Writings Across the World

Every poem one has read, seen, or memorized has its own author, and that author has their own culture, backstory, and ethnicity. This shows in their writing because their culture and their ethnicity seep into their work as they write, giving readers this unique type of writing which comes from a unique person from a unique country or culture. Every country has its own style, and if the poet has lived there long enough, their style might change depending on the culture of where they live.

For example, in Japan, poetry has existed since the Chinese Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE), and for the most part Japanese poetry is fairly traditional. Its types of poetry focus mainly on rhythm rather than rhyme. Ten types of Japanese poetry are the Haiku, Kanshi, Renga, Renku, Tanka, Haikai, Haibun, Katauta, Sedoka, and Waka. The waka is the oldest type of poetry, and surprisingly it was mainly written by women because men mostly wrote in Chinese during that time period. There are always exceptions, and Japan does have poets who compose freestyle or modern poems, but for the most part Japanese style of poetry is traditional and rhythmic. Matsuo Basho, the most famous Japanese poet, helped to invent the haiku, and his poem “The Old Pond” is widely known and a great example of classic Japanese poetry. 

The Old Pond

Old pond…

A frog jumps in

water’s sound

In Scotland, England, and Ireland, poetry was heavily influenced by writers of old—for example, William Shakespeare or Robert Burns. Full of dialect and rich with culture, most Scottish poems focus on things their country loves or wants to remember. Robert Louis Stevenson, Walter Scott, and Robert Burns are three of the most famous Scottish poets. In England, many types of poetry exist, and many of the most famous poets in the world came from England. For example, Christina Rosetti, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Browning, William Wordsworth, and the list of English poets goes on and on. Though their styles varied, one can probably say that they drew their poetry forms from the roots of their country and from their fellow writers. Irish poetry was once described as “alliterative syllabic verse, lyric in form and heroic in content, in praise of famous men, or in lament for the death of a hero” (Irish Poetry). It was full of variety and mainly unrhymed—at least in the beginning—and continued to evolve as its country and its writers changed. John Montague, Oscar Wilde, and William Butler Yeats are three of the most well known Irish poets. 

A stanza of “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns

O my Luve is like a red, red rose

   That’s newly sprung in June;

O my Luve is like the melody

   That’s sweetly played in tune.

A stanza of “The Tyger” by William Blake (an English poet)

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, 

In the forests of the night; 

What immortal hand or eye, 

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

“The Last Rose of Summer” by Thomas Moore (an Irish poet) 

‘Tis the last rose of summer,

    Left blooming alone;

All her lovely companions

    Are faded and gone;

No flower of her kindred,

    No rose-bud is nigh,

To reflect back her blushes

    Or give sigh for sigh!

Chinese poetry from the olden days was used as an essential means of voice for the people. They used it in their daily lives and sometimes as support or protest against their rulers. Poetry was considered elegant and refined. It was also used as a way to connect with nature. Traditional Chinese poetry was very symbolic, concrete, visual, closely attached to daily life, concise, and deeply influenced by religion. Even today, all of these concepts of Chinese poetry are still present. 

“Thoughts in the Silent Night” by Li Bai

Moonlight reflects off the front of my bed.

Could it actually be the frost on the ground?

I look up to view the bright moon,

And look down to reminisce about my hometown.

Finally, in America one can see all of these styles of poetry come together. Poets would immigrate, bringing their style with them, and the style would slowly change to something else. American poets are constantly trying out new ways of writing. However, this doesn’t mean that those who leave their culture and country leave their style of writing behind; instead, as it changes, it becomes what it once was and something new at the same time. Even though today most poetry is mainly modern and not traditional, there are still poets whose culture displays itself in their writing, and as we look at writers of old we see how their country influenced them just as their country influences the writers now. 

Photo Credit: iStock

Works Cited: 

“China’s Unique Poetry”. Taiwan Today, September 1, 1966, https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=20,29,35,45&post=26138

“Irish Poetry”. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_poetry

“10 Types of Japanese Poetry: A Guide to Japanese Poetic Forms”. Masterclass, August 1, 2021, https://www.masterclass.com/articles/a-guide-to-japanese-poetic-forms

“13 Famous Chinese Poems with English Translations”. Mandarin Matrix, https://mandarinmatrix.org/famous-chinese-poems/

“30+ Haiku Poems”. Haiku Analysis, https://poemanalysis.com/form/haiku-poems/