Tanka prose

Tanka prose is one type of prosimetrum, a literary form that combines the two modes of writing, verse and prose, in a single composition.[1] One may distinguish it from other varieties of prosimetrum by its preference for tanka as the verse form that it employs.[2] The term “tanka prose,” therefore, may be understood to refer to a prose composition, written “in the spirit of tanka,” that also incorporates one or more tanka.[3] Writers of tanka in English were partly inspired to adopt this form by the many examples of classical Japanese prose-plus-verse writings; there are significant differences between the original Japanese models, however, and contemporary English practice.

The Japanese Literary Background

The ubiquity of mixed prose-plus-verse writings in Japanese literature from archaic to modern times, from the eighth century’s Kojiki and Man’yōshū, Book V,[4][5] to the twentieth century diaries of Masaoka Shiki,[6] is widely attested. Many of the finest accomplishments of this literature were products of the Heian period (794-1185 M.E.) such as Murasaki Shikibu’s Tale of Genji, Ki no Tsurayuki’s Tosa Diary and Lady Daibu’s Poetic Memoirs. Waka in the short poem pattern of 5-7-5-7-7, only later designated as tanka, is the dominant verse-form in these compositions.

Modern Japanese scholarship refers to such writings as “diary literature” (nikki bungaku) and recognizes within this larger genre the main sub-genres of tales (monogatari), diaries (nikki) and poetry collections (shū).[7] Consistent with these classifications are the Japanese titles of the books cited in the paragraph above, viz., Genji Monogatari, Tosa Nikki and Kenreimon’in Ukyō Daibu no Shū (or “the poetry collection of Lady Daibu”).

Various writings do not fit clearly into a single category, however, and the utility of this modern academic typology has been seriously questioned.[8] Various scholars point to the circumstance that many texts, in their medieval transmission, were known simultaneously as monogatari and nikki or, in other cases, as nikki and shū; this, they argue, further demonstrates the blurred or fluid boundaries of these prose-plus-waka genres.[9][10][11]

The English Literary Adaptation

Due to the uncertain classification of many of these Japanese writings on their home turf and to the circumstance that writers of tanka in English, while modeling some compositions on the Japanese originals, have not hesitated to introduce new forms of prose-plus-tanka without Japanese precedent, Japanese academic distinctions between monogatari, nikki and shū can be said to be of less import for English-language poets than has been their conviction that the presence of prose and tanka in a single composition is the common denominator shared by all of these works.[12][13]

Tanka prose, in its many varied forms, is built upon one common basic unit of composition (one paragraph, one tanka); variation in the number and placement of tanka in relation to the prose is widespread in today’s practice of the tanka prose genre.[14] The basic unit of one paragraph of prose plus one tanka is a very common form while inversion of that unit (one tanka followed by one paragraph of prose) is a frequent variation. Another common form of tanka prose is the verse envelope—tanka, prose, tanka. Many other forms are in use, most generated by inversion or compounding of the basic unit of one paragraph, one tanka. These variations in number and placement of tanka are not without effect upon the flavor and character of the individual tanka prose work.[15]

Tanka prose in English is still in its nascent form. Early examples, like Florida Watts Smyth’s “Festival of Spring” (1959)[16] and Sanford Goldstein’s “Tanka Walk” (1983),[17] are sporadic and vary widely in style and content. Jane Reichhold,[18] Larry Kimmel,[19] and Linda Jeannette Ward[20] are some notable tanka poets who adopted tanka prose in the 1990s. Contemporary practitioners include Gary LeBel, Ingrid Kunschke, Bob Lucky, and Patricia Prime. Online journals where new examples of the genre appear with some regularity include Modern Haibun & Tanka Prose, Haibun Today, Modern English Tanka and Atlas Poetica. Tanka prose is also included in the annual anthology series, Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka (MET Press, 2009-2012).

Notes

1. Preminger, Alex and Brogan, T.V.F. The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993, p. 981.

2. Everett, Claire. “Tanka Prose, Tanka Tradition: An Interview with Jeffrey Woodward,” Atlas Poetica 9 (Summer 2011), p. 70.

3. Woodward, Jeffrey. “The Elements of Tanka Prose,” Modern English Tanka V2, N4 (Summer 2008), p. 194.

4. Konishi, Jin’ichi. A History of Japanese Literature, Volume One: The Archaic and Ancient Ages (Edited by Earl Miner, translated by Aileen Gatten and Nicholas Teele). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984, pp. 384-392 passim.

5. McCullough, Helen Craig. “Combinations of Poetry and Prose in Classical Japanese Narrative,” in Joseph Harris and Karl Reichl, Eds., Prosimetrum: Crosscultural Perspectives on Narrative in Prose and Verse, Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1997, pp. 415-416.

6. Beichman, Janine. Masaoka Shiki: His Life and Works. Boston: Cheng & Tsui, 2002 (A revised edition of the author’s original 1982 book in the Twayne’s World Authors series), p. 116. See, also, Janine Beichman-Yamamoto, “Masaoka Shiki’s A Drop of Ink,” Monumenta Nipponica XXX: 3 (Autumn 1975), pp. 291-315.

7. Konishi, Jin’ichi. A History of Japanese Literature, Volume Two: The Early Middle Ages (Edited by Earl Miner, translated by Aileen Gatten). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1986, pp. 251-252 and p. 257.

8. Konishi, Jin’ichi. A History of Japanese Literature, Volume Two: The Early Middle Ages (Edited by Earl Miner, translated by Aileen Gatten). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1986, pp. 255-258 and p. 355.

9. Konishi, Jin’ichi. A History of Japanese Literature, Volume Two: The Early Middle Ages (Edited by Earl Miner, translated by Aileen Gatten). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1986, pp. 256-257.

10. Cranston, Edwin A. The Izumi Shikibu Diary: A Romance of the Heian Court. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1969, pp. 113-116 and pp. 124-125.

11. Miner, Earl. Japanese Poetic Diaries. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1969, pp. 15-16.

12. Woodward, Jeffrey, Ed. The Tanka Prose Anthology. Baltimore, MD: Modern English Tanka Press, 2008, pp. 13-14.

13. Tarlton, Charles. “Toward a Theory and Practice of Tanka-Prose,” Haibun Today V5, N4 (December 2011).

14. Woodward, Jeffrey. “The Elements of Tanka Prose,” Modern English Tanka V2, N4 (Summer 2008), p. 194.

15. Woodward, Jeffrey. “The Elements of Tanka Prose,” Modern English Tanka V2, N4 (Summer 2008), p. 197.

16. Smyth, Florida Watts. “Festival of Spring,” in Charles E. Tuttle, Ed., Japan: Theme and Variations. Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1959, pp. 33-34.

17. Goldstein, Sanford. “Tanka Walk,” Northeast III: 15 (1983), pp. 26-32.

18. Reichhold, Jane. A Gift of Tanka. Gualala, CA: AHA Books, 1990. See also Reichhold’s Hawaii with Heidi (2001) and Her Alone (2002) from the same publisher.

19. Kimmel, Larry. “Obelisk,” Lynx XV: 3 (Oct. 2000).

20. Ward, Linda Jeannette. “Island Sunrise” and “Merchants Millpond,” Lynx XIV: 3 (Oct. 1999).

See Also

• Monogatari
• Nikki Bungaku
• Uta monogatari

References

• Everett, Claire. “Tanka Prose, Tanka Tradition: An Interview with Jeffrey Woodward,” Atlas Poetica 9 (Summer 2011), pp. 61-74

• Kunschke, Ingrid. “‘Forget-me-nots’: Balancing Minds and Modes,” Haibun Today V5, N2 (June 2011)

• Kunschke, Ingrid. “Tanka und Prosa,” TankaNetz (December 2004) (in German)

• Lucky, Bob (Editor). Atlas Poetica Special Feature: 25 Tanka Prose (July 2011)

• Lucky, Bob. “Topic Unknown: My Beginnings in Tanka Prose,” Haibun Today V5, N3 (September 2011)

• Philippou, Dru. “Entering the Mystery of ‘Hipólito, the Herder,’” Haibun Today V5, N4 (December 2011)

• Prime, Patricia. "A Game of Tag: Gary LeBel on Tanka Prose," Haibun Today V6, N3 (September 2012)

• Prime, Patricia. “Irresistible Constructions: a tanka prose essay,” Modern English Tanka V3, N1 (Autumn 2008), pp. 214-224

• Prime, Patricia. “Talking Points: Jeffrey Woodward on Haibun and Tanka Prose,” Simply Haiku V6, N3 (Autumn 2008)

• Prime, Patricia. “‘White & Red’: My Beginnings in Tanka Prose,” Haibun Today V5, N2 (June 2011)

• Santa Fe Poetry Broadside 55: Tanka Prose Special Issue (September 2008)

• Rasmussen, Ray. “Terra Incognita–The World of Haibun and Tanka Prose, An Interview with Jeffrey Woodward,” Contemporary Haibun Online V5, N4 (December 2009)

• Tarlton, Charles. “Memoir of an American Tanka-Prose,” Haibun Today V5, N3 (September 2011)

• Tarlton, Charles. “Toward a Theory and Practice of Tanka-Prose,” Haibun Today V5, N4 (December 2011)

• Woodward, Jeffrey. "The Elements of Tanka Prose," Modern English Tanka V2, N4 (Summer 2008), pp. 194-206

• Woodward, Jeffrey. “Prose and Verse in Tandem: Haibun and Tanka Prose,” Modern Haibun & Tanka Prose 2 (Winter 2009), pp. 154-163

• Woodward, Jeffrey. “The Road Ahead for Tanka in English,” Modern English Tanka V2, N2 (Winter 2007), pp. 179-187

• Woodward, Jeffrey. "Tanka Prose and Haibun Today," Haibun Today (Sept. 25, 2008)

• Woodward, Jeffrey (Editor). The Tanka Prose Anthology. Baltimore, MD: Modern English Tanka Press, ©2008. ISBN 978-0-9817691-3-4