Essays on Hokku
Although they share 3 lines and a short form, hokku and contemporary haiku have large differences in content and structure. The essays in this section are intended to show some of these differences.
"The Divergent Views of Henderson and Blyth" highlights hokku's emphasis on direct experience and spiritual living versus haiku's more secular, artistic-creation view. "Different Views of Nature" deals with the different ideas between the 2 forms on what nature really is. "Punctuation--No Punctuation" traces its use or lack of use in American haiku from its beginnings with Pound and the Imagists to the translations of Henderson and Blyth to the current time when punctuation becomes a structural difference between haiku and hokku. "The Legacy of Pound's Translations" discusses the beginning of the hybridization that has occurred with contemporary American haiku and tanka.
It is my hope that these essays help to clarify 2 distinctive philosophies and practices that have evolved from Blyth's and Henderson's ideas and translations.
Donna Ferrell--2004
The Divergent Views of Henderson and Blyth
The Legacy of Pound's Translations.htm
