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Monthly Archives: March 2012
TAO YUAN-MING’S SPRING
R. H. Blyth called this work by Tao Qian (Tao Yuan-ming, c. 365-427) and translated by Arthur Waley “the best translation… of the best poem in the world.” Swiftly the years, beyond recall, Solemn the stillness of this fair morning. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Arthur Waley, Chinese poetry, poetry, R. H. Blyth, spring, Tao Qian, Tao Yuan-ming, writing
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THE BASICS OF HOKKU AESTHETICS
In a previous posting, you will recall, I said that one may have a verse in the outward form of a hokku, with everything in it correct, and still not have a hokku. That is because to be a real … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged change, hokku, hokku aesthetics, naturalness, poetry, poverty, simplicity, time, transience, writing
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THE SPRING HOKKU CALENDAR
Because the practice of hokku is so intimately connected with the seasons, I like to regularly remind readers where we are in the “old” hokku calendar in its traditional Western version, the Wheel of the Year, which very closely approximates … Continue reading
“PARTING” HOKKU AND THE LONG POETIC TRADITION
It used to be common — and still is, to some extent — for people in the modern haiku movement to see Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) as a “rebel” of the end of the 19th century. But actually, Shiki was in … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged farewell verse, hokku, Li Bai, Masaoka Shiki, Meng Hao-ran, nature, parting verse, poetry, Shiki, spring, writing
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A BASIC REVIEW OF THE HOKKU FORM IN ENGLISH
An English-language hokku is a verse of three lines, the middle line often — but not always — visually longer than the others. Chiy0-ni wrote a very effective spring hokku: Ebb tide; Everything picked up Is moving. Notice that: … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged beach, Chiyo-ni, ebb tide, essential words, hokku, hokku basics, hokku form, hokku punctuation, spring, writing
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SPARROWS, VERANDAS, AND TWO QUITE DIFFERENT VIEWS
I recently mentioned some criticisms of R. H. Blyth that appear on a site called “Simply Haiku.” One can dismiss them (as I did — with quotes from Blyth to refute those I quoted) as simply wholesale misrepresentation and misunderstanding. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged haiku, hokku, Masaoka Shiki, R. H. Blyth, Reginald Horace Blyth, Richard Gilbert, Robert D. Wilson, Simply Haiku, sparrows, spring, zen
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THE VALIDITY OF HOKKU
Yesterday I discussed a kind of “fundamentalism” one finds among those who talk about hokku and haiku, and I wrote, essentially, that it does not matter to me (except historically) what any of the old hokku writers had to say … Continue reading
AVOIDING HOKKU AND HAIKU AS “RELIGIOUS” FUNDAMENTALISM
Every now and then, I like to clarify my approach to the hokku — that is, to teaching the writing of new hokku — for readers who may be novices here. As many of you know, I have been teaching … Continue reading
Posted in Bashô, Uncategorized
Tagged Bashô, Buson, haiku, hokku, Issa, Japanese haiku, Japanese hokku, Japanese poetry, Modern Haiku, nature, poetry, Reginald Horace Blyth, writing, writing hokku
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STAR CHILDREN
Consider the words of cosmologist Lawrence M. Krauss in his fascinating book A Universe from Nothing (Free Press, 2012): “One of the most poetic facts I know about the universe is that essentially every atom in your body was once inside … Continue reading
DROPPING CAMELLIAS AND “EXPLANDED” TRANSLATIONS
I wrote yesterday of R. H. Blyth and his method of translating hokku. He wrote six volumes of such translations, nearly all of which had to do with hokku, though he used the terminology of the Japan of his day … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged camellias, Dansui, hazy moon, hokku, Modern Haiku, poetry, R. H. Blyth, spring, translation, writing
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HYAKUCHI: VANISHING COWS AND A SNEEZE
I have written before about the telegraphic brevity of old hokku, which often comes as a surprise to those who are accustomed to seeing it in English translations or to seeing modern English-language hokku. Here, for example, is R. H. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged hokku, Hyakuchi, poetic intuition, poetry, R. H. Blyth, spring, writing
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WILD CHERRIES, WATER WHEELS, AND (shudder!) WIKIPEDIA
It is unfortunate that when Reginald H. Blyth wrote his series of volumes extolling and explaining what were, for the most part, verses of hokku, he made the mistake of using the revisionist term then popular in the Japan of … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged cherry blossoms, Chigetsu, haiku, hokku, hokku haiku differences, poetry, spring, writing
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HARMONY OF CONTRAST: PLUM BLOSSOMS AND CHARCOAL DUST
Plum blossoms; They scatter on an empty sack Of charcoal. That is a rewriting of a hokku by Yayū. It is of course a spring hokku. There are, as I have … Continue reading
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Tagged charcoal, harmony of contrast, hokku, plum blossoms, poetry, poverty, simplicity, spring, transience, writing
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LINGERING COLD: BUSON’S PLUM BLOSSOMS
Buson wrote: In nooks and corners The cold lingers; Plum blossoms This hokku shows us the change from the extreme yin of winter to the growing yang of spring. Even though the plum trees are blooming, in the shadows and … Continue reading
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