Abstract: The paper aims to analyze how the Misty Poetry inherited Chinese poetry tradition and how the inheritance resulted in the spiritual crisis and the entailing crisis of Chinese contemporary poetry. The Misty Poetry tries to conceal its inheritance of Chinese modern poetry with an explicit anti-traditional gesture, but due to the unbridgeable gap between the poets' self and the cultural and historical tradition, the Misty poets could not but fall into the deep trap of nihilism. The essential influence on the Misty Poetry has been the early Western modernism, especially the Symbolism, and the Misty Poetry could hardly be said to have mastered the essence of modern poetry. The Misty Poetry envisioned a turn but also resulted in a crisis in the development of contemporary Chinese new poetry.

Key words: