Of Poetry, Patronage, and Politics: From Saga to Michizane, Sinitic Poetry in the Early Heian Court

This dissertation seeks to explore possible relationships between literature—poetry, in particular—and royal patronage. More specifically, I am here interested in examining the remarkable efflorescence of Sinitic poetry (kanshi) during the reign of Emperor Saga (786-842, r. 809-823), as well as some of its later developments in the private poetry collections of Shimada Tadaomi (828-891) and his pupil Sugawara no Michizane (845-903). The history of Sinitic poetry composed in Japan has been meticulously studied; there is certainly no dearth of research, either in Japanese or in English. Even so, the early ninth century remains somewhat of a mystery. A total of three imperially commissioned anthologies (chokusenshū) of Sinitic poetry and prose were compiled during this time, along with an imperial history—all of which were the direct product of Saga’s personal patronage. Much of his own poetry has been preserved in these anthologies. Despite the existence of hundreds of Sinitic poems, and a contemporary history (also in Sinitic), scholars tend to shy away from this period. This dissertation is an attempt to remedy that situation. As a means of facilitating a broader appreciation of Saga, I have included some material on King Alfred the Great (849-899, r. 871-899), the most well-known Anglo-Saxon king, and oft-celebrated father of the English nation, who was a near contemporary of Saga. Naturally, I have also interwoven some material on Emperor Taizong (598-649, r. 626-649) of the Tang dynasty, whose influence on ninth-century Sinitic poetry (in Japan) has been the focus of some past research. Scholars of East Asian literature, whether they specialize in Chinese or Japanese literature, are familiar with the grand literary and political legacy of this continental sovereign. Both Saga’s poetry as well as his ideal of sovereignty were influenced by the work of Taizong and his lettered vassals. A central assumption informs this work: ninth-century poetry was inevitably political, insofar as it served as a tool whereby authors could enforce or manipulate prevalent power relations within the court. Poetry, therefore, was both dominated by and exercised significant influence over hierarchical networks of patronage. Poetry was also occasional performative, that is, it was recited aloud on public occasions—royal banquets or excursions—before an audience of vassals and courtiers. Saga, as supreme ruler and patron, composed poetry that sought, through its presentation at these banquets, to repeatedly legitimate his own position, while simultaneously appealing to a number of different audiences. Different audiences harbored different expectations, and Saga, adroit politician that he was, strove to please each in turn by adopting a number of poetic voices or personae. This is especially evident after his retirement, when he found it necessary to adopt a different poetic persona more appropriate to his less prominent station. Tadaomi and Michizane, as recognized scholars, loyal vassals, and influential statesmen, received patronage from both sovereigns and high-ranking noblemen. These complex networks of patronage and varied audiences demanded the creation of ever more subtle poetic personae. This dissertation, among other things, is an exploration of how poets of the ninth century adopted different poetic personae in accordance with their intended audiences. The deliberate mixing of various Sinitic genres to achieve this end receives a great deal of attention

Pound\u27s Progress: The Vortextual Evolution of Imagism and Its Poetic Image

Although previous Imagist scholarship considers its subject from chronological, technical, and historical viewpoints, rarely does it combine two-let alone all three-of those perspectives. Undoubtedly, each of those critical lenses contributes to the overall understanding of Imagism. Yet, by not weaving the technique and theory of Imagism into a linear account of its development, those studies tend to view those aspects of Imagism as if they were discrete and stable entities. To counteract that trend, this dissertation argues that Pound\u27s Imagist program-due to the ambiguity and developing definitions of several of its key terms-allowed the Imagist poets to produce a richly diverse form of Imagism that coexisted with, but was not necessarily contained by, Pound\u27s evolving concept of that program and its poetic Image. Specifically, by offering a chronological critical history of the technical and theoretical components of Pound\u27s concept of Imagism as they developed, this project highlights the transitive process wherein Pound\u27s Imagism both resulted from and created a poetic Vortex. Moreover, a close reading of the first Imagist anthology, Des Imagistes, illustrates how Pound\u27s super-positioned editorial arrangement of that collection allows it to function as an Imagist presentation of the varied origins, influences, and types of imagery existent within Pound\u27s version of the Imagist movement. Ultimately, then, this dissertation concludes that, due to the complex interaction between the individual interpretations of the Image made by the poets featured in Des Imagistes and the writers and literary traditions that influenced them, the anthological structure of that collection offers the most accurate presentation of the admixture of poetic fecundity and editorial pruning that defines Imagism

23.2 The Poetic Eye

Rampike Vol. 23 / No. 2 (The Poetic Eye issue): Jaap Blonk, Barrie Tullet , Gustave Morin, Gregory Betts, Gary Barwin, Melody Sumner-Carnahan, W.M. Sutherland, Dennis Tourbin, Michael Winkler, Fernando Aguiar, Carol Stetser, Marilyn Rosenberg, Stan Rogal, Keith Garebian, Wendell Mayo, Andrew M. Niss, Lucas Crawford, Richard Kostelanetz, Antoni Miro, Amin Rehman, Lorenzo Menoud, LeRoy Gorman, Reed Altemus, Dennis Cooley, Mac MacArthur, Jürgen Olbrich, Nico Vassilakis, Elke Grundman, Anti-Oedipus, Aditya Bahl, Barrie Walsh, Derek Beaulieu, John M. Bennett, Joseph A. Brown & Terry Trowbridge, Vittore Baroni, Karl Kempton, Sergio Monteiro de Almeida, Serse Luigetti, Aaron Daigle, Gerry Shikatani, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, Stephanie Strange, John Nyman, Helen Hajnoczky, Ken Hunt, John Massey, Andrew Topel, rob mclennan & derek beaulieu & Kit Dobson, & bpNichol, Karl Jirgens, Fausto Bedoya. Front Cover Art: Jaap Blonk. Back Cover Art: Gustave Morin

On 'the Edge of a Crumbling Continent': Poetry in Northern Ireland and the Second World War

This thesis proposes that nineteen forties Northern Ireland was not a cultural desert, as has often been assumed. It draws on an extensive range of neglected archival and published sources to argue that a diverse and vibrant community of poets, united by shared political and aesthetic interests, formed in Belfast during the Second World War. As the conflict encroached on individual imaginations and on Northern Ireland, these poets became concerned with establishing an enduring body of imaginative literature which was appropriate to their region. To date, this thesis provides the most comprehensive assessment of poetry written in Northern Ireland during this decade and is, therefore, a significant contribution to assessments of post-partition culture. The thesis follows a chronological trajectory, beginning by tracing the roots of this poetic community to the legacy of the preceding generation of poets. Then, John Hewitt and W.R. Rodgers’s regional and political commitments of the immediate pre-war period are examined. Their shared interest in regional poetics was in creative tension with Louis MacNeice’s cosmopolitan aesthetic. Patrick Maybin’s pacifist protest poetry reveals the group’s anti-establishment bias. A survey of the publishing opportunities available to these poets is followed by an evaluation of Robert Greacen’s anthologies, which were designed to promote a local literary revival. Analysis of poetry by May Morton and Freda Laughton demonstrates the key roles played by women in this milieu. Finally, Roy McFadden’s attempt to connect pacifist, neo-romantic, and regional ideas is discussed, leading to a consideration of his post-war poetry and the links between these writers and the Ulster Renaissance of the nineteen sixties. Close analysis of the work of these poets uncovers a varied and energetic literary milieu which formed the foundations of the subsequent flowering of poetry in Northern Ireland

Visualizing the classics : reading surimono and kyōka books as social and cultural history

Surimono reflect cultural and social facets of urban life in late Edo period Japan. Thus far, most surimono research was focused on the art historic qualities of the material, regularly also taking the interplay between poetry and image into account. The research presented here places surimono in a greater perspective by including the literary antecedents of the content, the cultural background of the kyōka world and the social networks of poets.Fundamental to the aim of this research is to expose how kyōka provided spheres where people with a cultural interest could join in a literary pursuit that allowed them to fully incorporate their appreciation for and knowledge of the classics. I argue that surimono and kyōka books are deeply rooted in a literary tradition and aimed at an audience of amateur poets who enjoyed honing their wit and culture, creating a world of their own with self-imposed regulations. Despite the initial mocking stance towards the classics seen in early stages of the renewed kyōka popularity in Edo, I contend that surimono, well as other kyōka related materials, show a specific rediscovery and reception of a literary past, which coincides with a period of cultural self-identification in Edo society.De Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), The Heinz Kaempfer Fund, Het Leids Universiteits Fonds (LUF)Asian Studie

Poetry matters: Radical politics in postmodern American poetry

Directly or indirectly, poetry produced in the postmodern era is implicated in the politics of the time. Postmodern American poetry, then, is not reducible to a single poetic mode or to a specific set of stylistic features. In other words, a more comprehensive understanding of postmodern American poetry can be made by employing a flexible version of Raymond Williams’ notion of uneven development, a theory that insists on the synchronic existence of dominant, residual, and emergent cultural elements. As the stylistically and politically diverse work of the six poets—Susan Howe, Robert Grenier, Gary Snyder, A.R. Ammons, Sherman Alexie, and Kenneth Goldsmith—examined in this dissertation illustrates, postmodernism is a period in which multiple modes or versions of postmodern poetry exist and flourish

Tradition and innovation in the poetry of Gary Snyder, 1952-1982

Previous studies of the poetry of Gary Snyder have frequently concentrated upon the surface, esoteric nature of his work, claiming for it a uniqueness which overlooks his debt to tradition. This thesis proposes that Snyder's poetry can be divided into two modes, the mythic and the lyric, each a contribution to well-established modern American poetic traditions. The discussion of the mythic poems traces Snyder's indebtedness to the Modernist long poem and, in particular, sees T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land as an important structural model for Myths & Texts, a poem which is also closely related to Joseph Campbell's delineation of the quest monomyth. In the chapter on the lyric poems, it is suggested that Snyder is one of the inheritors of an experimental lyric tradition initiated by the work of Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams. Both chapters also indicate how such past models have given Snyder's poetry a stability which allows for a measure of profitable innovation. Examples which are isolated are the extensive use of American Indian oral literature in the mythic poems, and the original application of aspects of Chinese poetry and poetics in the lyrics. These two chapters take the study of the poetry up to 1968. This date, which marks Snyder's return to the United States after a long period of residence in Japan, is seen as a watershed after which his work enters a critical and problematical phase.The principal objective of the chapter on the later poems is to show that when Snyder turns away from his Modernist inheritance to seek the role of overt social prophet, he sacrifices much of his earlier technical accomplishment, thus making further innovation more questionable. As part of its researches, the thesis also provides the first comprehensive bibliography of Snyder, including a complete list of his uncollected work

The Tale of Matsura

Fujiwara Teika is known as the premier poet and literary scholar of the early 13th century. It is not so widely known that he also tried his hand at fiction: Mumyōzōshi (Untitled Leaves; ca. 1201) refers to “several works” by Teika and then names Matsura no miya monogatari (The Tale of Matsura; ca. 1190) as the only one that can be considered successful. The work is here translated in full, with annotation. Set in the pre-Nara period, The Tale of Matsura is the story of a young Japanese courtier, Ujitada, who is sent to China with an embassy and has a number of supernatural experiences while there. Affairs of the heart dominate The Tale of Matsura, as is standard for courtly tales. Several of its other features break the usual mold, however: its time and setting; the military episode that would seem to belong instead in a war tale; scenes depicting the sovereign’s daily audiences, in which formal court business is conducted; a substantial degree of specificity in referring to things Chinese; a heavy reliance on fantastic and supernatural elements; an obvious effort to avoid imitating The Tale of Genji as other late-Heian tales had done; and a most inventive ending. The discussion in the introduction briefly touches upon each of these features, and then focuses at some length on how characteristics associated with the poetic ideal of yōen inform the tale. Evidence relating to the date and authorship of the tale is explored in two appendixes

‘Rich and Strange’: Encountering Early Modern Poetry in the Subject of English - A Study of the Reading and Reception of Renaissance Poetry by Teachers and Students in England

This thesis presents a study of the perceptions of students, teachers, lecturers and examiners of the reading and reception of early modern poetry in the subject of English, in England. The opening chapters provide a context for the current reading and reception of early modern poetry by examining three key historical periods in the development of attitudes towards early modern poetry within the subject of English. The historical periods examined are; the English Renaissance, the end of the nineteenth century and current educational contexts. The attitudes of key theorists such as Sidney (1595/2004) and Brooks (1947/1968) are explored, along with writings on the pedagogy of poetry and early modern poetry. The research strategy for this study is presented in the following two chapters. Sixteen in-depth interviews were collected from four groups of participants; students, teachers, lecturers and examiners. The group of sixteen participants was chosen as a group of experts, in that they were familiar with the poetry in an educational context and felt confident in discussing their perceptions of early modern poetry. Analysis of the data follows from discussions of the methodology and leads to findings about the various strands of the participants’ perceptions of early modern poetry. The elements of perception that are explored are; the ways in which participants interpreted early modern poetry, what participants perceived as significant in the poetry and what was identified by them as the particular qualities or characteristics they viewed as specific to early modern poetry. Discussion of the participants’ perceptions makes links with theoretical debates regarding perceptions of early modern poetry within the subject of English. In conclusion, recommendations for professional practice are made and an argument presented for raising the status of early modern poetry, particularly in the secondary sector and within teacher training, in the subject of English