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Japanese Poetry II

Ever since Descartes theorized the possibility of a radical break between objective reality and subjective reality, outside and inside, we tend to make an all-too-clear distinction between a discourse that is "objective" and one that is "subjective." Pre-cartesian philosophy and art did not problematize such a break between inside and outside, subject and object, but they did not always presuppose a harmony between the two. Aristotle seems to see a harmony between outside objects (actual form), the sense organs, and rational thought (potential form). However, Plato does not see a harmony between outside and inside, since truth and reality can be found only inside, through memory and rational thought. The outside is a poor imitation of the ideal forms found inside.

Is it true, as some have asserted, that oriental art, like pre-cartesian Western art, does not make a radical break between subject and object, inside and outside? We have seen that Tsurayuki presupposed a harmony between inner emotion and outer natural or cultural objects. For him, there was no bridge to gap between outer and inner. He thus had no reason to be concerned, as were the 19th romantic poets, with bridging the Cartesian gap between subject and object (which the Romantics tried to realize in nature). Rather, Tsurayuki was primarily concerned with the relation between inner emotion and the form of the poem.

In Tsurayuki, the objects of poetry are so strongly defined by social convention that his poems, unlike Western Romantic poems, do not tend to create the illusion of portraying a real, existing object. This is because the objects and events that inspire Tanka poetry are clearly specified by cultural convention – such as things and events associated with the cycle of the seasons, the emperor, love, death, etc. Since all readers already know these objects, the Tanka poet need not describe them in detail. He need not try to make them visible to the reader, the way Zola’s narrator tries to make readers see Paris.

Nor do Tsurayuki’s poems seem to express real individual people, since, for him, all people react with the same conventionally-defined emotions when they encounter the same, conventionally-defined poetic things and events: "On hearing a warbler chirp in plum blossoms or a kajika frog sing on the water, what living thing is not moved to sing out a poem?" Since the emotion expressed by the poem is common to all people, to all subjects, the poet need not express this emotion with detailed metaphor the way subjective Western artists like Delacroix or Modigiliani try to make viewers see the world through their unique eyes. The Tanka poet need only suggest the appropriate emotion with a few, tasteful words, such as adverbs or adjectives, and the reader will recognize it.

There is thus a subject and an object of the Tanka poet’s gaze or hearing, but the poem does not try to communicate either to the reader, since the reader already knows them through social convention. This role of social definition in constituting the poetic subject (emotion) and the poetic object (thing or event) explains why anyone may write a good poem, why all in high society were poets, and why the writing of poetry served a social (ritual) function.

In Western literature, the subject and the object of the gaze are also defined by social conventions, the social conventions of discourse. But Western literature has periodically experienced the need to hide the fact that its representations are purely conventional and to create either the realist illusion of actually seeing the outer world as it is or the expressionist illusion of seeing the world through the inner eyes of a unique artist. Realist literature has sometimes tried to hide the fact that its representations are mediated, whereas traditional Japanese poetry does not try to hide that its representations are mediated.

In the seventeenth century (Descartes's century), the Japanese poet, Basho, wrote haiku, a verse form of three lines and seventeen syllables. His school of poetry developed what is now called the "classical" notion of haiku, which tended to prevail in the following centuries.

In answering the following questions, keep asking your self whether Basho’s description of haiku, like Tsurayuki’s description of Tanka, presupposes a harmony between outside (object) and inside (subject) and whether it constitutes subject and object in highly conventionalized and ritualized terms.

1. 120-21 a. For Basho, what is poetic spirit? b. What relation does he see between spiritual attainment (as inner subject) and everyday life (as outer object)?

Commentary. For Basho, the two sets of values that make up the (inner) poetic spirit (and thus the subject of the gaze) are: 1) sabi, shiori, slenderness, and inspiration on the one hand; 2) plainness and lightness on the other. These values are "impersonal" rather than personal or emotional.

2. 122-24 a. Explain how the poems cited exhibit the value of sabi (the inner state of being alone), not as a personal emotion but as an impersonal mood or atmosphere. b. How does the poem exhibiting sabi alleviate the sorrow of life?

3. 131-32 a. What possible split does Doho see between subject and object? b. How does inspired impersonal poetry prevent that split? c. Why does inspired poetry not involve the effort to make the reader see the object as in Zola’s detailed description of Paris in a lightening flash?

4. 137-43 a. Explain how, for Basho, the haiku implied, not only a return to nature, but, unlike many traditional forms of Japanese poetry, a turn away from nature and back towards everyday social life. b. In particular explain how the quality of lightness is or is not exhibited by the poems on 139-40. c. What social and ritual function do the poems perform?