Okay, last Saturday I gave you examples of two forms of Japanese
poetry, so how about today we hop over the Sea of Japan to
Korea?
It turns out that there’s a form of poem related to both
haiku and tanka, the sijo. Like its Japanese cousins, sijo are constrained by
syllable count; in this case three lines totaling 44 to 46 of them. It’s
interesting to me that each line has a purpose: first is introduction of a
theme; second elaborates on it; third provides a twist and an end. They can use
metaphors, puns and other forms of word play.
You gotta love a tight format that messes with your head
and makes you giggle.
Also, I really like the notion that sijo were meant to be
sung.
Take a look (and remember that sometimes translations
don’t adhere to the syllabic constraints):
Where pure snow flakes melt
Dark clouds gather threatening
Where are the spring flowers abloom?
A lonely figure lost in the shadow
Of sinking sun, I have no place to go.
Yi
Saek (1328-1395)
I will break the back of this
long, midwinter night,
Folding it double, cold
beneath my spring quilt,
That I may draw out the night,
should my love return.
Hwang Jin-i
(1522-1565)
Oh
that I might capture the essence of this deep midwinter night
And
fold it softly into the waft of a spring-moon quilt
Then
fondly uncoil it the night my beloved returns.
It turns out that Hwang Jin-i’s nom de plume was
Myongwol, or Bright Moon, so her “spring moon” could also be a reference to
herself. Little play on words there.
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