Question

15 points please help. Name one way in which you would change the haiku by Basho. Explain why.

Answer 1

First, it is important to understand who Matsuo Basho was and also what haiku means. Basho, was a Japanese poet who lived between 1644 and 1694. A great believer in the simplicity of things and the importance of this simplicity, he tried to compress his understanding and his viewing of the world in poems that were extremely short and simple but that had much deeper meaning about life, the world around and the perception of the poet about this world than much longer poems. He was a student of Zen and he put forward this way of life and of seeing the world into his poems. It is also a point of the poet to lead the reader to relive his own experiences through the poem, not just try to glimpse the intentions or emotions of the poet. One important fact about the poetry of Basho is that with him started what is known as the "telegram art" or telegram poetry, as his texts compressed many ideas and thoughts into short lines. Haiku is the style of writing that emerged through the writings of this great poet.

The problem with the haiku style of writing used by Basho is that it is extremely short and it takes a particularly sensitive and sharp mind to be able to put forward a message through so little words. This is probably the one thing that should be changed of haiku. Sometimes, it is not easy at all to put forward a desired message and not all people understand said messages through so little words. So maybe I would make longer stanzas that would ease the exposition of ideas.