Assignment:
The document presents our first poetry assignment: haikus! Haikus are a poetic genre that I'm sure you're all familiar with. I start with haikus because their FORM dictates their substance. In other words, they are supposed to stick to a structure of 3 lines, 5-7-5 syllables, with an environmental image or reference in the opening line. Not only will we be analyzing several haikus and counting their syllables, but we will also look at two poems by two of Modernism's most influential writers, Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams.
At the end of the Haiku document, I include some background information on Japonisme, which was responsible in the mid-19th and early 20th century for introducing Europe and America to haikus and hokkus as well as a different approach to fine arts, visible in ukiyo scroll paintings. As a result, you can see the influence of Japonisme in the paintings of Impressionist and post-Impressionist artists, like Manet and Cezanne and Van Gogh. However, of relevance to an English class, Japonisme also contributed to the creation of a most important literary movement called Modernism in literature.
1. Everyone is being assigned their own haiku. Read it, react to it. Count the syllables in each line. (Be aware that many of these are translations and may not fit the 5-7-5 model). All haikus are numbered. I've demonstrated the syllable counting on the first. Make sure to look up the definition of "Imagery" and to copy and paste it into your answer as you point out the environmental reference. Need Assignment Help?
Your assignment is HAIKU NUMBER 3 IN THE ATTACHED FILE!!
2. When you are done, counting syllables, noting the imagery, and offering your response to your haiku (some are funny!), please move on to the two "poems" by Modernist masters. The first is "In a Station by the Metro" by Ezra Pound. Translate the poem. (In other words, what is the poem saying or what is the poem about?) Look up any words you don't know. How does the poem reflect the influence of Japonism on Pound? Is the poem a haiku of some sort? Is it a verbal ukiyo? Do you like it? How does it fit the definition of Modernism and Imagism?
3. Once you've weighed in on "In a Station of the Metro," read William Carlos Williams' "The Red Wheelbarrow." This poem was published in 1923. What might have been going on in America at that time? (Look up employment, farming, urbanization during that time period). Is the poem underwritten, lazy, stupid? (I HATED it the first time I encountered it!!! However, today, I love it!). Could it be that the poem is written this way deliberately?
Next, consider the form (the style, the construction) of the poem. Count syllables in each "verse." Is there anything intentional, playful or humorous going on here?