Irish Jesuit Province

An Anthology of Haiku, Ancient and Modern by Asataró MiyamoriReview by: R. F. J. D.The Irish Monthly, Vol. 61, No. 721 (Jul., 1933), pp. 460-461Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20513579 .

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460 THE IRISH MONTHLY

ings, like Millet's, of labour- in the fields; of homely interiors and scenes of domestic contentment, like those, for example, by Vermeer, De Hooch, Keating, and Josef lsraels. About such pictures they will talk eagerly, displaying remarkable appreciation of detail, and sometimes a desire to express the artist in them selves.

The reading of a poem with some striking relation to a picture's subject provides more matter for oral

work, and enhances the aippeal of both poem and pic ture, two most effective accessories, it is needless to say, when our composition is connected with history or geography, -or with an inspiring passage from one of the reading-books.

(To be continued).

BOOK REVIEWS.

An Anthology of Iaiku, Ancient and Modern. Translated and annotated by Asataro Miyamori. The Maruzen Company, Ltd., Tokyo. 20/-).

This work is an attempt to render into English a repre sentative collection of those curious Japanese poems known as " haikai." The haiku is the shortest of all forms of poetry. It contains but seventeen syllables, arranged in three lines, so that the first line has five syllables, the second seven, and the third five again. Within this brief compass the poet is required to give as vivid a representation as possible of his subject; some momentary impression or emotion is to be expressed with such foree that it will carry irresistibly to the reader's mind its message: a

message of beauty, grace, love, sadness, of any feeling that will touch the heart of man. Thus Basho, the greatest of haiku poets, wrote once:

" A crow on a withered branch;

It is an Autumn eve."

This picture, apparently trivial, is in reality, a symbol of the melaneholy of Autumn, clearly outlined by a master hand.

The difficulty of rendering into English verses so terse and compact is obvious. But Mr. Miyamori is an old hand

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BOOK REVIEWS 461

at translation; those who have read his versions of " Chikamatsu, the Japanese Shakespeare," and remember in what clear and vigorous English the great dramatist

was there expressed, will expect much from this new book. They will not be disappointed. It is a remarkable collection, extending from the work of Basho, in the seventeenth century, down to the present day. A fine introduction, containing sketches of the lives of the more prominent poets, gives the reader a clear view of the nature and history of this kind of poetry. The translations themselves are literal: there is here none of that wretched paraphrasing which is the ruin of translation the world over, and which wo-uld be especially disastrous in work like this. We are given the opportunity of judging each piece on its merits, without the interpolation of another hand. Indeed, if a criticism

might be ventured, it is that these renderings are two plain and prosaic to produce their full effect. After all, the haiku is a form of poetry, and ought to have some tincture at least, even in translation, of the magic of words, the intimate blending of sound and sense which is essential to all true poetry. Yet Mr. Miyamori has given us versions full of dignity and strength, and one can pardon him for not having reached this further height; especially considering how much more he has done than any previous translator. To anyone desirous of understanding the Japanese mind this book is indispensable; and, in fact, rightly understood, it

may be used as a key to unlock many of the enigmas of a strange but noble race. Mr. Miyamori has deserved well of his country; he has laid all lovers of Japan under a lasting debt of gratitude. The book is wonderfully produced

with hundreds of exquisite coloured reproductions of picture poems revealing the subtle delicacy of Eastern art. It is a book any art collector or lover of things rare in literature will treasure.

R.F.J.D.

The Seven Last Words. By Fulton J. Sheen, Ph.D. (The Century Co., New York. London: W. Appleton and Co. Pp. 63. $1.00.).

"Three elements conspire in the making of every great me?sage: a pulpit, an audience and a truth. These three were present in the two most notable messages in the life of Our Blessed Saviour, the first and the last which He delivered to mankind. The pulpit of His first message was the mountainside; His audience, unlettered Galilaeans; His truth, the Beatitudes. The last message He delivered lhad for its pulpit the Cross; for its audience, Scribes and

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