This paragraph reviews the author's experience participating in the centennial commemoration of Professor Wang Zuoliang's birth, expressing deep remembrance and regret for his beloved mentor, while also mentioning his recent return to English and American literary studies after retirement and his hope to attend the full proceedings of the 110th anniversary commemoration.

Studying under Professor Wang Zuoliang

This section recalls the author's educational experience and profound insights from studying under Professor Wang Zuoliang. The author became one of the first post-Cultural Revolution graduate students of Wang Zuoliang and Xu Guozhang in 1978, having already studied Wang's articles in journals such as Foreign Language Teaching and Research and Living World Literature Selection during his middle school years in a small Jiangnan town, deeply influenced by the depth of his thought and the elegance of his writing, particularly admiring his masterful translation of Bacon's "Of Studies" in classical Chinese. After enrollment, the author deeply felt that Wang Zuoliang's scholarship was as lofty as a mountain to look up to, yet he remained modest and approachable; his noble moral character, patriotic sentiments, and rigorous academic style commanded respect. Wang Zuoliang's pioneering research in stylistics inspired the author's thesis topic, and he personally recommended the author's article for publication in top-tier academic journals, demonstrating the older generation of scholars' care in cultivating young students. The author observed that Wang Zuoliang wrote like "spring silkworms spinning silk," with original viewpoints stemming from crystallized thought rather than patchwork; his interests were broad yet he was extremely humble, claiming he could not compare himself to Qian Zhongshu. In academic guidance, Wang Zuoliang emphasized that studying Western literature required a Chinese perspective, offering profound insights into English poetic drama, novels, and poetry: when lecturing on Shakespeare, he focused on tracing historical contexts; when analyzing English novels, he both affirmed achievements and pointed out deficiencies; and he conducted original research on controversial writers such as Lawrence and Joyce, once using the anecdote of scientists borrowing the word "quark" coined by Joyce to demonstrate the breadth of his interests. Wang Zuoliang devoted his life to scholarship with indifference to fame and fortune, and in his later years pursued lost time from the Cultural Revolution with redoubled enthusiasm, completing sixteen works in the final decade of his life, truly embodying the spirit of "never tiring of one's work."

Scholar and Poet

Mr. Wang Zuoliang possessed dual identities as both scholar and poet, with research covering the entire development of English poetry. His selection of Hardy's poetry demonstrated substantial weight, and his appreciation of Empson's Seven Types of Ambiguity influenced understandings of poetic polysemy. In his Anthology of English Poetry, Mr. Wang included Empson's difficult and obscure poems, whose annotators required years of research to expand the notes for the revised edition. He conducted original research on English Romantic poetry, guiding younger generations to engage with canonical poets such as Shelley, Keats, and Byron, while also expanding to contemporary poets like Larkin and Heaney. As a poet, Mr. Wang's poetry and prose were rich in profound meaning and artistic charm; his academic vision was never complacent, skillfully grasping the pulse of language and literature across eras, enabling even those originally disinclined toward poetry to become enchanted. Following his guidance, the author gradually deepened his understanding of important poets' works in English literary history.

On Foreign Literature

This section reviews Mr. Wang Zuoliang's founding and editorship of the journal Foreign Literature and his editorial philosophy. After the journal's founding in 1980, Mr. Wang established a clear vision of systematically introducing representative national literatures and writers, both maintaining a comprehensive overview to guide direction and encouraging editors to develop resources to expand coverage of literary genres and nations. He personally participated in topic planning, such as specially introducing contemporary Australian literature, and with discerning vision had editors translate and promote the then little-known Nobel laureate White's works, as well as scientific essays by Harvard young professor Gould, demonstrating an open vision transcending pure literature. Mr. Wang valued listening to editors' opinions, discovering excellent texts from high-quality publications such as The New Yorker; his scholarly methods and personal charm profoundly influenced the editorial team, enabling participants to gain academic inspiration, enlightenment, and respect. The section also demonstrates through specific examples Mr. Wang's cultivation and trust in young scholars, as well as his forward-looking vision in Sino-foreign literary exchange.

On Anthology of English Poetry and Selected English Poems

This section recalls how the author, unable to return to Beijing Foreign Studies University for doctoral studies due to work at the Ministry of Finance, was invited by Professor Wang Zuoliang to annotate Anthology of English Poetry. Mr. Wang emphasized that Chinese scholars studying Western literature should have a Chinese perspective; when compiling the anthology, he focused on Chinese students' needs, including not only classical poets but paying greater attention to contemporary poets such as Eliot, Larkin, and Heaney. The author faced enormous challenges in annotating obscure contemporary poems, and Mr. Wang gave full trust, suggesting that annotations be independent of the Chinese translations. After the annotated Anthology of English Poetry was published in 1993 to wide favor, the author revised and reissued it in 2008 as Selected English Poems, adding contemporary poetry and annotations, which received praise from British and American dignitaries, reflecting Mr. Wang's exquisite discernment and broad academic vision.

A Scholar Keeping Pace with the Times

Through recollections of interactions with Mr. Wang Zuoliang from the 1980s to the 1990s, this section presents the image of a scholar who always kept pace with the times and acutely grasped academic developments. While the author was working in the United States, Mr. Wang often inquired about foreign academic developments and teaching conditions, maintaining high sensitivity to the evolution of contemporary English styles; as early as 1978, he guided students to pay attention to American writer Terkel's works recording vivid spoken language, while continuously absorbing new modes of expression himself. In his History of English Literature, Mr. Wang specifically discussed the philosophical trend of twentieth-century scientific prose, using Needham, Bronowski, and Clarke as examples to analyze how modern media expanded new domains for prose, emphasizing that the combination of image and sound actually enhanced prose's power and artistry. Although Mr. Wang spent most of his time engaged in teaching and research within China, he achieved fruitful results through concentrated scholarship, with his Complete Works of Wang Zuoliang standing as a monumental academic achievement. The section concludes with the author's gratitude and remembrance for Mr. Wang's instruction, and his determination to return to academic research.