THE TALE OF GENJI - TEMPLATE FOR POEM ANALYSIS

TYPES OF POEMS:

1. SPOKEN - INITIATES

2. SPOKEN - REPLIES

3. WRITTEN/ATTACHMENT - INITIATES

4. WRITTEN/ATTACHMENT - REPLIES

5. MUSED - INITIATES

6. MUSED - IN RESPONSE

7. LETTER - INITIATES

8. LETTER - REPLIES

(SUBSECTION (A) FOR ANY OF THE ABOVE INDICATES SURROGATION, IE. THAT THE POEM WAS COMPOSED BY SOMEONE ELSE)

PLEASE FOLLOW THE FOLLOWING FORM OF ANALYSIS FOR POEMS CONTAINED IN THE CHAPTER, OR THE SECTION OF A CHAPTER YOU HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED:

I JAPANESE CHAPTER NAME FROM FINDING LIST PLUS CHAPTER NUMBER

II CHAPTER NAME ABBREVIATION +POEM # (NUMBER CONSECUTIVELY IN EACH CHAPTER)

III SPEAKER OR WRITER PLUS NUMBER OF TYPE OF POEM FROM ABOVE LIST

(A) POEM IN JAPANESE LANGUAGE (N/A UNLESS YOU CAN)

(B)POEM IN JAPANESE LANGUAGE ROMANIZATION

(C) CHINESE TRANSLATION (N/A UNLESS YOU KNOW)

(D) ENGLISH TRANSLATION (SEIDENSTICKER WITH PG. NUMBER)

IV CONTEXT (WHAT HAPPENS DIRECTLY BEFORE AND AFTER THE POEM?)

V IMAGE BANK (LIST IMPORTANT IMAGES AND WHAT THEY SIGNIFY)

SAMPLES OF POEM ANALYSIS FROM THE TALE OF GENJI.

(EXAMPLE ONE)

I. MOMIJI NO GA 7

II.MG 1 OF 17

III. GENJI - 7

(A) N/Aもの思ふに、立ち舞ふべくも、あらぬ身の、袖うちふりし、心知りきや

(B) MONO OMOFU NI, TACHIMAU BEKI MO, ARANU MI NO, SODE UCHIFURI SHI, KOKORO SHIRIKI YA

(C) N/A

(D) "Through the waving, dancing sleeves could you see a heart so stormy that it wished but to be still?" S.133

IV. Fujitsubo has seen the splendor of Genji dancing the 'Waves of the Blue Ocean' (Seikaiha). The next morning Genji's poem arrives, to her embarrassment. She replies in a rather cold and formalistic manner, suggesting distance, yet she is still impressed. Genji keeps the letter spread out in front of him, reading and re-reading it.

V. Images: kokoro (the heart, the mind, the truth, that which cannot be seen) 'waving, dancing sleeves' (tachimau sode) - eroticism and hidden pleasure.***********************************************************************

(EXAMPLE TWO)

I. WAKANA-JO NUMJBER 34

II. WK 5 OF 24

III. MURASAKI - 3

(A)目に近く、移ればかはる、世の中を、行くすゑとほく、たのみけるかな

(B) ME NI CHIKAKU, UTSUREBA KAWARU, YO NO NAKA WO, YUKU SUE TOOKU, TANOMI KERU KANA

(C) N/A

(D) S 555 (English translation by K. L. Richard) Though before my very eyes, It changes, This world and everything in it, What have I done to trust in you, Till the end of time?

IV. On the evening of the third day of nuptial visits Genji must make to formalize his marriage to the Third Princess, mainly from a reluctant sense of duty to his half brother the retired Emperor Suzaku, Murasaki turns her face from Genji as he makes preparations to go, and writes the above poem as if to console herself. So many things have intervened in her life with Genji (the senseless separation that had taken place when he left the capital for Suma and Akashi, his brief affair with Oborozukiyo, etc.) that Murasaki no ue feels bitter pangs of jealously.

V.Images: The poem contains only images of inner turmoil with no direct reference to any object in the world. Disconnected and vaguely disturbing, the poem depends for its effect on the final questioning word 'kana.' The world of men and women (yo no naka) changes in her direct sight (me ni chikaku utsureba kawaru) because Genji comes back to her quarters each morning, but has not been sleeping at her side. Since this is an important pair of poems from the Wakana chapter, I will also give the response poem by Genji:

(EXAMPLE THREE)

I. WAKANA-JO NUMBER 34

II. WK 6 OF 24

III. GENJI - 3

(A)命こそ、絶ゆとも絶えめ、さだめなき、世のつねならぬ、なかのちぎりを

(B) INOCHI KOSO, TAYUTOMO TAEME, SADAMENAKI, YO NO TSUNE NARANU, NAKA NO CHIGIRI WO

(C) N/A

(D) S. 555 (Translation by K. L. Richard) May whatever life I have, End now if end it must; I know that even in such an unsettling world as this, Our promises are forever.

IV. Though Genji is hurried, emblematic of his distress perhaps, his poem strongly returns to Murasaki no ue, in the same vague and imageless way, that their promise to be together has not changed, and is not likely to change for the rest of their lives. This should be enough to calm Murasaki no ue, but, of course, it is only the beginning of what becomes an almost intolerable distress.

V. Genji's images are inochi, life itself, and yo, the outside world, the source of his current unrest. As a pair, these poems are strongly sentimental and romantic, much in the vein of modern song lyric.************************

(EXAMPLE FOUR)

I. NIOU MIYA NUMBER42

II. NM 1 OF 1

III. KAORU - 5

(A)おぼつかな、誰に問はまし、いかにして、はじめもはても、知らぬわが身ぞ

(B) OBOTSUKANA, TARE NI TOWAMASHI, IKA NI SHITE, HAJIME MO HATE MO, SHIRANU WAGA MI ZO

(C) N/A

(D) "Whom might I ask? Why must it be That I do not know the beginning or the end?" S. 737

IV. Kaoru, whose mother is The Third Princess, has taken to giving herself up to reading the sutras and praying for a better life in the next world. She has taken vows after the death of Kaoru's biological father Kashiwagi. Her only solace, however, seems to be her only remaining tie to the world, her son. He has no one to guide him, he is essentially a fatherless orphan because Genji, the Shining One, is dead. The poem chronicles the beginning of Kaoru's disintegration. He is alone.

V. Images: largely questions, not of the external world, but that he puts to his inner self, seeking a knowledge of a secret that has yet to be revealed, that Genji is not his real father. 'Obotsukana' means unclear and unsure, 'tare ni towamashi' implies that there is no one to whom he can go for help, 'ika ni shite' means 'how?' and 'shiranu waga mi' means a corporeal body that does not know itself. The poem has the flavor of high existential angst. A questioning Kaoru remains the basic nature of his personality, even after the secret of his birth is revealed to him. He doesn't go forward. He goes home to mama, The Third Princess.