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Copyright T. Schaelen 2004-2014
Three unrhymed lines
17 syllables: 5, 7, 5
Juxtaposes contrasting
images that work together
to create meaning,
emotion, or mood.
Japan’s most popular
verse form
famous Bashō poem:
An old pond—
A frog leaps in,
The sound of water
1st part of the term is from kai,
a type of linked-verse poem
2nd part is from hok ,
the initial stanza of a haikai
Haikai are written by groups of poets
Each short poem has to be able to stand on
its own as well as build on the one before it.
A new stanza completes the poem, and it
also becomes the start of a new one.
Poets often composed in competitions, and
the resulting poems were anthologized.
Opening poems of the haikai Three Poets at Minase,
a 100-verse sequence created in 1488 by Sogi,
Shohaku, and Socho, all of whom Basho admired.
Some snow still remains as haze moves low on the slopes toward evening.
Flowing water, far away— and a plum-scented village. Wind off the river blows through a clump of willows— and spring appears.
A boat being poled along, sounding clear at break of day. Still there, somewhere: the moon off behind the mist traversing the night.
Sogi
Shohaku
Socho
Sogi
Shohaku
The first poem of the series,
the hokku, sets the tone of the poem.
Must contain 3 lines with set syllables.
Must set the scene:
season
time of day
landscape features
Do you see these three elements in the last slide’s hokku? Some snow still remains as haze moves low on the slopes toward evening.
Hokku were collected in anthologies,
severed from their original context.
Eventually poets began to write hokku
without the rest of the longer work,
and these came to be called haiku.
The term “haiku” actually wasn’t used
until the 19th century.
Bashō, in the 17th century, was writing during this transformation.
How does The Narrow Road honor
the roots of the haiku?
The poems are not part of a linked-verse sequence, but they are linked to his travels.
Sora and his poems are included to bring poetic collaboration to the work.
Haikai was popular entertainment
rather than literature; it was valued for
cleverness, puns, and humor.
Bashō infused it with deep thought
and eternal human themes, elevating
it to the level of art.
His poems . . .
“capture the universe in a
grain of sand” (Lawall
605).
employ Buddhist notion of
impermanence
explore wisdom found in
nature
Juxtapose transitory and
eternal
On a journey, ailing—
My dreams roam about
Over a withered moor.
Works Cited and Consulted
Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 7th ed. Ft. Worth: Harcourt,
1999. Print
Kohl, Stephen W. Matso Basho’s Narrow Road to the Deep North. Univ. of
Oregon. 18 May 2004. Web.
Lawall, Sarah, ed. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2nd ed. Vol.
D. New York: Norton, 2002. Print.
“Matsuo Basho.” World Literature Online. Bedford St. Martin’s. n.d. Web.
05 Dec. 2013.
Ueda, Makoto. The Master Haiku Poet Matsuo Basho. New York: Twayne,
1970. Print.
Image Credits
Slide 2: Reprinted in http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/
Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln360/SYL360.htm
Slide 4: Reprinted in http://www.haikudesigns.com/
Slide 6: http://bonya.wordpress.com/2008/11/22/haiku-green-blood/
Slide 9: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap050909.html
Slide 10: Reprinted in http://www.konishi.co.jp/html/
fujiyama/english/nagaya/img/basho.jpg
Slide 11: Reprinted in http://www.pref.shiga.jp/
profile/jinbutsu/hist-p/basho.gif