Matsuo Bashō Video

BLOG 3: Bashō

 

BLOG ASSIGNMENT: Watch the video on “Matsuo Bashō.” Discuss the combination of poems and images. Why do you think the maker of the video paired the images and poems in the way he did? 

     In the short video “Matsuo Bashō” created by Raul Santiago Sebazco (2010) several of Bashō’s poems are presented between beautiful images of Edo period art and set to Koto music. The presentation of the poems in combination with the art and music work to conceptually take the viewer on Bashō’s transformational travels across the Edo Five Routes. This epic journey transformed the prior introspective focus of Bashō’s poetry into poetry that was more external and observational which reflected the changing scenery and life that was presented before him. The images move across the screen as if to relay the feeling of Bashō moving onward. In the background beautiful Koto music is played creating a simultaneous sense of serenity and wonderment. This music was perhaps chosen to reflect the beauty and wonderment that Bashō was exposed to along the way. Bashō’s travels facilitated a sense of serenity despite that fact that his causes for travel were initially motivated by grief. Bashō’s vivid metaphorical use of nature to connect with themes concerning the human condition creates a powerful sense of universal connection despite the differences in context that influenced his work. For this reason Bashō’s work remains highly impactful to the modern reader.

Works Cited

Sebazco, R. S. “Matsuo Basho”. YouTube, 9 April 2010. Web. 31 May 2015.

 

Classic of Poetry

BLOG 2: Classic of Poetry

     The Classic of Poetry (also known as the Book of Odes) 1000-600B.C.E is the “oldest poetry collection of East Asia” (Puncher 756). It is a collection of 305 songs rooted in culture creating orality that were later transcribed during Confucius’s time. This collection marks the beginning of China’s “three millennia-long literary tradition” and holds a place of significant literary canonical status (756). The collection is an integral part of understanding early Chinese society. The poems contained within the collection vividly detail the history and value system of early Chinese society and allow the modern reader to get a deeper understanding and sense of life during the Zhou Dynasty.  

     The Classic of Poetry facilitates the discovery of the unique connection between cultural orality, literature (writing), history, and culture formation. The importance of this collection is that it was highly valued for more than aesthetic reasons. The impact and influence of Confucianism made this collection an integral educational model that outlined and emphasized value systems (moral virtues), and societal order. The poems embodied the core values of early Chinese civilization.

     The transcription of song into written work and the codification of core poetic components outlined in the “Great Preface” by Confucian scholars during the Han Dynasty was central to the development of Chinese poetry. Robert Oxnam (2002) writes that “poetry in the Chinese tradition was the preeminent literary form understood as central to the expression of human emotions.” Oxnam continues by stating that there were five tenants that influenced Chinese poetry for centuries 1. That the poem was a place where deepest emotions are expressed 2. The poet by expressing his deepest feelings was also commenting on the time in which he/she lived 3. The poet’s personality is inscribed in the poem 4. Poetry revealed the poets moral fiber 5. Through poetry the poet lives beyond his own time (Oxnam).

     The Classic of Poetry provides an important understanding of the form and value of Chinese Poetry.  Incorporating the Classic of Poetry into a literature curriculum provides students the important opportunity to explore differing historical contexts, cultural perspectives, values and belief systems.

 

Works Cited

The Norton Anthology World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner, et al. 3rd ed. Vol. B. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 2012. 1023-1024. Print.

 

Oxnam, R.  Asian Topics: An Online Resource for Asian History and Culture. Columbia University, 2015. Web. 21 May 2015.

Somadeva : "The Red Lotus of Chastity"

BLOG ASSIGNMENT: In a considerable amount of literature from many different cultures and from many different periods, the heroine disguises herself in order to perform some unusual task, often related to saving her husband or beloved. Discuss the role of disguise in “Somadeva.” Focus on women’s disguises, particularly how disguises move them toward their desired goals. What might this reveal about the nature of relationships between women and men as represented in this story?

     The Kathāsaritsāgara is a famous 11th-century collection of Indian legends and folk tales compiled and composed by the Brahmin, Somadeva. The selected story reviewed from the Kathāsaritsāgara is called “The Red Lotus of Chastity”. Thematically the ability to transform is related to the direct metaphysical connection between god(s) and man in the Hindu religion. In religious texts, legends, and folk lore the function of transformation is often presented as an expression of multifaceted anthropomorphism.  The ability to effectively disguise one’s identity directly corresponds with this thematic function of transformation.

      In “The Red Lotus of Chastity” the function of disguise plays an important role throughout the story and effective disguise is an ability reserved for the female characters within the story. The story is about the protagonist Devasmita maintaining her chastity in her husband’s absence despite the ill intentions of several young men and their co-conspiring ally (the nun). Devasmita uses her inventive intelligence to transform her situation. This is a clear message throughout the story that the ability for a person to maintain their moral standards is within one’s power despite the obstacles that may stand in their way.

     The use of female disguise throughout “The Red Lotus of Chastity” and also in the nested tales within the story of Siddhikari and Saktimati predominantly revolve around interactions with male merchants. The female characters within the stories use disguise to either get the upper hand on a merchant, to set right the deceiving actions of a merchant, or in the case of Devasmita it is her husband’s entry into the merchant class that sets up the turmoil of the story which is furthered by Devasmita’s forced interactions with a merchant’s conniving sons. In the essay “The Merchant in Ancient India”  Balkrishna Govind Gorkhale (1977) writes that the “figure of the merchant in the literature of ancient India flits about in somewhat of a twilight zone…the merchant is placed into the category of disreputable” untrustworthy “groups” but whose  “operations are considered essential to society at large” (125). The deceptive but necessary view of the merchant is represented in the stories and corresponding nested tales. The function of disguise highlights the intent to counter the untrustworthiness of the merchant group with the matched cunning/deception necessary in order to do so. The fact that the use of disguise is reserved for female characters within the stories maintains the essential role of the merchant group who are not threateningly challenged by males (which would devalue the essential societal role of the merchant) but rather brought to some kind of justified ownership for their actions through the perceived unthreatening actions of female characters.

     The use of disguise in “The Red Lotus of Chastity” defines the importance of the concept of transformation to Hindu beliefs and early Indian society. The function of disguise plays an important role in defining the merchant group as both disreputable but also essential to society. By reserving the use of disguise for strictly female characters the merchant class remain unchallenged in their essential role but are still defined as a disreputable group in society. Disguise also plays an important role in the idea that a person is capable of maintaining their moral standards despite the disruption of negative influences/forces.  

Works Cited

Gokhale, Balkrishna G. “The Merchant in Ancient India.” Journal of the American Oriental Society Vol. 97, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1977), pp. 125-130

Somadeva. “The Red Lotus of Chastity.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin            Puchner. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013.