Morals:
Muddy Road: Don't think twice about helping someone.
A Parable: This can be interpreted two ways; don't be a sore loser and enjoy life while you have it.
Publishing the Sutras: Actions speak louder then words. Showing compassion towards others provides a better example compared to just writing about how to show compassion.
The Thief Who Became a Disciple: "the best way to destroy an enemy is to make them a friend" -Benjamin Franklin (My favorite quote... I've lived it)
The Taste of Banzo's Sword: Patience brings the greatest rewards.
My Parable:
There once was two farmers. One of the farmers was the best in the county. He carefully and lovingly tended to all of crops and livestock, and this caused the biggest fruits and vegetables in the county (guess who would always receive blue ribbons...). Not only did he know how to farm well, but a was a good neighbor too. He loved his family and friends and would give almost anything to help them. he would often be heard saying things like, "Hey, is your tractor broken? Why don't you borrow mine, I could use the exercise" or, "If your crop didn't turn out too well, feel free to come over to my house. We'll cook you up some dinner and send you back home with the leftovers". He was a mighty fine man and well loved by just 'bout everybody.
Well... almost everybody. There was another farmer down the road and he was one of the meanest and nastiest people you could ever meet. All his crops were so shriveled, you wouldn't even dare touch one out of fear the poor dying thing would crumble to dust. His livestock didn't fare any better. The cows were so shriveled that about the only thing you could get out of them was leather, and that'd be a merciful thing to do, just puttin' them out of their misery. He had been married n' divorced 3 times, the last one lasting about 4 hours, tops. He had 13 kids (oh what an unlucky number) and the ones who could legally drink were almost always drunk, and the ones who were too young were secretly sneaking large shots of vodka, and because it was a secret, the whole community knew about it. The only way this bad farmer would make money was tricking everyone else into thinking that they were in debt to him and still needed to pay it off. We caught on pretty soon and decided to stop inviting him to things we do as a community, but he'd just invite himself over anyway and ruin for just about everybody but himself. Nobody liked having him around.
Eventually, karma caught up to this wicked farmer and smacked him in the back of the head so hard, he went about doing enough bounces and flips to win the gold medal in gymnastics at the Olympics. It turns out he had been ignoring his taxes for too long, so they seized everything that he had. They took his house, land, and everything in them and sold them off to the highest bidder, casting him out onto the street. Even worse, they took all his children and brought them to various orphanages around the state. This was a devastating enough loss that it could even bring a cold hearted man such as him self to tears. He eventually collapsed into a soggy pile of a defeated man on the side of the road.
Now, around this time, the good neighbor was walking past, and he saw this man pathetically lying on the ground. Now, it would've taken absolutely no effort to just keep on walking past and let that men get what was coming, but this good neighbor stopped, laid a calm hand on his shoulder and asked what was wrong. The bad neighbor was reluctant at first; thinking that this man was only here to humiliate him, but eventually figured that it couldn't hurt more that it already did. Much to his surprise, the good neighbor was actually interested in helping him. He offered the bad neighbor food and housing as long the bad neighbor would help him out if the fields. The bad neighbor enthusiastically took up the offer surprised that anyone would be willing to do something nice for him.
As the bad neighbor began to live with the good neighbor, he eventually realized exactly how hard it often is to do the right thing instead of taking the easy way out and turning your head to the side. As time went on, the bad neighbor slowly became a good neighbor, becoming generous to all those around him, raising all things with a good healthy pinch of TLC, and became a better person in general. He eventually was able to save up enough money from working for the good neighbor that he was able to buy his land back, and was was just as generous, if not occasionally more with the resources at his disposal than the good neighbor. It just goes to show you that a small act of kindness can go a long way.
Monday, April 27, 2009
LRJ #2 (Haiku and Senryu)
In each of the haikus that were studied, nature plays a significant role. In the Basho poem "On a Withered Branch", Basho uses nature to provide an image, "autumn nightfall" (Trans. Harold G. Henderson. Pg. 576). He uses this as symbolism, Autumn representing the season where everything starts to fade away, very much like the symbol of death, the crow, as mentioned earlier in the poem. The nightfall can also represent a coming of darkness, rest, and te end of a day or a life.
Nature: Onitsura
In the Onitsura poem, he uses allusions to nature to say that if something is truly beautiful, everything will find a way to praise it, "Even stones... compose songs to wild cherries" (Trans. Peter Beilenson, Harry Behn. "Even Stones in Streams", pg 576) Here, he is saying that if something is as beautiful as a cherry blossom, that even the most intimate, everyday object will go out of it's way in order praise the beautiful thing.
Nature: Buson
Buson is using nature in order to compare the beauty of a pear blossom to this woman that he sees, "Blossoms on the pear: and a woman in the moonlight" (Trans. Harold G. Henderson. "Blossoms on the Pear". Pg. 576) Buson is just saying that the only thing as or more beautiful that the blossoms of the pear tree that he sees is the woman reading a letter underneath it.
Nature: Issa
Issa is using nature to tell what has happened to his home, "A morning-glory vine... has thatched this hut of mine" (Trans. Harold G. Henderson. "A Morning-Glory Vine", Pg. 576). Here, he is saying that something beautiful has happened to his home, a blooming vine of Morning Glories have woven themselves into his roof.
Comparison:
There's obvious differences between Senryu and Haiku poems. For starters, Haiku poems have a much more serious tone then Senryu poems. Haikus talk all about nature, "Even Stones in Streams" by Onitsura talks about nature while Senryu talks about less complicated stuff, like the child asking the grandmother to take out her dentures in "Do Take your Teeth Out" by Shunu. Senryu also tend to be a little ironically sorrowful, like in After he's Scolded". This one points out that you need to be more kind to your wife, otherwise, you may end up regretting it later.
Haiku:
Time slowly goes by
all work gets done piece by peice
past day's last breath
Senryu:
Those who stay up late
next day, fall asleep in class
then, stay up later
Nature: Onitsura
In the Onitsura poem, he uses allusions to nature to say that if something is truly beautiful, everything will find a way to praise it, "Even stones... compose songs to wild cherries" (Trans. Peter Beilenson, Harry Behn. "Even Stones in Streams", pg 576) Here, he is saying that if something is as beautiful as a cherry blossom, that even the most intimate, everyday object will go out of it's way in order praise the beautiful thing.
Nature: Buson
Buson is using nature in order to compare the beauty of a pear blossom to this woman that he sees, "Blossoms on the pear: and a woman in the moonlight" (Trans. Harold G. Henderson. "Blossoms on the Pear". Pg. 576) Buson is just saying that the only thing as or more beautiful that the blossoms of the pear tree that he sees is the woman reading a letter underneath it.
Nature: Issa
Issa is using nature to tell what has happened to his home, "A morning-glory vine... has thatched this hut of mine" (Trans. Harold G. Henderson. "A Morning-Glory Vine", Pg. 576). Here, he is saying that something beautiful has happened to his home, a blooming vine of Morning Glories have woven themselves into his roof.
Comparison:
There's obvious differences between Senryu and Haiku poems. For starters, Haiku poems have a much more serious tone then Senryu poems. Haikus talk all about nature, "Even Stones in Streams" by Onitsura talks about nature while Senryu talks about less complicated stuff, like the child asking the grandmother to take out her dentures in "Do Take your Teeth Out" by Shunu. Senryu also tend to be a little ironically sorrowful, like in After he's Scolded". This one points out that you need to be more kind to your wife, otherwise, you may end up regretting it later.
Haiku:
Time slowly goes by
all work gets done piece by peice
past day's last breath
Senryu:
Those who stay up late
next day, fall asleep in class
then, stay up later
LRJ #1 (Tanka Poems)
"I Waited and I"-
In this poem, the assonance is found in the second line of the poem, "yearned for you" (Nukada, trans. Geoffrey Bownas, Anthony Thwaite. "I Waited and I", line 2). This assonance is used to direct the lonely feelings of this poem towards the person whom the author is waiting for. It also strengthens the feelings of loneliness by including the word "yearning" which implies that the person whom is talking is wanting to be with someone, but is still being denied that privilege.
The theme of this poem is Loneliness. This is seen through how the narrator is yearning (as included in the previously mentioned quote) for the person whom she is writing this Tanka for is unable to be with her.
"The End of My Journey"-
The theme of this poem is Daydreaming. This is seen through what the use of assonance at the end helps to highlight, "my mind floating" (Mitsune, trans. Geoffrey Bownas, Anthony Thwaite. "The End of My Journey", line 5). The use of assonance here helps to highlight the fact that the traveller is just taking a break under the shade of a tree but is still letting his mind wander. This helps to show that daydreaming is the theme because it is emphasized with the assonance, so it's what the author wants to reader to pay the most attention to.
"Now, I Cannot Tell"-
The assonance in this poem shows up in the second and third lines, "What my old friend is thinking: /but the petals of the plum" (Tsurayuki, trans. Geoffrey Bownas, Anthony Thwaite. "Now, I Cannot Tell", lines 2-3). Here, the assonance is used to point out the two things that he is making a comparison of, his friend and flowers.
The theme of this poem is change (or lack-there-of). This is seen how the author is describing how his friend changes and has or now become unpredictable, especially when compared to the scent of plum blossoms which are always the same and appear at the same time each year and such, "keep their old fragrance" (Tsurayuki, trans. Geoffrey Bownas, Anthony Thwaite. "Now, I Cannot Tell", line 5). here, he is saying that he smell of plum blossoms is unchanging.
"How Helpless my Heart"-
The assonance here is used to highlight the references to nature, "Were the stream to tempt, my body, like a reed" (Komachi, trans. Geoffrey Bownas, Anthony Thwaite. "How Helpless my Heart", lines 2-3). Here, the assonance is used to emphasize the words stream and reed and is just used to emphasize the illusion made from nature that the author uses.
The theme of this poem is a lack of self control. This is seen how the very first lines exclaims a helplessness of the heart and the rest of the poem goes on to describing a reed floating along in a stream, "were the streams to tempt, my body... would drift along" (Komachi, trans. Geoffrey Bownas, Anthony Thwaite. "How Helpless my Heart", lines 2-3, 5). Here, he is describing his inability to control his body to the different kinds of temptation.
"Every Single Thing"-
The assonance in this poem is used to mostly in the beginning. It's used to emphasize that nothing escapes change, "Every single thing changes and is changing" (Saigyo, trans. Geoffrey Bownas, Anthony Thwaite. "Every Single Thing", lines 1-2). once again, it emphasizes that everything is always changing and will always change.
This poem's theme is change, or lack thereof. This is made obvious when in the beginning of the the poem, the author states that everything changes, no exceptions. It also says that there are some aspects of other things that never change, "Yet with the same light the moon goes on shining" (Saigyo, trans. Geoffrey Bownas, Anthony Thwaite. "Every Single Thing", lines 4-5). Here, Saigyo is using the image of a shining moon having the ability to resist change.
In this poem, the assonance is found in the second line of the poem, "yearned for you" (Nukada, trans. Geoffrey Bownas, Anthony Thwaite. "I Waited and I", line 2). This assonance is used to direct the lonely feelings of this poem towards the person whom the author is waiting for. It also strengthens the feelings of loneliness by including the word "yearning" which implies that the person whom is talking is wanting to be with someone, but is still being denied that privilege.
The theme of this poem is Loneliness. This is seen through how the narrator is yearning (as included in the previously mentioned quote) for the person whom she is writing this Tanka for is unable to be with her.
"The End of My Journey"-
The theme of this poem is Daydreaming. This is seen through what the use of assonance at the end helps to highlight, "my mind floating" (Mitsune, trans. Geoffrey Bownas, Anthony Thwaite. "The End of My Journey", line 5). The use of assonance here helps to highlight the fact that the traveller is just taking a break under the shade of a tree but is still letting his mind wander. This helps to show that daydreaming is the theme because it is emphasized with the assonance, so it's what the author wants to reader to pay the most attention to.
"Now, I Cannot Tell"-
The assonance in this poem shows up in the second and third lines, "What my old friend is thinking: /but the petals of the plum" (Tsurayuki, trans. Geoffrey Bownas, Anthony Thwaite. "Now, I Cannot Tell", lines 2-3). Here, the assonance is used to point out the two things that he is making a comparison of, his friend and flowers.
The theme of this poem is change (or lack-there-of). This is seen how the author is describing how his friend changes and has or now become unpredictable, especially when compared to the scent of plum blossoms which are always the same and appear at the same time each year and such, "keep their old fragrance" (Tsurayuki, trans. Geoffrey Bownas, Anthony Thwaite. "Now, I Cannot Tell", line 5). here, he is saying that he smell of plum blossoms is unchanging.
"How Helpless my Heart"-
The assonance here is used to highlight the references to nature, "Were the stream to tempt, my body, like a reed" (Komachi, trans. Geoffrey Bownas, Anthony Thwaite. "How Helpless my Heart", lines 2-3). Here, the assonance is used to emphasize the words stream and reed and is just used to emphasize the illusion made from nature that the author uses.
The theme of this poem is a lack of self control. This is seen how the very first lines exclaims a helplessness of the heart and the rest of the poem goes on to describing a reed floating along in a stream, "were the streams to tempt, my body... would drift along" (Komachi, trans. Geoffrey Bownas, Anthony Thwaite. "How Helpless my Heart", lines 2-3, 5). Here, he is describing his inability to control his body to the different kinds of temptation.
"Every Single Thing"-
The assonance in this poem is used to mostly in the beginning. It's used to emphasize that nothing escapes change, "Every single thing changes and is changing" (Saigyo, trans. Geoffrey Bownas, Anthony Thwaite. "Every Single Thing", lines 1-2). once again, it emphasizes that everything is always changing and will always change.
This poem's theme is change, or lack thereof. This is made obvious when in the beginning of the the poem, the author states that everything changes, no exceptions. It also says that there are some aspects of other things that never change, "Yet with the same light the moon goes on shining" (Saigyo, trans. Geoffrey Bownas, Anthony Thwaite. "Every Single Thing", lines 4-5). Here, Saigyo is using the image of a shining moon having the ability to resist change.
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