A Japanese poet of Edo period of the 17th century, Matsuo Basho is well-known as a master of the brief and clear haiku. His The Narrow Road to the Interior is a travel tale based on the personal searching for the harmony with nature. In this essay example, you will find this haiku by Matsuo Basho summary and analysis.
Narrow Road to the Interior: Summary
The journey impressed Basho and led to the reflection of his experience in the poetry which shows the readers deep and beautiful world. The author uses numerous bright figures of the speech in order to express a profundity of the theme of relations between man and nature.
The main theme of Basho’s haiku is the nature. The author wants to describe the human efforts in finding a harmony with a natural world. This idea is repeated in many haiku. His tale is a travel diary of the trip through Northern Japan. The complexity of the structure of The Narrow Road to the Interior emphasizes the specific manner of writing of Matsuo Basho.
Another theme of his poetry is the humbleness of life. Basho teaches his students do not imitate him and be unique. Free and gentle mind is very important issue of the life in harmony. If the students strive to be like the teacher and don’t want to explore their own way the life would be boring and irrelevant.
The travels allow being free into the thing’s choice. This experience is extremely important for the future. Therefore, Basho chooses the way of travelling and exploration of the new worlds, countries, cultures and wonders. All these particular experiences can inspire and help searching for the spiritual perception.
Natsuo Basho Haiku Analysis
Basho uses the numerous figures of speech such as symbolism, metaphor and allusion. For instance, the first line of The Narrow Road to the Interior describes the sun and moon as “eternal voyagers” and heaven and earth as “universal innkeepers” (622). The rhetorical questions are another popular approach of Basho’s work: “how long does happiness lost” (622).
Writing about falling snow, Basho uses only the image of snow the readers the picture of a man who is in the middle of his journey and starting to face the beautiful nature. The snow is an allusion of his white hair that is starting to grow. Therefore, it is not just a snow that covers a half-finished bridge. This bridge is a symbol of man’s life. The haiku is always consists of three lines with 17 syllables.
That is why the translation of the haiku from the Japanese is a complicated work, it is kind of challenge. However, all of them represent the same vision of the beauty and eternity of the nature. Falling flower is Basho’s poetry is a symbol of the young samurai which sudden death impressed the author. The image of camellia blossom moves from the beautiful tool of the nature to the recognizing of life’s brevity (622).
Basho never uses an image of the ground of soil for his evocative allusions. Perhaps, his choice is a cause of striving to show the high ideals. The image of flower is used in order to show the life circle and its fragility.
The earth for the Basho is a vessel of the pure water which maintains the old and brings the new life. Obviously, the translation of the work changes the details and influences the perception. Nevertheless, the great world of Basho’s poetry expresses every reader.
In the 17th century, Japanese educated elite was engaged in writing and reciting poetry as a form of entertainment. The sensitivity to nature and the ability to discuss the classic works were the popular characteristics of the aristocracy. Although Basho’s family wasn’t rich the original talent helped Matsuo to find his place and to open a new way in a Japanese literature.
However, the structure of Basho’s works in not only his inventory, the author uses the literary inheritance of 800-years-old tradition of his country. The cultural context of the Basho’s poetry is history of his native land. Besides, Basho was a supporter of Zen meditation. Obviously, the approaches of Zen helped the author to create his poems within the current cultural methods.
Basho’s poetry can be considered from the position of the world innovative. Moreover, the present haiku structure that is known today was created by Basho. Therefore, it is possible to call his poetry revolutionary for the genre.
Conclusion
Matsuo Basho inspired not only his students but a wide range of poets as well. For instance, Yosa Buson and Kobayashi Issa who lived in 17th and 18th centuries were influenced by Basho’s works. The style of Matsuo Basho’s poetry doesn’t change. From work to work, he uses the same theme and figures of speech that emphasize the connection of human life to the nature.
Basho Matsuo is one of the greatest luminaries of the Asian literature. He developed the haiku to an art form that expresses the spiritual beauty of human life and a purity of the nature. His travel diary The Narrow Road to the Interior is a great example of such combination of the personal searching for the harmony within the eternity of nature.
Works Cite
Basho, Matsuo. “The Narrow Road of the Interior”. Transl. Helen Craig McCullough. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Vol. D. 2nd edition. NY: W.W. Norton and Co., 2002.