Abstract: Haizi, one of the most profound and controversial poets in China during the 20th century, was keen on German classical aesthetics and modern poetics and followed H?lderlin as his model. It is believed that Holderlin played an irreplaceable role in shaping Haizi’s poetry and its transformation. In addition, through the recognition and sublation of H?lderlin’s identity, philosophy, and concept of poetry, Haizi formed his own highly personalized poetics in his later composition of poetry, quite different from H?lderlin’s. The study of the relationship between the two poets directly relates to the understanding of Haizi’s poetry as a special poetic and cultural phenomenon in contemporary China. This paper has analyzed how Haizi’s ontology and his concept of identity influenced the relationship between men and gods and substantials, how this relationship was established, what were its cultural features, and how Holderlin changed Haizi’s poetry and his poetic expression and practice. The paper hopes to shed light on the cultural acceptance and self-formation of the contemporary Chinese poetry in the 1980s.

Key words: Haizi, H?lderlin, divinity, substantials, idealism