This haiku is beautiful in both its simplicity and depth.
The image of the dove in "Songs" is perhaps one of my favorites in all the Bible. It's use here is a reminder of just how important a part allusion played as a poetic device in both traditional Japanese waka and haikai literature. What is impressive here is how the allusion avoids "clobbering" the reader over the head and robbing the poem of its power by foisting itself front and center - always a challenge, especially in short-form poetry.
Have been in Ohio with family for the past 10 days. I see I have some catching-up to do here.
Brian, thanks for the kind comments. Allusion in contemporary haiku is tricky because there is now no shared body of literary work that the poet can assume the reader knows. Nevertheless, I think it can have a place, even in today's fragmented literary world.
2 comments:
This haiku is beautiful in both its simplicity and depth.
The image of the dove in "Songs" is perhaps one of my favorites in all the Bible. It's use here is a reminder of just how important a part allusion played as a poetic device in both traditional Japanese waka and haikai literature. What is impressive here is how the allusion avoids "clobbering" the reader over the head and robbing the poem of its power by foisting itself front and center - always a challenge, especially in short-form poetry.
Have been in Ohio with family for the past 10 days. I see I have some catching-up to do here.
Brian
Brian, thanks for the kind comments. Allusion in contemporary haiku is tricky because there is now no shared body of literary work that the poet can assume the reader knows. Nevertheless, I think it can have a place, even in today's fragmented literary world.
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