Haiku:
Definition- unrhymed Japanese poetic form that consist of 3 lines and 17 syllables: 5,7,5
Poem-
light of the moon
light of the moon
moves west – flowers’ shadows
creep eastward
Yosa Buson
In the first and third line of the haiku, the words used total up to 5 syllables and in the second line, the words used total up to 7 syllables. This is an example of a proper haiku.
About the Author– Yosa Buson was born near Osaka,Japan in the 1730’s. In the 1750’s Buson was active in Mochizuki Sooku’s poetry circle. He praticed both poetry and painting. One of his most famous works was a collaboration with another poet that is now a National Treasure; Juben jugi (1771 Ten Conveniences and Ten Pleasures). Buson vound his distincked vioce in poetry from the associations with two dissimilar poets who helped develop his sensual and spontaneous style. Buson read classical pieces and studied Chinese and Japanese poetry and paintings. His poems were rich in imaginary, lyrical, romantic with hidden stories, graceful, and longingly time-concious. Once freed from the influence of China, he created genuine Japanese landscapes. Yosa Buson died december 25, 1783.
Citation for both poem and biography- http://www.poemhunter.com
Image of Relevance–
I chose this photo for many reasons. For the first reason, it the painting consist of a moon in which is the topic of the poem. My second reason is because of the style of the painting. This is the style of ancient Chinese and Japanese drawing in which was both the origin of the haiku and the author.
mreadjohnson 