Volume II Part 50 (1/2)
A frog is just staying on the top of the hedge
Fro the white, the purple, and the red blossoan to blooreat is were all reported to hiht for my husband
He was pleased innocently I tried to please him with such topics with all my heart Perhaps if any one happened to witness, it would have sees, ants, butterflies, balory,--they were all the best friends to my husband
Now, the blossom was beautiful to look But I felt all at once my bosom tremble for some apprehension of evil, because the untimely bloom is considered in japan as a bad omen Anyhow I told him of the blossom He was interested as usual ”hello!” he said, and i, he looked out at the blosso,” said he; then after a pause, ”but soon it will become cold and that blossom will die away” This blosso its petals scattered theht the cherry-tree, which had Hearn's warmest affection for these years, responded to his kindness and bade good-bye to him
Hearn was an early riser; but lest he should disturb the sleep ofquiet in the library, sitting regularly upon the cushi+on and sot up and went to his library
In theof Sept 26th--the sad, last day--as I went to his library about 630 A M, he was already quietly sitting as usual on the cushi+on ”Ohayo gozai over so,” and told ht, for ere accustomed to tell each other e had a pleasant drea, distant journey Here I a now, you see Is it real that I travelled or is it real that I a he was pleased with hio to his library and say in English: ”Papa! Good-night! Pleasant dreaood drea when Kazuo, before leaving ho,” he said: ”Pleasant drea how to say, Kazuo answered: ”The sa, while walking to and fro along the corridor, he looked intoupon the wall of alcove The picture entitled ”Morning Sun,” represented a glorious, but a littlewith birds thronging ”A beautiful scenery! I would like to go to such a land,” he re the note of insects We kept _matsuthe plaintive notes which matsu mushi+ made at intervals made me feel unusually lonesome I asked my husband how it sounded to hi nicely It's getting cold, though Is it conscious or unconscious that soon it must die? It's a pity, indeed” And, in a lonesome way, he added: ”Ah, poor creature! On one of these warrasses”
Nothing particularly different was not to be observable in all about hile blosso journey he had, and the notes of matsu mushi+, all these nificance about them At supper he felt sudden pain in the breast He stopped eating; went away to his library; I followed him For some minutes, with his hands upon his breast, he walked about the roo occurred to hi He wanted to lie on bed With his hands on breast, he kept very calm in bed But, in a few minutes after, he was nono pain at all, he had a little s was one of Hearn's general lectures at the University of Tokyo as it was taken down at the time of its delivery by T Ochiai, one of his students It contains, together with so evidence of the curious felicity of Hearn's method of approach to the japanese ular course of literary lectures this year, I want to make a little discourse about e may call Naked Poetry--that is, poetry without any dress, without any ornament, the very essence or body of poetry unveiled by artifice of any kind I use the word artistically, of course--coure or a fact in itself, without any accessories
Now for a feords about poetry in general All the myriad forms of verse can be classed in three divisions without respect to subject or hest class is the poetry in which both the words, or form, and the emotion expressed are equally admirable and super-excellent The second division in importance is that kind of poetry in which the e, and the form is only a secondary consideration The third and least important class of poetry is that in which the for, and the emotion or sentiment is always subordinated to it Now scarcely any hest condition We have to go back to the old Greek poetry to find such fulfilment But the second class of poetry includes such wonderful work as the poetry of Shakespeare The third class of poetry is very fairly represented in English literature by the work of Pope and the dead classic school
To-day--I ain setting in the direction of forht
This will be sufficient to explain to you what I shall [ of perfect poetry, or second class poetry, or inferior poetry, independently of qualifications But I must also ask you to accept h it is somewhat arbitrary By poetry, true poetry, I mean, above all, that kind of composition in verse which deeply stirs the mind andThis is the true _literary signification_ of poetry; and this is why you will hear soh it is not in any way like verse; an important difference of the kind above referred to has been recognized, I am told, by japanese poets
They have, at all events, declared that a perfect poe not said, but suggested,--so the composition You will therefore be very well able to see the beauty of any foreign verses which can fulfil this condition with very sie, learned words, words known only to Greek or Latin scholars, are used, such poetry is allish at least, is the best mediuoing to dialect, or descending to colloquialislish--provided that the poet sincerely feels Here is a tiny but very famous little verse, which I would call an example of naked poetry--pure poetry without any kind of ornament at all It has only rhymes of [one] syllable; but even if it had no rhyreat poetry And what isin quality the spirit of japanese poetry However, you can judge for yourselves:--
Four ducks on a pond, A grass-bank beyond, A blue sky of spring, White clouds on the wing: What a little thing To remember for years-- To re in particular until you get to the last line;--then the whole picture comes suddenly into your mind with a shock, and you understand It is an exile'sout in memory, after all the rest of memory has becoh there is no art in it at all It is silish poetry contains very few inspirations like that--which, by the as the work of an Irish about it is the effect lish poets who touched the art of divine simplicity--of pure esley You know several of his songs which show this emotional power; but I am not sure whether you know ”Airly Beacon”
”Airly Beacon” is a little song; but it is the story of the tragedy of life--you never can forget it after once reading it And you have no idea what you are reading until you come to the last line I h place in Scotland,--from the top of which a beautiful view can be obtained,--and it is called Airly Beacon because in ancient tihted upon it Bearing this in e the effect of the poeirls are allowed a great deal of liberty in regard to what is called ”courtesy” [courting?], that is to say, being wooed, or irl should have sufficient force of will to be able to take care of herself when alone with aof Airly Beacon But _perhaps_ the girl in this case was not so iine that she beca does not say
Airly Beacon, Airly Beacon; Oh, the pleasant sight to see shi+res and towns from Airly Beacon While my love climbed up to me
Airly Beacon, Airly Beacon; Oh, the happy hours we lay Deep in fern on Airly Beacon, Courting through the summer's day!
Airly Beacon, Airly Beacon; Oh, the weary haunt for me, All alone on Airly Beacon, With his baby on reat test as to whether verse contains real poetry, emotional poetry, is this: Can it be translated into the prose of another language and still make it appear emotional? If it can, then the true poetry is there; if it cannot, then it is not true poetry, but only verse Now a great deal of famous Western poetry will really bear this test The little poem that I have just quoted to you will bear it So will soreatest poets Those of you who study Ger about the wonderful poems of Heine You know they are very sin translation of them is a translation into French prose Here, of course, the rhyone, but the real, essential poetry--the power to touch the heart--remains Do you remember the little poeuard at the city-gate? He sees the soldier standing in the light of the evening sun, perfor the military exercises all by hiun as if in receiving invisible orders, presents, takes aim Then, the poet suddenly exclaims,--”I wish he would shoot me dead!”
The whole power of the little composition is in that exclamation; he tells us all that he means, and all that he feels To a person unhappy, profoundly unhappy, even the hts and wishes in relation to death Now, a little poe by a littler [_sic_]