(Please read the next line in your best Julia voice)
"Bake your souffle at 200 degrees fahrenheit."
Why is Julia Child laughing at you? Because your souffle is going to flop. And so will your haiku if it is seventeen English syllables long. Julia knew what her American audience needed in order to make French cuisine. They needed a Master of Interpretation, and that is what Julia was. If you're French, bake your souffle at 200 degrees celsius. Americans, set your ovens to 375 degrees fahrenheit. The same goes for poetry. What works in Japanese, does not work in English. Seventeen English syllables is much too long for the airy, one-breath feel of seventeen Japanese syllables. So what are we to do? We imitate only to create feel and flavor, but never purely to preserve form. Why? We don't want to end up eating something entirely different from what we were meant to enjoy. So, when reading haiku, look for the one-breath feel; don't count syllables.
2. Understand the Cut: Juxtaposition
Every Japanese haiku includes a kireji, a cutting word. The point of the kireji is to break the haiku into two parts. It's the challenge of haiku. Haiku links two contrasting ideas together with subtly and grace. Kireji has no equivalent in the English language. The best we can do is to put a long dash or a colon for our kiru (cut). The important thing to remember is the flavor, the point of the kiru.
3. Look for References to Buddhism
Don't get obsessive, but a little background knowledge is helpful. Look for ideas of enlightenment, suffering, and the transient nature of all living things. Remember too that just because you may not be a Buddhist doesn't mean that you can't find beauty and truth in it's philosophy.
4. Look for the Kigo: The Seasons
Every haiku has a kigo, a seasonal reference. Some are very subtle and others much more obvious. The Japanese have exhaustive books listing these references. When reading haiku, find the season. It's part of the richness of haiku, and it's part of understanding nature and enjoying to mystical power of the changing seasons and their themes.
"Harusame 'spring rain' is the rain of the first and second month, haru no ame, 'rain of spring' is the rain of the second and third months--is bond to be lost on most readers in English, as it is lost on most modern urban Japanese. The full weight of these terms is simply not translatable. But the experience of time, of being-in-time, that they evoke, since it's the fundamental human experience, should be there for anyone who reads the poems carefully."
-The Essential Haiku by Robert Hass
Yesterday's post: Introducing Haiku
Tomorrow: The Haiku of Basho.
For Emma Lang (and my children)
and all other Lovers of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
and all other Lovers of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
"Oh Sokka, give up the confines of the seventeen syllables and
look deep within yourself for the true meaning of haiku!"
Oh, Lisa! You continue to treat me with your writing. Thank you for this post. I enjoyed every single bit of it. Your explanation of Haiku is welcomed. The likening of the form to Julia Child is perfect. (Gosh, I love her!) And, your mention of The Last Airbender, adorable. Brandyn is huge fan. I balked at it every time I would come into the livingroom to find it on. Mike insisted that I give it a chance, affirming that it's actually quite good. By golly, it was!! Who knew?!
ReplyDeleteWhat amuses me is that, the night before last, I watched my first ever episode of The Odd Couple, which came on after my beloved Dick VanDyke Show. Felix and Oscar had gotten themselves into some kind of trouble and had a surprise visit from a Buddhist monk, which they took as a 'sign'. Felix decided to join a monastery and jumped in head first, proclaiming moments of enlightenment as he spent the entire day observing his hand. As I read your latest posts on Haiku, I could not help but be brought back to that silly show from the 60's, and the fun that they made of Felix's eagerness to capture the beauty of his surroundings, which modern society assumes is a new idea.