289 
Japanese Poetry

Ueda, Makoto. Literary and Art Theories in Japan. "Tsurayuki on the Art of Lyric Poetry: Poetry as Emotional Expression."

1. 3-8
a. Summarize Tsurayuki's theory of poetry. Make explicit: 1) the role that the inner emotional world plays in the writing of poetry; 2) the role that sensations of the outer world play in the writing of poetry.

b. According to Tsurayuki, how do the poems on pp. 5-6 succeed or fail to be genuine poems?

2. 7-9, 19-20, 24
a. How do the poems on pp. 5-6 resemble Wordsworth’s romantic poem, "Elegiac Stanzas" (see also p. 19)?

b. How do the poems’ treatment of exterior objects, particularly of the relation between reality and fiction, differ from the romantic treatment of nature?

c. What relation does Tsurayuki see between present poetry and past poetry?

3. 10-14 By referring to the poems on these pages, explain why they are not "balanced" "impressional form" according to Tsurayuki.

4. 16
a. What false relation does does Tsurayuki’s theory of poetry assume to exist between the poet and the poem? What seems to matter most to Japanese poets, inner emotion (the subject)? Sensations of outer reality (the object)? Or poetic form? Illustrate your answer.

b. 20-24 for Tsurayuki, what are the individual and social functions of poetry?