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Tag Archives: nature
THE IMPORTANCE OF HERON LEGS: GRASPING THE ESSENCE OF AN EVENT
Buson wrote a pleasant summer hokku: An evening breeze; The water laps against The heron’s legs. R. H. Blyth made a very pertinent comment on this verse, a remark precisely in keeping the principles of modern hokku: “Buson’s intuitions are … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Buson, heron, hokku, nature, objectivity, poetry, R. H. Blyth, spirituality, summer, writing
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VANISHING AMERICA: THE OGALLALA AQUIFER
Most of you have heard of John Steinbeck’s famous novel The Grapes of Wrath, an account of the terrible days of the Dust Bowl in the United States. Some of you may know that the transformation of midwestern agricultural fields … Continue reading
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Tagged conservation, Dust Bowl, Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck, nature, Ogallala, vegan, vegetarianism, water use
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THREE VIEWS OF CHERRY BLOSSOMS
There is a famous spring hokku by Bashō: A cloud of blossoms – Is the bell Ueno? Asakusa? Through a cloud of blooming cherry trees, the writer hears the sound of a distant, unseen temple bell. He wonders if it … Continue reading
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Tagged cherry blossoms, hokku, nature, senryû, spring, writing
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IS HOKKU “NATURE VERSE,” OR “SEASON VERSE,” OR “TIME VERSE”?
I have recently seen the statement made that hokku is not Nature verse — that instead, it is “time verse,” with its foundation in the four seasons. The answer to that, of course, is that hokku is all of the above; … Continue reading
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Tagged butterfly, Henry David Thoreau, hokku, nature, season verse, seasons, Shôha, time-verese, Walden Pond, William Cullen Bryant, Zeitgedichte
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ONE BLOSSOM’S WORTH: TWO “PLUM” HOKKU
The connection of plum blossoms and spring, historically, is well known. As I have written before, however, the ume no hana spoken of in old Japanese hokku — conventionally translated as “plum blossoms,” were not really plum blossoms as we … Continue reading
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Tagged Buson, nature, plum blossoms, poetry, Prunus mume, Ransetsu, spring, spring hokku, translation, writing
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THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US: HUMAN SEPARATION FROM NATURE
One of the old standards of English poetry is THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US, by the romantic poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850). The romantic movement tended to emphasize personal feelings, and often associated those feelings with Nature — mountains and … Continue reading
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Tagged analysis, Industrial Revolution, nature, poetry, Proteus, The World is Too Much With Us, Triton, William Wordsworth, writing
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MORNING LIGHT / LUMINE MATINAL
Winter: Morning light; Melting frost Drips from the trees. Hiberno: Lumine matinal; Gelo disgelante Ab le arbores gutta. How quickly time passes! Already more than half of January is gone, and in less than two weeks we shall be at … Continue reading
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Tagged Candlemas, frost, Gelo, hokku, Imbolc, January, Latino Moderne, nature, poetry, spring, writing
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AUTUMN ENDING — WINTER BEGINNING
Autumn ends; Even the crows Are silent. David
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Tagged hokku, nature, poetry, spirituality, writing, seasons, crows, late autumn, early winter
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THE NARROW PATH: A HOKKU BY BUSON
As a writer of hokku, Buson had his flaws. He was sometimes too consciously literary, at others too obviously painterly (he was, after all, an artist). That is why numbers of his verses fail to quite make it as good … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn, autumn leaves, Buson, colored leaves, fallen leaves, hokku, nature, poetry, seasons, spirituality, writing, Yosa Buson
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HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM KOBAYASHI ISSA
Issa wrote: Withered pampas grass; “Now once there was an old witch….” That verse does not come off quite the same in English, because of the term “pampas grass” that we must use for what Issa knew as susuki — … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn, Cortaderia selloana, Halloween, hokku, Issa, Miscanthus sinensis, nature, pampas grass, poetry, seasons, writing
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RAIN BEATS ON RAIN
Gyōdai wrote one of the simplest and best hokku, which in my region would be an autumn verse: Ochiba ochikasanarite ame ame wo utsu Falling-leaves fall-pile up rain rain wo beats Leaves fall And pile up; Rain beats on rain. … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn, Gyôdai, hokku, nature, poetry, R. H. Blyth, Reginald Horace Blyth, seasons, spirituality, writing
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THE SOUND OF WATER
Near and far – The sound of water, The falling leaves. (Variation on an old hokku by Bashō)
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Tagged autumn, Bashô, falling leaves, hokku, nature, poetry, spirituality, writing
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SUBTLE STATES OF MIND: THE REASON FOR HOKKU
As all regular readers here know, a hokku is a sensory event set in the context of a particular season. That is basic knowledge. But did you ever ask yourself why? What, after all, is the point of recording sensory, … Continue reading
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Tagged AUTUMN WILLOWS, Ch'an, Henry David Thoreau, hokku, nature, poetry, Ryūshi, seasons, spirituality, Transcendentalism, Wind in the Willows, writing, zen
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WHAT IS A FROG DOING IN AUTUMN?
As long-time readers here know, hokku is seasonal verse. Every verse is an event set in the context of a particular season. In old hokku (which was Japanese), this became too systematized, so that if one wrote about frogs, it … Continue reading
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Tagged frog, frogs, hokku, nature, poetry, R. H. Blyth, Reginald Horace Blyth, spring, verse, writing
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AUTUMN DREAMS, AUTUMN SNORES
A pleasant hokku for the early part of autumn is this by Suiō, in spite of its unconventional arrangement. The autumn night; Dreams and snores And grasshoppers chirring. It is evocative of the warm, drowsy, earlier part of autumn, when … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn hokku, dreams, grasshoppers, hokku, nature, poetry, snores, Suiō, writing
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AUTUMN BEGINS: INCLINING TOWARD THE TRANQUILITY OF HOKKU
In previous postings I have discussed the relationship between Zen and hokku (yes, there is one). Today I would like to talk briefly about where Zen and hokku differ. First, Zen is more inclusive than hokku. Hokku deliberately restricts its … Continue reading
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Tagged Aki chikaki, autumn, autumn hokku, Bashô, haiku, Modern Haiku, nature, poetry, R. H. Blyth, tea ceremony, teahouse, writing
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AUTUMN-WINTER IN THE HOKKU YEAR
As I have written before, in hokku we make use of two calendars: First, there is the “natural” calendar, which varies depending on where one lives. For example, in my state, autumn comes earlier in the mountains than in the lowlands. … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn calendar, Equinox, hokku, hokku year, Lammas, nature, poetry, Samhain, writing, Yule
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THE FOX BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
There is a kind of old hokku that I almost never discuss here. It belongs to the category of verses based on folk belief or myth. Even these verses have their seasonal connections. Here is one by Buson: Withered grasses; … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn, Buson, fox spirits, hokku, kitsune, nature, poetry, writing
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ENTERING AUTUMN
Here is a timely repeat of an earlier posting: Summer is ending, autumn is beginning. I have already mentioned the transitional verse by Kyoroku that leads us into the season: August; First on the ears of millet – The autumn … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn, Bashô, Buson, fall, hokku, impermanence, Issa, Kyoroku, millet, morning glories, nature, poetry, spirituality, transience, writing
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THE WHEEL OF THE YEAR: SUMMER’S END
Today there seems a great pause in the air, a quiet sense that we have come to a change: Summer’s end; Crows stalking about Silently. Every year I like to post this article again to mark that time when one … Continue reading
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Tagged hokku, Loren Eiseley, Marcel Pagnol, Natalie Babbitt, nature, poetry, seasons, summer's end, Tuck Everlasting, Wheel of the Year, writing
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BIG ANT, BIG HEAT: INTERNAL REFLECTION IN HOKKU
If one does not have an understanding of the basic principles of hokku, it is often difficult to appreciate a verse because one simply does not “get” it. This was a major factor in the rise of modern haiku in … Continue reading
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Tagged haiku, heat, hokku, internal reflection, nature, poetry, R. H. Blyth, seasons, Shirô, spirituality, summer, writing
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“GETTING” R. H. BLYTH
If you want to understand what R. H. Blyth meant by connecting Zen and hokku, it can be stated very simply. To Blyth, Zen was the elimination of the boundary between self and other, between subject and object. I have … Continue reading
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Tagged hokku, nature, poetry, R. H. Blyth, spring, writing, zen
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“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
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Tagged farewell verse, hokku, Li Bai, Masaoka Shiki, Meng Hao-ran, nature, parting verse, poetry, Shiki, spring, writing
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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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MORE ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF HOKKU — A REVIEW
A reader has asked me to clarify a few points in this list (borrowed from R. H. Blyth) of the characteristics of hokku. Though he asked about only three, perhaps it might be helpful to give some explanation of all, … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn, hokku, hokku characteristics, nature, poetry, seasons, spirituality, writing
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THE WIND OF AUTUMN
Sometimes I like to take an old hokku and modify it to make it fit an American environment: An abandoned house; The wind of autumn Over the bare floor. This is a “harmony of similarity” hokku, in which we feel … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn, autumn wind, harmony of similarity, hokku, nature, poetry, seasons, writing
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WIDENING COMMUNICATION: INTERLANGUAGES
As regular readers here know, I watch the site statistics. Because of that, I have long been concerned that many people who do not have English as their first language are obviously trying to read this site, but with varying … Continue reading
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Tagged English language, Foreign language, hokku, Interlingua, Language, Natural language, nature, poetry, Romance languages, Slavic languages, spirituality, writing
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A CAMELLIA FLOWER
A spring hokku by Bashō: In falling, It spilled its water – The camellia flower. Camellias are flowers of the cold and wet beginning of spring. As they age, they fall with a “plop.” This one, in falling, has spilled … Continue reading
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Tagged Bashô, camellia, hokku, nature, poetry, spring, transience, writing
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TO EVERY THING THERE IS A SEASON
Unlike most other kinds of verse, the hokku is linked with the season in which it is written. In fact one can say truthfully that whatever the obvious subject of a hokku, the real subject is the season in which … Continue reading
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Tagged Bashô, haikai, haiku, hokku, kidai, kigo, Masaoka Shiki, Modern Haiku, nature, Old pond, poetry, saijiki, season book, season subjects, season words, seasons, Shiki, writing
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IMBOLC: THE FIRST HINTS OF SPRING
This year Imbolc came appropriately where I am, with a day of cold air but brilliant sunlight. Imbolc in the old calendar is the beginning of spring, and so it is associated with the growing Yang energies, expressed symbolically in … Continue reading
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Tagged Calendar, Candlemas, hokku, Imbolc, J. M. Synge, nature, poetry, Prelude, spring
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THE “ESSENTIAL WORDS” TECHNIQUE IN NIGHT MOORING AT MAPLE BRIDGE
My purpose is not to discuss Chinese poetry in any academic sense. Instead, it is to show how certain characteristics of old Chinese Nature poetry may be used in writing English Nature poetry. The most significant of these tools is, … Continue reading
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Tagged Chang Chi, Chinese poetry, Cold Mountain Temple, composing poetry, crows, frost, Maple Bridge, nature, Night Mooring, poem, poetry, river, sleeplessness, Suzhou, winter poems, Zhang Ji
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MORE ON USING “CHINESE” TECHNIQUE IN ENGLISH POETRY
In looking over past statistics for this site, I noticed that one of the most frequented postings was on writing “Chinese poetry” in English. Of course what is meant by that is poetry written in English, but using the form … Continue reading
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Tagged Arthur Waley, autumn, Chinese poetry, nature, Poems, spirituality, T'ao Ch'ien, Tao Qian, winter, writing
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THE LAST OF HOKKU HERE?
I have long made no secret of the fact that in my view, the hokku tradition of Japan was greatly distorted when it was introduced to the West as “haiku.” Instead of paying attention to R. H. Blyth, Westerners instead … Continue reading
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Tagged falling snow, haikai, hokku, Katsuri, nature, Poems, poetry, verse, winter, zen
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THERE IS HOKKU AND THERE IS HOKKU
From time to time I like to explain, so there will be no confusion, just what it is that I teach as hokku. It is not precisely the same as old Japanese hokku. Most people would, in fact, feel old … Continue reading
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Tagged haikai, haiku, hokku, nature, poetry, seasons, spirituality, writing, zen
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