Syllabics 8

In the early 90's Jane Reichhold began the Tanka Splendor Awards. This is a yearly contest that Tanka poets enter and it was a major stimulus for the emerging interest among English language poets in Tanka. Each year there was a judge for the entries. In 1995 Larry Gross was the judge. In the Introduction to the published winners, Gross wrote, "A form evolves and persists over time because it does certain things exceedingly well. The sonnet, vilanelle and even limerick are often-cited examples in the western tradition. Tanka is a worthy addition to that list." I would add that Renga is a worthy addition to that list as well.

This is a difficult position to maintain today because of the dominance of free verse views. I think, though, that Gross touched on something that is worth contemplating. Renga has evolved and changed over time. The main change in Renga has been in the number of verses involved in a Renga. There has been a steady shrinking of the number of verses from the standard of 100 Verses which dominated in the medieval period and in the Renga of Sogi, to the 36 Verse form that was the hallmark of Basho's efforts, to modern 12 Verse forms such as the Shisan and Junicho, highlighted on this blog. On the other hand, there are certain features of a Renga which have been maintained over the entire course of the history of Renga and I think the reason they have been maintained is because these particular features make it possible for Renga to do what it does "exceedingly well."

Among the features that have been maintained are 1) seasonal reference, and 2) topical references that include the moon, love, and blossoms. In addition, the manner in which Renga is written, with careful attention to link and shift, has been a constant throughout its history.

The above features are notable, but there is one additional feature which I think is worth mentioning, and that is that Renga has maintained its syllabic form throughout its long history. That is to say the sequence of verses alternates so that every odd numbered verse is 5-7-5 syllables and every even numbered verse is in 7-7 syllalbes. I think this is a feature of Renga which has not been emphasized enough.

The impact of having a standard syllabic form in Renga is that such a standard syllabic form provides a unity to the flow of images; it holds the images together at the level of rhythm. For the most part, westerners have not tried to mimic the standard syllabics of Renga. I would like to suggest that western Renga poets give the standard syllabics a try. This particularly applies if the Renga is done by a group. When all the poets in a participation Renga agree to a syllabic form, this, again, provides an underyling rhythmic unity to the images and voices being presented. It's a steady flow communicated to the reader.

I refer to this rhythm as the Tanka Pulse. I call it the "Tanka Pulse" because it is rooted in the Tanka form of Japanese poetry. Renga grew out of Tanka in a natural way and adopted the syllabic structure of Tanka.

Under the influence of free verse views, the pulse of a Renga is lost because line length can vary dramatically from image to image. The result is, often, like a series of snap-shots, or a stop action movement, rather than a steady, pulse driven, movement from image to image. The Tanka pulse continues through the inbetweens of the verses. This is where formal syllabic verse has an advantage over free verse linneation, and I think for Renga in particular the virtues of a steady, formal, linneation can be heard clearly when reading a Renga. There emerges a kind of musical quality, a rhythmic coherence, from adopting the traditional syllabic countours of traditional Renga.