Introduction
Throughout the semester, I have been particularly drawn to poetry related to love and loss. I feel as though those poems often impact people. most. They relate to feelings we have all experienced or can empathize with. The poems are arranged as a story. It begins with the excitement of a new found passion, and progresses from that moment. There are a lot of nature motifs and symbolism within these poems. They illustrate the tradition of those themes within Japanese poetry, and the greater beauty of life.
Ariwara no Narihira Poetry
“How very foolish!
Shall I Spend all of today
lost in pensive thought,
my heart bewitched by someone
neither seen nor yet unseen?” (P 78)
In this poem, the speaker becomes enthralled with a woman they only just saw. They barely even see her when they begin to fall in love. It is an entirely superficial crush that still compels them to fill their days with the thought of her. This poem displays the joy of a crush. There is no sense of sadness or anger. It is simply the beginning of a new love. The usage of the word “bewitched” is so interesting. It displays this complete and utter infatuation for someone that can not completely be controlled. It is as if the speaker is under a spell at this moment. The glimpse they caught of this potential love had such a strong impact on them, that their only option is to continue to think of her.
Ono no Komachi
“Though I go to you
ceaselessly along dream paths, the sum of those trysts
is less than a single glimpse granted in the waking world.” (P 86)
This poem is the start of a relationship. It presents the yearning that the speaker feels for this person. It is something that consumes her whole dream, and yet the person can barely glance at them in the real world. There is so little said, yet a whole world can be built from that poem. The sense of longing that the poem portrays indicates that these feelings are yet to be reciprocated. The speaker can only hope that their dreams will become a reality. They have but one connection to their love, and it is incorporeal. The bridge of dreams is a common motif within Japanese poetry, but the presentation of that idea is different within this poem. The speaker is going to this person in their dreams, they are not mutually meeting. This is an impactful connection for the speaker, but does not hold the same weight for the other person.
Salad Anniversary
“All those snapshots
I am taking seriously at Kujukuri Beach…
there is a good chance I will
throw all of them away” (P 14).
The contemporary nature of the Salad Anniversary collection combined with the poetic tradition of Tanka creates a poem that is seamlessly simple and yet full of emotion. The speaker is presented with the foresight that the photos she is taking earnestly will most likely not matter to her in the future. She writes about the mujo of this moment, and the potential loss within her life. She is unsure if this day at the beach has any greater significance within her life, but that does not stop her from living. She is not deterred by the potential for these points in her life to lose their meaning, because if they mean something to her now, they are important. She writes so elegantly about emotion in everyday situations that every person should be able to relate to her poems.
Izumi Shikibu
“It makes sense, of course- for why should not the stag
be calling so,
when one thinks that this night
may be the last of its life?” (P 122)
Although this poem does not seem directly related to love, it is an amazing representation of the viewing of loss. The speaker is mourning the deer because he believes that it is his last night on Earth. There is no way for the speaker to tell if that is the reality of the stag’s situation, and yet they empathize with him nonetheless. The somber tone shows the humanity of animals and their own interpretation of love and loss. The stag is longing for connection in his final moments, and even though he does not realize it, he has found it within the speaker. The speaker understands the deer on a level that shows her affinity for love. They are alone within the world, much like the stag. The writing of this poem seems to be a similar call for connection in life.
Kokinshu Love Book Five
“cutting us apart
now like the trailing ivy-
can he mean to part
sending me not even a
whisper on the blowing wind” (P 268)
Ivy is traditionally considered an invasive species. It grows and takes over nature until there's nothing left. The two lovers being portrayed as ivy indicates that they were perhaps destructive towards each other. It shows that even when they try to part, they will eventually come back together, intertwined throughout their lives. This speaker is presenting the love they felt for another person being swiftly and forcefully cut off. It was a love that was never meant to last and yet it had such an impact on this person. The speaker is left wondering if the person who broke their relationship off without a single word did so intentionally. The act of leaving them in the dark without a word of acknowledgement from their former lover clearly causes the speaker immense pain.
Gossamer Journal
“Why must showers fall,
adding their moisture to a robe
turned inside out
and drenched with the tears of one
whose heart is heavy with grief?” (P 107)
The motif of rain mixing with a person's tears on a robe has been seen throughout time. It symbolizes the larger grief of a person and the world’s response to those strong feelings. The speaker is already crying and with the addition of the rain, no longer is his sleeve the only damp part of their outfit. The rain is this weight they are wearing, it is a physical manifestation of the grieve inside their heart. This person is disheveled. Their robe is inside out, representing the outward portrayal of their feelings, and their exposure to the elements indicates that they are alone in this life.
Yosa Buson
“Ah, it cuts deep-
to step on my dead wife's comb,
here where we slept.” (P 396)
This poem is very emotional. Although it describes the very mundane act of a man stepping on his dead wife’s comb, it is so much more than that. The way that Yosa Buson presents the situation illustrates the sense of loss this man feels. The speaker is at home, in the space that he and his wife used to share, and even though she is gone her presence is still around. The act of brushing one’s hair is often seen as ritualistic. It is intentional that a comb is used as the item that the widow steps on. Combs are extremely personal because they help to purify one's spirit through the brushing of their hair. As he steps on the comb, he is physically reminded that she is still with him. Her spirit continues to occupy the physical and his mental space.
Ki no Tsurayuki
“Even their reflections
in the stream depths are scattered
by the blowing wind:
kerria flowers on the bank
of the Yoshino river.” (P 104)
The poem presents the fragility of flower petals and their ability to interrupt life. The scattering of the petals across the surface of the water presents the unpredictability and ever changing nature of life. It represents the subtle ways in which life moves, and how even without human interaction the world moves forward. The water within the steam is constantly shifting, it continues to flow even when it is interrupted by the petals. They are only temporarily on the surface of the water. Eventually those petals will deteriorate with the movement of the river. The cycle of the ecosystem is that eventually nature will balance itself, and this poem showcases the stability of nature.
Conclusion
The anthology that I have compiled is an illustration of a relationship. It showcases the process of being spun into a relationship and then having to eventually deal with the deterioration. The ending is simply the broader and continually moving nature of life. The relationship was important and held a lot of weight for the person, but eventually it will fade into the rest of time. The large feelings become nothing but another blip within the world.
I really enjoyed reanalyzing these poems and putting them into a large story. It allowed me to see various ways in which these poems could be interpreted and organized. The feelings within the relationship and being able to see its coming end were something that I wanted to be sure to include within my collection. My organization is a little unconventional, but overall I believe that the narrative between the poems comes together nicely and allows the poems to be viewed in a different context.
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