Hello all!

I'm a first-time poster, who has been a fan of CAS for some time (through Lovecraft). But I came across what to me was a surprising reference to CAS the other day, and would like your opinion on it.

The other day I was reading the book /Japanese Haiku: Its Essential Nature, History, and Possibilities in English/ by Kenneth Yasuda (original date, 1957). This book, with a handful of others, was the first to really introduce the Japanese haiku to the English-speaking world. To my surprise, Dr. Yasuda takes time out of his forward to voice a word of thanks to CAS!

Could anyone tell me anything about what sort of relationship existed between Yasuda and CAS? And more generally, I would be interested in learning more about CAS and haiku...

Thank you,

Donald Uitvlugt

Quote:

October 1944: Arkham House publishes Smith's second book of short stories LOST WORLDS, dedicated "To August Derleth and Donald Wandrei." Circa the late 1940's, Smith assists Kenneth Yasuda with the "Englishing" of haiku from the Japanese. He becomes fascinated with the form's possibilities in English and creates over 100 haiku, many of which he includes in his SELECTED POEMS, in the section EXPERIMENTS IN HAIKU.

From:
Principal Facts of Biography by Donald Sydney-Fryer

The bibliography entry for Selecte Poems will list all the CAS haiku and take you to the indervidual poems.

Quote:

Slaughter-House Pasture
Clark Ashton Smith

Horned skulls and boned hooves
Litter the field
Together with the fallen leaves.

One of my personal favourites.

Welcome aboard and happy posting,

B.

See [www.indiana.edu]

I am kicking myself for not trying to contact him earlier.

:(

Scott

It sounds like a very fascinating a) scholarly essay or b) short play (!) could be written about the interaction between these two soft-spoken giants of the imagination... Were one to be able to somehow obtain a glimpse into their relationship...

Or maybe that's me just waxing poetic...

Donald

Is it just me, or are CAS's haiku sometimes a bit off where the number of syllables is concerned?

I'm more than a little confused, because if they are indeed off, then it must be intentional, because CAS was too much the craftsman to make such mistakes.

Yrs
Martin

I have read a fair bit of debate over the 5-7-5 rule, I don't know if there is any definitive answer but it does seem that sticking to it rigidly is only one interpretation of the form.

I'm sure CAS wouldn't have mistakenly miscounted syllables.

Perhaps some poetry scholar will give us a brief tutorial on the subject.

B.

The key, I feel, is looking at what Kenneth Yasuda has written about the haiku in English, and about the essentials of translating the form from the Japanese to English. I personally feel that he was looking towards a more fluid form than the 5-7-5 structure, as one would of a sonnet written in anything other than strict Italian meters.

Boyd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have read a fair bit of debate over the 5-7-5
> rule, I don't know if there is any definitive
> answer but it does seem that sticking to it
> rigidly is only one interpretation of the form.

Ah, I see. I've always thought that the 5-7-5 rule was inflexible.

>
> I'm sure CAS wouldn't have mistakenly miscounted
> syllables.
>

My point exactly.


Yrs
Martin

voleboy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The key, I feel, is looking at what Kenneth Yasuda
> has written about the haiku in English, and about
> the essentials of translating the form from the
> Japanese to English. I personally feel that he was
> looking towards a more fluid form than the 5-7-5
> structure, as one would of a sonnet written in
> anything other than strict Italian meters.

I'll see what I can dig up then. But as far as the sonnet is concerned, aren't there several differing variants of that as well? The Petrarcan, the Shakespearean, maybe others? Or are they mainly concerned with the rhyming scheme?

Yrs
Martin

Yes, there are differing versions of the sonnet, with varying rhyme schemes, however, each language, in effect, has its own version of the sonnet that may differ radically or no from the Italian original. English sonnets can, as they have a wider diversity of sonnet types, as well as the differing metrical requirement.