half moon rising ...
I believe that it is crucial for haiku to tell about the truth as if it were false.
-- Yatsuka Ishihara
Berlin Wall of pillows
between us
I believe that it is crucial for haiku to tell about the truth as if it were false.
-- Yatsuka Ishihara
Given the extreme shortness of the poem, the stylistic interest or hitch cannot but consist of the most elementary of rhetorical devices: oxymoron and hyperbole. I use these terms in their widest senses, "oxymoron" covering a whole range of meanings from contradiction to opposition to contrast, and "hyperbole" including various modes of exaggeration such as emphasis and repetition...
… Hyperbole is employed as a humorous exaggeration, a reductio ad absurdum, of the graceful aestheticism of waka. The "comicality" of haiku, which Basho and other poets championed as a mark of their identity, consists precisely of such earthy twists.
-- Koji Kawamoto, “The Use and Disuse of Tradition in Basho's Haiku and Imagist Poetry,” Poetics Today, 20:4, Winter, 1999, pp.713, 714, 716.
Take Basho’s haiku below for example:
1) The force of hyperbole is borne by the use of the particle “mo” (“even”) “(Kawamoto, The Poetics of Japanese Verse: Imagery, Structure, Meter, p. 79).
Even a thatch hut these days
sees a change of residents --
house of dolls.
The opening phrase, thatch hut (kusa no to), is a waka cliche that “calls to mind the house of a recluse who has moved here in order to free himself from the vicissitudes of the floating world “ (Ibid., p. 80). And the closing image, house of dolls, suggests that the new residents will transform a humble hut into a gaily decorated dwelling. In the haiku, the intensity of change is portrayed emphatically through the observation that even a thatched hut will undergo a change in residents. The opening phrase, “thatch hut, underscores the hyperbole with a humorous oxymoron” (Ibid.).
2) The production of hyperbole includes the “repetition of synonymous words and similar sounds” (Ibid., p. 83)
At daybreak --
the white fish is only
an inch of white.
The poem repeats the word, white (shiro), in order to “highlight the fragile and precarious transparency of the white fish (also known as icefish)” (Ibid., p. 84).
More white
than the stones of Stony Mountain --
autumn wind.
The whiteness of the stones is brought into vivid relief by the repetition of "ishi" ("stones" and "Stony"). This autumn haiku uses "white" (shiro) as "a means to convey a kind of transparent substantiality" (Ibid.).
For more information about the effective use of hyperbole and haiku examples, see "Hyperbole and Oxymoron," Ibid., pp. 79-127).
Below is my hyperbolic haiku for the couples who engage in The War of the Roses (written by Warren Adler):
half moon rising ...
Berlin Wall of pillows
between us
The icy relation between a couple in bed is portrayed emphatically through the geopolitically charged Cold War icon, “Berlin Wall,” that foregrounds unbridgeable ideological barriers and interests, which are the clear indicators of this failing relationship.
I think it is fitting, then, to conclude this post with examples from Yatsuka Ishihara's work that places prominence on hyperbole, which is indicative of his treatise: "I believe that it is crucial for haiku to tell about the truth as if it were false."
pulling light
from the other world ...
the Milky Way
burning withered chrysanthemums
I stirred up
the fires of Hades
faintly white
it sticks to my face
the autumn wind
Updated, March 17:
Below are two hyperbolic haiku and detailed comments by Sketchbook Editor, John Daleiden:
gold threads of sun—
her white wedding dress
fit for a Goddess
Eftichia Kapardeli
Commentary by Sketchbook Editor, John Daleiden
Lines two and three describe the dress as "fit for a Goddess"—a hyperbole probably meant to extend to a description of the bride as well. In a similar manner, the dress is said to be "gold threads of sun", a reference to the material from which the dress is made, presumably a product of the environment. The images of "gold", "sun", and "white" are meant to express the abstraction of the Ideal.
my engagement ring
Spring’s open cluster
of stars
Karin Anderson
Commentary by Sketchbook Editor, John Daleiden
Karin Anderson compares "my engagement ring" to an "open cluster / of stars" in Spring. The vastness of the Spring sky suggests that for her, the "engagement ring", most certainly a diamond, is impressive. This use of hyperbole is an effective exaggeration.
Updated, March 17:
Below are two hyperbolic haiku and detailed comments by Sketchbook Editor, John Daleiden:
gold threads of sun—
her white wedding dress
fit for a Goddess
Eftichia Kapardeli
Commentary by Sketchbook Editor, John Daleiden
Lines two and three describe the dress as "fit for a Goddess"—a hyperbole probably meant to extend to a description of the bride as well. In a similar manner, the dress is said to be "gold threads of sun", a reference to the material from which the dress is made, presumably a product of the environment. The images of "gold", "sun", and "white" are meant to express the abstraction of the Ideal.
my engagement ring
Spring’s open cluster
of stars
Karin Anderson
Commentary by Sketchbook Editor, John Daleiden
Karin Anderson compares "my engagement ring" to an "open cluster / of stars" in Spring. The vastness of the Spring sky suggests that for her, the "engagement ring", most certainly a diamond, is impressive. This use of hyperbole is an effective exaggeration.
References:
Koji Kawamoto, The Poetics of Japanese Verse: Imagery, Structure, Meter, University of Tokyo Press, 2000.
-- “The Use and Disuse of Tradition in Basho's Haiku and Imagist Poetry,” Poetics Today, 20:4, Winter, 1999, pp. 709-721.
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