Metaphor

[Senna Jawa]

What can be simpler than a metaphor?--You write "A", while it means "B".

Digression: Needless to say, when you write "A" then it should work well first of all as "A". This obvious truth does not hold for many poems, which makes them to be junk instead of poetry.

I would say that in a proper metaphor, "B" is more general and abstract than "A". One could even talk about reversed metaphors, when "A" is general/abstract and "B" is specific.

***

The role of metaphor is confusing to many haiku authors. The issue is of paramount importance to haiku. On one hand the haiku enthusiasts are told that haiku stays away from any metaphors, similes and word games. On the other hand it's great when a haiku is metaphoric, and many are. I've resolved this paradox some years ago (see below).

***

A metaphor may appear in two different situations, and it belongs to different species in each case.

1. global metaphor as a goal -- the whole poem is a metaphor, which is one of the possible, important goals of a poem;
2. local metaphor as an artistic device--a word or a phrase serves as symbol of a more general (or more important) object, notion or situation.

Thus in the first case the metaphor is NOT a device--it's an artistic goal. The only standard semantic artistic device for haiku is juxtaposition, which appears in about half of the haiku. But (local) metaphor as a device is not welcome in haiku. On the other hand we saw how the Basho's crow and frog haiku were strongly metaphoric. These two Basho haiku are extremely concrete and free of any semantic devices, they are pure. We can talk about a metaphor in their context in the 2nd sense only. Long poems and even entire novels can be metaphoric in this way too.

The local metaphors, i.e. a metaphor as a device, can be great too but in practice they are often poor--mainly because authors often do not pay attention to the direct meaning and consistent imagery of the poem; they are preoccupied with "B" (see above), while their "A" often doesn't work or even does not make any sense (e.g. their "A" is not integrated with the poem, it doesn't fit the image or the scene). Remember that it is "A", which has to be precise, while it is not important to make "B" exactly what you wanted it to be--forcing the exact meaning of "B" at the expense of "A" is very a common error for which authors make excuses but there is none.

 

[twelveoone]

What can be simpler than a metaphor?--You write "A", while it means "B".

Digression: Needless to say, when you write "A" then it should work well first of all as "A". This obvious truth does not hold for many poems, which makes them to be junk instead of poetry.

I would say that in a proper metaphor, "B" is more general and abstract than "A". One could even talk about reversed metaphors, when "A" is general/abstract and "B" is specific.

***

The role of metaphor is confusing to many haiku authors. The issue is of paramount importance to haiku. On one hand the haiku enthusiasts are told that haiku stays away from any metaphors, similes and word games. On the other hand it's great when a haiku is metaphoric, and many are. I've resolved this paradox some years ago (see below).

***

A metaphor may appear in two different situations, and it belongs to different species in each case.

1. global metaphor as a goal -- the whole poem is a metaphor, which is one of the possible, important goals of a poem;
2. local metaphor as an artistic device--a word or a phrase serves as symbol of a more general (or more important) object, notion or situation.

Thus in the first case the metaphor is NOT a device--it's an artistic goal. The only standard semantic artistic device for haiku is juxtaposition, which appears in about half of the haiku. But (local) metaphor as a device is not welcome in haiku. On the other hand we saw how the Basho's crow and frog haiku were strongly metaphoric. These two Basho haiku are extremely concrete and free of any semantic devices, they are pure. We can talk about a metaphor in their context in the 2nd sense only. Long poems and even entire novels can be metaphoric in this way too.

The local metaphors, i.e. a metaphor as a device, can be great too but in practice they are often poor--mainly because authors often do not pay attention to the direct meaning and consistent imagery of the poem; they are preoccupied with "B" (see above), while their "A" often doesn't work or even does not make any sense (e.g. their "A" is not integrated with the poem, it doesn't fit the image or the scene). Remember that it is "A", which has to be precise, while it is not important to make "B" exactly what you wanted it to be--forcing the exact meaning of "B" at the expense of "A" is very a common error for which authors make excuses but there is none.

and this is a gracious bump...because it serves my purpose

but I'm not sure about the truth about the Basho haiku being free of devices, you may want to recheck the Japanese use onomatopoeia in haiku, that would present problems in translation, i.e. I've seen water sound as ploop

and I'm not sure if onomatopoeia qualifies as a semantic device - I'm sure you'll enlighten me.

 

[Senna Jawa]

and this is a gracious bump...because it serves my purpose

but I'm not sure about the truth about the Basho haiku being free of devices, you may want to recheck the Japanese use onomatopoeia in haiku, that would present problems in translation, i.e. I've seen water sound as ploop

and I'm not sure if onomatopoeia qualifies as a semantic device - I'm sure you'll enlighten me.

I have carefully written--semantic devices (not artistic devices). Semantic devices are artistic devices which directly deal with or influence the meaning of the text. They may introduce or modify or amplify or extend or... the meaning. Semantic devices include metaphor, simile, kenning, juxtaposition, animation (animism?), allegory, anthropomorphism, personification....

Some of the other (non-semantic) devices are directly related to the sound, rhythm, melody, meter. They include rhymes, alliteration, onomatopoeia, meters.... It's not their main role to affect the meaning (as a rule). They rather influence the mood, the voice and melody.

There are other devices too, like linguistic, or related to the format. They may influence the meaning but on a material level, so that they are more like an extension of the language itself. Thus I don't consider them to be semantical. For instance, the way lines (or even words) are broken may influence the meaning of the text significantly. But it's done on the physical level of the letters and words and "paper" (or screen). Also the usage of the exclamations like "O!" or "oh!" influences not only the emotion but also the meaning. Once again, it does so at the language level, not at the concepts level.

Both, onomatopoeia and exclamations (or their Japanese flavor in Japanese language) are common artistic (but not semantic) devices in haiku. Also meter and melody.

Of the semantic devices only juxtaposition is basic to haiku. It appears in about half of the haiku (it's hard to count since it is often not clear whether or not a phrase is or is not a juxtaposition; juxtaposition can be defined in a narrow or in a wide open way).

 

[twelveoone]

Ok metre? Explain. Not my understanding of Japanese.

 

[champagne1982]

They include rhymes, alliteration, onomatopoeia, meters.... It's not their main role to affect the meaning (as a rule).

This tickles my punny bone. Is it not a measure of the device to find the distance between semantics and rhythm, metaphor and structure or is it just the stick the haikuist rules by?

 

[Senna Jawa]

This tickles my punny bone. Is it not a measure of the device to find the distance between semantics and rhythm, metaphor and structure or is it just the stick the haikuist rules by?

Champ, your logic and punny bones are a mystery to me.

 

[champagne1982]

Champ, your logic and punny bones are a mystery to me.

I submit...
meter stick = ruler... measure = metrical foot... ruler = poet... s'all.

 

[twelveoone]

Ok metre? Explain. Not my understanding of Japanese.

furu-ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto
tr: rollin on the river

OK senna is this what you talking about regarding metre?
Great Quote from it:

But wherever haiku are composed, the problem of the form must arise. Europeans and Americans have to decide whether their haiku are to be in rhyming couplets or triplets, alliterative verse, free verse, what some rude people call "a dribble of prose," or in five, seven, five syllables as in Japanese. As far as the last is concerned, a strict adherence to 5, 7, 5 syllables in English has produced some odd translations of Japanese haiku. . . . The fact is that "syllable" does not have the same meaning for the Japanese, the Romans and Greeks, and the English.
-R. H. Blyth

 

[FifthFlower]

OK senna is this what you talking about regarding metre?

Interesting article.

Here's one on the metrics of Chinese Tang poets, such as Li Bai, that I found in a different forum: http://poetry-chinese.com/jintishimenu.htm