IN350 / English
340, Studies in Poetry: Global Haiku Tradition examines the origins
and spread of Japanese poetics from Japan around the world, with
a special focus on the adaptation of haiku into other cultures
and languages.
A special
feature of the summer school session was that we attended the
first reading of the Highway 51
Poetry Project, which featured the translation team of Lee
Gurga and Emiko Miyashita. The translators also conducted a workshop
with our class, on using kigo (season words) in haiku. Since the
workshop was right after the July 2nd reading, we focused on fourth
of July and fireflies for our kigo.
We studied
the history of haiku and related poetics in Japan, and examind
the contemporary internalization of haiku in various cultures.
We also had
weekly editing workshops on original haiku. Here is a sample of
one of the workshops, including the original
haiku (which are viewed anonymously) and the revised
versions (claimed by their writers).
We also studied
renga traditions and wrote some rengay.
