Haiku master Essay -- essays papers

Haiku schoolmaster 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 archaean Basho haiku provides an example of his meticulous and sensitive approach in selecting and arranging run-in and images to produce highly evocative allusions On a leafless 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, well-disposed customs of the day demanded that the aristocracy of the refined court society let on both a sensitivity to nature in their poetic recipe and an ability to discuss the poetic classics of Japanese and Chinese literature. Tanka, then, could express a wealth ...