Analysis of Elegy to the Old Man Hokuju
Yosa Buson 1716 (Settsu Province) – 1783
You left in the morning, at evening my heart is in a
thousand pieces.
Why is it so far away?
Thinking of you, I go up on the hill and wander.
Around the hill, why is it such a sadness?
Dandelions yellow and shepherds-purse blooming white --
not anyone to look at them.
I hear a pheasant, calling and calling fervently.
Once a friend was there across the river, living.
Ghostly smoke rises and fades away with a west wind
strong in fields of small bamboo grasses and reedy fields.
Nowhere to leave for.
Once a friend was there across the river, living, but today
not even a bird sings a song.
You left in the morning, at evening my heart is in a
thousand pieces.
Why is it so far away?
In my grass hut by the Amida image I light no candle,
offer no flowers, and only sit here alone.
This evening, how invaluable it is.
Priest Buson
with a thousand bowings
Scheme | ABC xx xx xx xxx cx ABC xdx db |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11001011011100 1010 1111101 1011111101010 01011111010 100100101101 1101111 1101010010100 101110101010 1011001011011 1011101100101 1111 101110101010101 11001101 11001011011100 1010 1111101 01111011011110 101100101101 1101010011 11 10101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 841 |
Words | 166 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 2, 2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2 |
Lines Amount | 22 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 74 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 18 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 49 sec read
- 109 Views
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"Elegy to the Old Man Hokuju" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42553/elegy-to-the-old-man-hokuju>.
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