Poetry in English: How Renku Changed Everything |
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By David Lanoue
Early in the twentieth century Ezra Pound discovered hokku: the specially constructed starting verse of renga that was already in Japan (thanks to Shiki) morphing into the one-verse art of haiku. Pound’s encounter with hokku revolutionized English-language poetry. Before he met hokku, verse in England and in English-speaking countries was more linear, more chronological, more discursive, more abstract, more verbose, and more locked inside prison of strict meter. After Pound’s encounter with Japanese hokku, English-language poetry became (on the whole) less linear, less time-bound, more evocative, more imagistic, more concise, and much freer in its meter. This presentation will show how the aesthetic assumptions and Buddhist philosophy embodied in renga made modern Anglo-American poetry possible. |