Haiku master Essay -- essays papers

Haiku master Matsuo Basho radically redefined the three-line, 17-syllable haiku poetic form from an entertaining pastime in 16th-century Japan to a major literary genre in the 17th century. An early Basho haiku provides an example of his meticulous and sensitive approach in selecting and arranging words and images to produce highly evocative allusions On a defoliated bough In the gathering autumn dusk A solitary crowHaiku emanates from the 31 syllable, five-line tanka (short poem) which was originally arranged in two parts, an opening triplet (hokku) and a couplet. The Haiku form was popularized during the Heian period (794-1185). At that time, it was customary for the educated elite of Japan to engage in writing, singing, and reciting poetry as forms of cultural entertainment. In addition, social impost of the day demanded that the aristocracy of the refined court society display both a sensitivity to nature in their poetic expression and an ability to hash out the poetic c lassics of Japanese and Chinese literature. Tanka, then, could express a wealth ...