Woven Worlds, by Suzette Richards – image generated February 2024
Tanka prose is a relatively new kid on the block insofar as the English version of East Asian* poetry is concerned. Tanka prose combines prose and tanka in a harmonious way and the smooth flow between the two is achieved by various means; chiefly by repletion or complement. Japanese poetry is based on delicate structures of implication and an entire vocabulary of aesthetic values almost untranslatable to the West.
The prose section in tanka prose is imagistic and succinct, as is the tanka, to convey the overall message. Tanka is an important literary genre in Japan with historical roots, but it has evolved over time to cover a number of contemporary subjects observed/experienced by the poet, thus it is usually written in the first person POV, but not exclusively so. A pivotal image in line three is desired, but other poetic devices may be employed to mark the transition from the external to the internal worlds of the poet. It may include poetic devices such as metaphor, simile, or personification. Tanka poems evoke vivid imagery and reflection.
General Observations
Examples of tanka prose and/or tanka cited in blogs often include translations of poetry, but please note that, as with other translations of East Asian poetry, regular grammar rules apply in those cases, e.g. capitalisation of words and punctuation marks. In practice (in English), however, these grammar rules are eschewed during the composition of, e.g. haiku, tanka, and many other poetic forms with their roots in Japanese poetry. Poetry which has its roots in Chinese literature, do seem to accept regular (by Western standards) grammar rules in the English version of their forms, for example, Sijo.
Sijo is a vernacular Korean language form. The example poem under the definition of Sijo here at Types of Poems, is the English translation of the original poem, Song of my Five Friends, by Yun Seondo (1587-1671). You will note that the translation does not conform to the prescribed syllable count per phrase, but is true to form in Korean: 3-5-3-4; 3-4-3-4; 3-5-4-4. In the English translation (to allow for grammar rules) it results in phrases with syllable counts of: 2-6-4-4; 2-4-4-6; 2-5, 5-3. This needs to borne in mind when one reads the translation of original East Asian poetry and not confuse it with the suggested English formats of the forms.
Syllable Counts
As with many efforts by Western poets to transcribe East Asian poetry, syllable counts were prescribed to imitate the sound values, remembering that Japanese tanka, for example, is rendered in a single line down the page. These syllable counts replaced the need for metre and rhyme to achieve rhythm in the poem. The suggested syllable count of 5-7-5-7-7 in prescribed phases in tanka has long been supplanted by contemporary tanka poets with fewer syllables per line, and even lines of equal length are acceptable in some quarters. The ‘Sanford-style tanka’ uses far fewer than the proposed number of syllables per line.
Phases
The phases refer to the development of the poem, much like the building of a large complex is in different development phases. The first phase sets up the conundrum cloaked the external reference, with the point being made in the final phase, for example, in jueju poetry. This is not unique to East Asian poetry but is also found in Western poetry, for example, the Petrarchan sonnet requires that the initial octave set up a problem that the closing sestet answers, and the volta (turn) at line nine marks the turning point in the poem.
Phrases
All East Asian poetry is divided into phrases. In grammar, a phrase is a group of words functioning as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. Most phrases have a central word defining the type of phrase. This word is called the ‘head’ of the phrase. Some phrases, however, can be headless. For example, ‘the last’ is a noun phrase composed of a determiner and an adjective without a noun. In tanka each line represents a phrase.
Because of the practice in the English version to discard structure words (pronouns, prepositions, articles, conjunctions), without sacrificing intelligible content, it may make tanka appear to be hesitant. In a normal sentence, a semicolon (a stand-in for a conjunction word) is used to separate sentence clauses. NB: tanka is NOT a sentence chopped into five pieces. Where is the art in that?
The following is an example from my tanka, The Last Leaf; in regular sentence clauses with capitalisation and punctuation as required by grammatical rules (confirmed by Grammarly.com). Tanka is usually left untitled, but PoetrySoup requires a title in that field on the submission form. Tanka is a syllabic verse, therefore, no rhyme or metre is used, and it is written in five phrases; the imagistic upper and lower phases share a common imagery—in this instance: kinetic (movement).
The dry tree branch sways, but an autumn leaf clings; the last. The last leaf through the photo album; the memories of my friend persist.
THE TANKA (in lowercase and no punctuation marks)
dry tree branch sways
autumn leaf clings
the last
leaf through photo album
memories of friend persist
I prefer to use the slight indentation of the second and final line to visually confirm the related phrases in each phase (the upper and lower phases) and these would, in normal sentence clauses, have required punctuation. Hence I stated in the article (link below) that indentation may be used to ‘punctuate’ a tanka. By using punctuation at the end of a line, it is doubling up on the functions, i.e. wearing a belt AND braces! I firmly indented the third line. Although this phrase (3rd line) belongs by design (of a tanka) to the first phase, it is intended to be read together with the first and last two parts respectively, i.e. the much favoured PIVOT.
THE PIVOT: the last
- As part of the first phase: a noun phrase composed of a determiner and an adjective (meaning ‘the last thing or person …’).
- As part of the second phase: a determiner (‘the’) and the adverb ‘last’ (meaning ‘previously’).
Poetic Device ‘Imagery’
A requirement for an outstanding tanka is that it causes associations with a suggestiveness not expressed in words and a deep elegance. It uses the poetic device ‘imagery’—only one per poem—instead of an analytical approach. Because imagery is employed to describe both the observed AND the personal response, it may make tanka appear to be fragmented. In other words, it is NOT a direct decryption of the scene in regular sentence clauses, or detailing the poet’s response to it in regular sentence clauses.
Contest
Please see my latest premiere contest, Woven Worlds – TANKA PROSE, for the details. The poets may use any POV for their poems.†
Required Reading for this Contest
TANKA PROSE and Popular Poetic Devices | PoetrySoup.com
Thank you for reading.
*The core of the East Asian Culture Sphere are 4 countries: China, Vietnam, Korea (the entire peninsula), and Japan.
†POV
Point-of-view (POV) or perspective is a commonly misused term. It does not refer to the author’s (or characters’) feelings, opinions, biases, etc, but the identity of the narrative voice, ie, in the 1st or 3rd person. A 2nd POV is uncommon and difficult to sustain. You can usually tell the narrative voice easily by looking at the pronouns used:
1st person: I, me/my, we, our, us [In the 1st person POV, a character is telling their own story.]
2nd person: You [With 2nd person POV, the writer addresses the reader using the pronoun ‘you’.]
3rd person: She, he (or a character’s name) [In the 3rd person point of view, the author is telling the story of different characters, but is not part of the action themselves.]