SESSION 14 — Form & Meaning: The Tanka
Photo by Andrea Cau on Unsplash
Discussion
The tanka is a thirty-one-syllable poem, traditionally written in a single unbroken line. A form of waka, Japanese song or verse, tanka translates as “short song,” and is best recognized today in its five-line form, with a 5/7/5/7/7 syllable count.
One of the oldest Japanese forms, the tanka originated in the seventh century, and quickly became the preferred verse form not only in the Japanese Imperial Court, where nobles competed in tanka contests, but for women and men engaged in courtship. The tanka’s economy and suitability for emotional expression made it ideal for intimate communication; lovers would often, after an evening spent together (often clandestinely), dash off a tanka to give to the other the next morning as a gift of gratitude.
In many ways, the tanka resembles the sonnet, certainly in terms of treatment of subject. Like the sonnet, the tanka employs a turn, known as a pivotal image, which marks the transition from the examination of an image to the examination of the personal response. This turn is located within the third line, connecting the kami-no-ku, or upper poem, with the shimo-no-ku, or lower poem.
Carl Sadakichi Hartmann (1867-1944)
Oh, were the white waves,
Far on the glimmering sea
That the moonshine laves,
Dream flowers drifting to me,—
I would cull them, love, for thee.
Mokichi Saito (1882-1953)
Coming to a wall,
a lacewing Mayfly
is clinging to it --
the sheer transparency
Of the wings, their mournfulness.
Tada Chimako (1930-2003)
the round spoon
with the curvature
of a concave mirror
scoops out my eye
and swallows it.
Billy Collins (born 1941)
New York is brimming
with people who are thinking
about the city
that gives them a lease on life
but takes as much as it gives.
Writing Prompt
Think about something you noticed recently—a realization, an epiphany, a scene in nature or in your living room. It doesn’t matter.
Write a tanka about it. Try to include a turn, a shift in imagery, perspective or tone somewhere in the last half of the poem.
You don’t have to stick to 5-7-5-7-7. It can be a tanka in spirit! Have fun!
If you’d like to share your new creation with us, click below. We’d love to read your work!