|
A Song of the Seasons
Marjorie Buettner
Sijo, the most popular poetic form in Korea for over 500
years, has its roots in ancient Chinese verse, the Lu-Shih.
In Hangul (the official Korean script) sijo consists of two
characters: time or period and rhythm or harmony. Therefore,
it is defined as a new song or song of the season. Sijo
originally arose from an oral tradition and was sung or
chanted with accompaniment. Sijo settled into a fixed form
in the mid 15th century due to the introduction of the
Hangul. This is one of the earliest known surviving sijo:
The spring breeze melted snow on the hills then
quickly disappeared
I wish I could borrow it briefly to blow
over my hair
And melt away the aging frost forming now
about my ears
Sijo is lyrical in nature and consists of rules and
regulations just as haiku and tanka, but it is
more
comparable to
tanka thematically than to haiku. I was first
introduced to sijo through Elizabeth St.
Jacques and Dr.
Larry Gross. The expanded form and lyrical quality intrigued
me. Typically, sijo has three lines but can be divided into
a six line format for typographical convenience. Sijo
contains a total of 44-46 syllables. The classic
expectations are as follows: in the first line (stich) the
theme is introduced. In the second line the theme is
developed or described. In the third stich the resolution
occurs along with a surprise ending or twist. In this
respect it is very similar to Hegel's theory of thesis,
antithesis, synthesis.
In essence, the first two lines create the atmosphere while
the third line (the most important line) includes a twist or
surprise. But the most important aspect of sijo is its
simplicity of rural setting and its musicality. Sijo
may or may not have punctuation, capitalization or title.
Poets may use metaphor, simile and repetition.
The most demanding part of sijo (revealing
its genius) is its structure. Each line (stich) consists of
14-16 syllables. Each half line (hemistich) contains 6-9
syllables except for the final line's last half which is
typically shorter with no fewer than 5 syllables.
Additionally, each half line is cut in half again, creating
4 equal segments per line with 3-5 syllables per segment. I
like to use a 15-15-15 syllabic pattern to equal 45
syllables, but this is not always so cut and dried.
Basically sijo consists of three independent sentences.
Each line ends in a hard stop; each line, however, has a
soft pause or caesura within it. Without this pause, or
distinction of complete sentences, sijo degenerates into
free verse. Run on sentences are not allowed in sijo.
Kirsty Karkow has a new collection of haiku, tanka and sijo
(Water Poems, Black Cat Press,
Eldersburg, Maryland, 2005). Karkow has honed
her poetic talents and is versatile in all of these genres,
but it is in the sijo where her proficiency as a poet
resides. Hear the lyrical quality of this following sijo and
notice the skill of her controlled rhythm:
all last night I lay awake
as great winds came with heavy snow
tall trees swept from side to side
big branches fell, twigs filled the
air
the graceful birch I loved so well
bowed
completely—broke in half
This poem expertly exemplifies the genius of the sijo form
with its inner pauses along with its external stops; its
surprise or twist at the end is quite
evident.
Karkow shows us that the future of sijo as a viable poetic
form is in good hands.
|
