all the bustling These lines clearly express Tao Yuanming?s viewpoint on nature. He believes that everything is destined and that people should follow the destined ways. In Tao Yuanming?s mind, the right life attitude is that people do not need to worry or grieve too much about life. Instead, they should accept the changes of nature. Tao Yuanming is always trying to seek for a poetic realm where one identifies himself with the outer world and thus is in harmony with nature. Both Wordsworth and Tao Yuanming share the theme of nature in their pastoral poetry, but the poetic realms they create are different. Wordsworth makes his existence felt everywhere in the lines as he meditates and instructs. On the contrary, Tao Yuanming makes himself totally oblivious in his poems and eulogizes nature for its own sake. Unique Viewpoint on Nature Wordsworth regards “childhood” as the necessary medium for adults to return to nature, and many of his poems concern with the theme of childhood. In Wordsworth?s opinion, the children are part of natu