Basho's warrior haiku

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Basho's
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Summer grasses,​

all that remains​

of soldiers' dreams​

Matsuo Bashō​

(tr. Lucien Stryk)​

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outlines the scope of poetry:

• Top line: NATURE -- image "Summer grasses" is real, nothing sweet idyllic about it, just dry, half-burned grass. This line fits the whole poem splendidly.
• Middle line: "remains" -- the poem is about something, it is not about nothing; so many poets would say something as "nothing was left" (just awful).
• Bottom line: POETIC -- it is a pure Basho's creation but it's there, it exists.