Compare and contrast two poems from The Manyoshu

  Poems in the process of conveying emotions, also tell us something about a particular culture, and the poems in The Manyoshu are no exception. In order to develop a greater appreciation of the Golden Age of Japanese Culture, for this assignment, compare and contrast two poems from The Manyoshu that are below. (From the 7 poems choose 2 for this essay) Please backup your details with quotes from the poems you choose to compare and contrast which proof your idea… Make sure that there must be a basis four your comparison, so be certain that your two poems have something in common. Then consider your purpose for writing to pointing out the similarities and difference between the poems, you must have a point you wish to make. There are three possible purpose for a comparisons-contrast: 1) To illustrate the unknown in terms of known 2) To drive a general principle 3) To illustrate a general principle Your thinking process should go beyond the obvious that the two things are alike in some ways and different in others. Carry your thinking to a higher level of analysis to consider broader implication of your comparison-contrast. Poem no.1 Emperor Jomei---“ In Yamato” (A poem composed by the Emperor when he ascended Mount Kagu and viewed the land) In Yamato There are crowds of mountains, But our rampart Is Heavenly Mount Kagu: When I climb it. And look out across the land, Over the land-plain Smoke rises and rises; Over the sea-plain Seagulls rise and rise. A fair land it is, Dragonfly Island, The land of Yamato. Poem no. 2 Princess Nukata---“ When spring comes forth” (When the Emperor [Tenji] commanded the Palace Minister, Fujiwara no Kamatari, to match the radiance of the myriad blossom of the spring mountains against the colors of the thousand leaves of the autumn mountains, Princess Nukata decided the question with this poem) When spring comes forth That lay in hiding all the winter through, The birds that did not sing Come back and sing to us once more; The flowers that did not bloom Have blossomed everywhere again. Yet so rife the hills We cannot make our way to pick, And so deep the grass We cannot pluck the flowers to see. But when on autumn hills We gaze upon the leaves of trees, It is the yellow ones We pluck and marvel for sheer joy, And the ones still green, Sighing, leave upon the boughs- Those are the once I hate to lose, For me, it is the autumn hills. Poem no. 3 Kakinomoto no Hitomoro---“ From the hallowed age” (A poem composed by Kakinomoto no Hitomoro on passing the ruined capital of Omi) From the hallowed age When the monarch Suzerian of the Sun Reigned at Kashihara By Unebi, called the Jewel-sash Mount, Each and every god Made manifest in the world of men, One by one in evergreen Succession like a line of hemlock trees, Ruled under heaven All this realm with uncontested sway: Yet from sky-seen Yamato did one depart- Whatever may have been The secret of his sage intent- And passed across The slopes of blue-earth Nara Mountain To a lend remote Beyond the distant haven, The land of Omi Where water dashes on the rocks, To the palace of Otsu In Sasanami of the gently lapping waves; And there, as it said He ruled this realm beneath the sky: That sovereign god. August ancestral deity- His grate palace stood Upon this spot, as I have heard; Its might halls Rose here, so all men say; Where now spring grasses Choke the earth in their rife growth, And mist rise up To hide the dazzling springtime sun; Now I view this site Where once the mighty palace stood, And it is sad to see. ENVOYS Still Cape Kara stands In Shiga of the gently lapping waves, Changeless from of old; But it will wait in vain to see The courtiers’ boats row back. Broad the waters stand By Shiga of the gently lapping waves; The lake is still; But how can it ever meet again The men of long ago? Poem no. 4 Kakinomoto no Hitomoro---“At Cape Kara” (Poem written by Kakinomoto no Hitomoro when he parted his wife in the land of Iwami and came up to the capital) At Cape Kara on the Sea oh Iwami, where the vines crawl on the rocks, rockweed of the deep grows on the reefs and sleek seaweed grows on the desolate shore. As deeply do I think of my wife who swayed toward me in sleep like the lithe seaweed. Yet few were the nights we had slept together before we were parted like crawling vines uncurled. And so I look back, still thinking of her with painful heart, this clench of inner flesh, but in the storm of fallen scarlet leaves on Mount Watari, crossed as on a great ship, I cannot make out the sleeves she waves in farewell. For she, alas, is slowly hidden like the moon in its crossing between the clouds over Yagami Mountain just as the evening sun coursing through the heavens has begun to glow, and even I who though I was a brave man find the sleeves of my well-woven robe drenched with tears. ENVOYS The quick gallop of my dapple-blue steed race me to the clouds, passing far away from where my wife dwells. O scarlet leaves falling on the autumn mountainside: stop for a while the storm your strewing makes, that I might glimpse the place where my wife dwells. Poem no. 5 Kakinomoto no Hitomoro----“The land of Sanuki” (A poem composed by Kakinomoto no Hitomoro upon seeing a dead man lying among the rocks on the island of Samine in Sanuki) The land of Sanuki, fine in sleek seaweed: it is for beauty of the land that we do not tire to gaze upon it? It is for its divinity that we deem it most noble? Eternally flourishing, with the heavens and the earth, with the sun and the moon, the very face of a god- so it has come down through the sage. Casting of from Naka harbor, we came rowing. Then tide winds blew through the clouds; on the offing we saw the rustled waves, on the strand we saw the roaring crests. Fearing the whale-hunted seas, our ship plunged through- we bent those oars! Many were the island near and far, but we beached on Samine- beautiful its name- and built a shelter on the rugged shore. Looking around we saw you lying there on a jagged bed of stones, the beach for your finely woven pillow, by the breakers’ roar. If I knew your home, I would go and tell them. If your wife knew, she would come and seek you out. But she does not even know the road, Straight as a jade spear. Does she not wait for you, worrying and longing, your beloved wife? ENVOYS If your wife were here, she would gather and feed you the starwort that grows on the Sami hillsides, but it is season not past? Making a finely woven pillow on the rock shore where waves from the offing draw near, you, who sleep there! Poem no. 6 Yamanoue no Okura---“Dialogue on Poverty” (The Poor Man) On sodden nights When rain comes gusting on the wind, On freezing nights When snow falls mingled with the rain, Shivering helplessly In the all-pervading cold, I take a lump Of hardened salt and nibble on it While I slip dilueted Less of sake from my cup. Clearing my throat, Sniffing as my nose begins to run, Stroking the few hairs Of my meager, scraggly beard, I puff myself up: “What do people matter anyway, Aside from me?” But still I’m cold, and so I take My hempen quilt And pull it up around my shoulders. I put on every Sleeveless homespun frock I own, Layer upon layer, But the night is cold. And he, The man more destitute Than even I, on such a night His father and mother Must be starving, bodies chill and numb; His wife and children Moaning softly in the dark: Yes, you-at times like these How do you manage to go on, How do you get through your life? (THE DESTITUTE MAN) Although men say That heaven and earth are vast, Have they not dwindled To a narrow frame for me? Although men say That the sun and moon are bright, Have they not refused To grant their shining unto me? Are all men thus, Or am I alone deprived? Though by rare chance I was born into the world of men, And as any men I toil to make my living on the land, Yet must throw rags About my shoulders, mere rotten Shreds of a sleeveless Frock, hemp with no padding, Dangling like branches Of sea pine over my bones; And in this crazy hut, This flimsy, tumbling hovel, Flat on the ground I spread my bedding of loose straw. By my pillowside My father and my mother crouch, And my feet My wife and children; thus am I Surrounded by grief And hungry, piteous cries, But on the hearth No kettle sends up clouds of steam, And in our pot A spider spins its web. We have forgotten The very way of cooking rice; Then where we huddle, Faintly whimpering like nue birds, Deliberately, As the saying goes, to cut The end of what Was short enough before, There comes the voice Of the village chief with his whip, Standing, shouting for me, There outside the place we sleep. Does it come to this- It is such a helpless thing, The path of man in this world? Though we may think Our lives are mean and frustrate In this world of men, We cannot fly into the air, It being so we are not birds. Poem no. 7 Shaka Nyorai---“A poem of Longing for his children” Shaka Nyorai preached truly with his golden mouth that he had equal compassion for all beings, even as for Rahula. He also preached that there is no love surpassing that for a child. The greatest sage still had the feeling of love for his child. Who then of the green grass of the world would not love his children? When I eat melons My children come to my mind; When I eat chestnuts The longing is even worse. Where do they come from, Flickering before my eyes, Making me helpless Incessantly night after night, Not letting me sleep in peace? ENVOY What are they to me, Silver, or gold, or jewels? How could they ever Equal the greater treasure That is a child?