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A
World Map: Developments in World
Haiku |
| GEORGES
FRIEDENKRAFT |
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Style
and Spirit in French Haiku
Georges Friedenkraft, PhD
Paris, France
The French
adaptation of haiku (and of its related genre, tanka) has both followed the
traditional Japanese values in style and spirit, as well as modified them. As
for the style, since French language has little accentuation, authors have
attempted to improve the rhythm by shortening verses, using rhyme, alliteration
or
other specific techniques. As for the spirit, the seasonal word is not
always present in French haiku and the "weight of being" is no longer
related to the enlightenment of Japanese Buddhism, but rather, to a
non-religious existentialist stance. Thus, many poems written nowadays in
French-speaking countries, though not presented by their authors as haiku, could
clearly be included in the genre. This is shown in several examples selected
from the works of modern French poets.
The traditional Japanese haiku is
defined both by its style and spirit. The style (form) involves three verses
(five for the related tanka) with precise metrics (5-7-5 feet for haiku and
5-7-5-7-7 feet for tanka). The spirit (content) should be related to the
seasonal mood (a seasonal word should be included in the poem) and to the
"weight of being", as interpreted by the enlightenment of Zen
Buddhism. In the present article, I would like to show how the French
language haiku has followed these traditional values in style and spirit,
as well as modifying them. Evidence will be provided by the quotation of several
French haiku, for which the original French text will be followed by English
translation.
As for the form, many French haiku
follow traditional metrics without any additions that could give "a French
touch", i.e. Anick Baulard (1):
Est-ce pour les fées
Que la digitale tisse
Ses longs gants des poupre? (1)
Is it for the fairies
That the foxglove weaves
Its long gloves of purple? (1)
Improvements in Rhythm
As the French language has little
accentuation, several authors have tried however, to strengthen the tonal
accents and thus, the rhythm. The first technique shortened the verses (thus,
abandoning the 5-7-5 metrics), instead producing three short and very rhythmic
verses. One example is a work on the sea by the modern writer, Alain Kervern
(2):
Ma fringale de brise
La chaleur du sel
Et j'ai soif de nuit (2:
Sharp hunger of breeze
The heat of the salt
My thirst for the night (2)
Other authors, whether they follow
5-7-5 metrics or not, often include discreet rhyme or alliteration. In the
following examples, rhymes are shown in bold text, and alliteration underlined.
The two first poems were written at the beginning of the century by the first
authors attempting to writing haiku in French. The first is by Paul Eluard (3),
and the second by Julien Vocance (4).
Speaking for a young girl, Eluard
lets her say:
Paysage de paradis
Nul ne sait que je rougis
Au contact d'un homme, la nuit (3)
Paradise landscape
Nobody knows I am blushing
When touching a man, at night (3)
And Vocance brings us to a circus
where acrobats are performing:
Des galops égaux
Au dessous de sauts
Crevant des cerceaux (4)
Smooth gallops
Beneath jumps
That burst into hoops (4)
Several modern poets still use
rhyme, for example, Philippe Caquant, describing an autumn scene (5) and Patrick
Blanche, when noticing the changing of the year in the middle of winter (6):
La feuille indécise
glisse entre les nénuphars
et s'immobilise (5)
Undecided the leaf
slips between water lilies
and come to a stop (5)
Une année s'en va
Le chrysanthème blanc a
changé de couleur (6)
A departing year
The white chrysanthemum
has changed color (6)
Alliteration is even more common,
such as when French Canadian poet André Duhaime tell us of an old orchard (7),
and when Jean Antonini explains with humour, the relationship between peeling
potatoes and thinking (8) or when Daniel Py simply enjoys the heat of the sun
(9):
au bout de la rue
deux tas de pierres veillent
sur le vieux verger (7)
at the end of the street
two piles of stones keep watch
over the old orchard (7)
éclats de pensée
épluchant des patates
au-dessus d'une poubelle (8)
shreds of thought
when peeling potatoes
over a dust-bin (8)
Le soleil entoure
la maison La chaleur
cherche l'ouverture (9)
The sun surrounds
the house The heat
looks for an opening (9)
Alliteration has also been used in
tanka. A famous master of the French tanka was René Galichet. In his tanka
devoted to the spider (10), three different alliterations can be noticed:
Dans l'ombre tissée
Par ces minces fils d'argent
Elle dort sans trève
Parfois rôde un rêve d'aile
Un frisson parcourt la toile (10)
In the shadow woven
By its thin silver treads
It always sleeps
Sometimes winged dream comes prowling
A shiver passes over the web (10)
Combinations can be found, such as
in the following haiku by Daniel Richard (11), including both internal rhyme
(bold text) and alliteration (underlined text):
D'un demi
sourire
Le visage de l'ami
A ma vue s'éclaire (11)
With a half-smile
The face of a friend
Lights up when he sees me (11)
Special attempts
Concerning the style of French
haiku, three rather original attempts should be mentioned. In several works, not
only haiku, Jacques Arnold, who was originally trained as a German teacher,
suggested emphasizing tonal accents in the reading of French poems. For the
haiku, this would lead to three verses of 2-3-2 tonal accents. In the following
haiku (12), Arnold's "accentual metrics" (underlined text) exclude
neither the classical 5-7-5 feet metrics, nor discreet rhyme:
Jasons: Dieu merci
ça sent si bon la forêt
la soupe au persil (12)
Let us chat: thank you God
it smells so nicely like forest
the parsley soup (12)
In a slightly different attitude,
Lionel Le Barzig proposed to construct tanka, not using feet, but semantic
units. This new poem would be called "tankème" and include 2-3-2-3-3
= 13 semantic units, easy to find in his "amazon" (13):
Amazone fière
Au long corps de colonne
Ton cour brûlant
Invoque l'ascèse qui transfigure
La lanière qui ouvre l'infini (13)
Proud amazon
With a long columnar body
Your burning heart
Invokes the asceticism which transfigures
The thin lash which opens the infinite (13)
Finally, Emmanuel Lochac proposed
employing a classical French verse of twelve feet, called "alexandrin",
to create poems in one verse, the monostich, which could be understood as a
French equivalent to Japanese haiku (14):
Aumône d'un regard aux plantes
aquatiques (14)
Giving the aquatic plants a look,
as alms (14)
An existentialist spirit
As for the content of French
haiku, a seasonal word can be present, such as in this poem by Eliane Biedermann,
in which the month of February is clearly mentioned (15); but very often, in
French haiku, the seasonal word disappears.
Dans le blanc ciel de février
un escadron majestueux de bernacles
glisse lentement (15)
In the white sky of February
a majestic squadron of barnacles
glides slowly (15)
The "weight of being",
of course, can no longer, be related to the enlightenment of Zen Buddhism, but
now, rather, to a non-religious existentialist stance, as exemplified by Jean
Paul Sartre and his followers -- and which, in poetry, would be the description
of a strong emotional moment, as such of which Daniel Richard writes when
hearing a false note (16):
Une fausse note!
on tressaille quand
le tonnerre éclate (16)
A false note!
trembling when
the thunder then breaks out (16)
This "laicised" way of
writing poems seems to be an important characteristic of French haiku, and also,
a large segment of modern French poetry. Thus, many poems written nowadays in
France or French-speaking countries, though not presented by their authors as
haiku, could clearly be included in this literary genre. They do combine a
succinctness of text (limited to a few words) and creation of an intense
emotional moment, which is clearly an existential approach to the "weight
of being". The following examples are are from the modern poet, Pierre
Esperbé (17), and the famous, late poet, Eugène Guillevic, whose example
contains discreet rhyme:
Veille
à ce souvenir
d'un espoir
fixité (17)
Keep watch over
this memory
of a hope
fixity (17)
Il marchait souvent
Par pluie et par vent
Il me regardait
Pour trouver ma gorge (18)
Often he walked
In rain or in wind
And when he came back
He looked at me
To find my throat (18)
It is worth noting that the
natural evolution of a large part of modern French poetry following the
surrealist revolution, has led to an economy of words and an increase in the
depth of feeling, both of which correspond to the two main characteristics of
traditional Japanese haiku.
References
(1) A. Baulard, Saisons,
Rouville (France), Les Adex publisher, 1999, p 2
(2) A.Kervern, Les portes du monde, Bédée (France), Avoines folles
publisher, 1992, p 48
(3) P.Eluard, Nouvelle Revue Française, 1920, 84, p 340
(4) J.Vocance, Nouvelle Revue Française, 1920, 84, p 333
(5) P.Caquant, Haikus, France, Personal publication, 1995, p 15
(6) P.Blanche, in: Multilingual Haiku Troubadours 2000, (edited by Ban'ya
Natsuishi), Tokyo, Ginyu Press, 2000, p 36
(7) A.Duhaime, Haikus d'ici, Hull (Canada), Asticou publisher, 1987, p 66
(8) J.Antonini, in: Le chat a des souvenirs de jungle (edited by
P.Blanche), France, Personal publication, 1995, p 256
(9 D.Py, J.Gits, Un poète, un peintre, Personal publication, 1995, no
page number
(10) R.Galichet, Le miroir brisé, Nïmes (France), Les sentiers
poétiques publisher, 1981, p 9
(11) D.Richard, Le jardin japonais, Paris, La pensée universelle
publisher, 1990, p 50
(12) J.Arnold, Filantes, Mortemart (France), Rougerie publisher, 1995, p
76
(13) L. Le Barzig, Tankèmes, France, Personal publication, 1978, p 13
(14) E.Lochac, in: Emmanuel Lochac, ses visages et leurs énigmes (edited
by J.Arnold), Paris, La Jointée publisher, 1994, p 136
(15) E.Biedermann, Lumière douce au toucher, Charlieu (France), La
Bartavelle publisher, 1995, p 30
(16) D.Richard, op.cit., p 50
(17) P.Esperbé, Concerto pour marées et silences, Paris, Chambelland
publisher, 1974, p 66
(18) E.Guillevic, in: Guillevic (edited by J.Tortel), Paris, Seghers
publisher, 1978, p 11
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