To what degree do William Carlos Williams' poems: "The Term",

"The Red Wheelbarrow", "Between Walls" imitate classical

Japanese haiku?

Haiku is, indeed, a very distinctive—and most intriguing—form of

traditional Japanese poetry which, as one of the few, managed to break the

intercultural boundaries and appeal to both: poets and readers all over the world.

Its’ influence is most discernible in works of poetry writers of USA, as almost

every one of them—starting from the XIX century—has either written a few

haikus him/herself or created some works that are very similar in style and form.

A few poems of William Carlos Williams—namely “The Term”, “The Red

Wheelbarrow” and “Between Walls”—are a fine representative group of said

haiku-influenced works, as although being very similar to the short form of

Japanese poetry in couple of aspects, they do possess some easily discernible

differences.

The first characteristic feature of haiku is—definitely—its’ unusual

structure. The standard poem of such sort “is, today, a 17-syllable verse form

consisting of three metrical units of 5, 7, and 5 syllables” (HAIKU for PEOPLE)

and it is quite easy to see that none of the poems of William C. Williams listed

above fulfills those characteristics. Alas, although neither syllable count, nor the

metrical division seem to fit the standard pattern, all three works are very regular

in their shapes and, at the same time, rather brief. “Between Wall”, for instance,

consists of five stanzas, consisting of five to seven syllables formed in two

verses per stanza. The syllable count for each stanza reads as follows: five, six,

five, six, seven—a rather unusual, yet regular pattern—still, the most important

of the factors associated with form is broken. With the syllables counted above,

it is quite apparent that length of up to seventeen syllables—the most crucial

characteristic feature of haiku, as the division into metrical units was introduced

by the translators of the original, Japanese poems—has been significantly

exceeded, and the same goes for “The Red Wheelbarrow” as well as “The

Term”.

Fortunately, another feature associated purely with composition still

remains, as the original haikus did not employ rhymes, whatsoever. Original
poems of such sort were written, naturally, in Japanese—a language in which

the words are composed by the means of linking many syllables into one,

meaningful unit—but the translations too remained unrhymed, and so did most

of the haiku-based poems. Thanks to the above fact, most of such works can, in

fact, be written down as a long, but single sentence, or couple of short sentences.

For example:

An old pond!
A frog jumps in-
The sound of water.
Basho Matsuo.

Can be easily turned to: “An old pond! A frog jumps in—the sound of water”. It

is quite clear that classic haiku poems were, in fact, pieces of prose turned into

poetry by means of composition, and also by means of meaning. The same goes

for each of the mentioned poems of William C. Williams, for instance “The Red

Wheelbarrow”:

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

 chickens.
William Carlos Williams

As opposed to: “So much depends upon a red wheelbarrow glazed with rain

water, beside the white chickens”.

With certain aspects of form discussed, it is time to move on to the issue

of theme—another distinctive feature of haiku poems. Classic haikus employ

mainly “just as it was, of subjects taken from daily life” (HAIKU for PEOPLE),

as their purpose is to evoke the feeling of peace with a simple depiction of an

equally simple, yet beautiful, scene. In this regard two of Williams’ poems are

very similar to the original idea of haiku; “Between Walls” and “The Red
Wheelbarrow” are simply pictures of—accordingly—“pieces of a green / bottle”

and “a red wheel / barrow” placed in a tranquil scenery. First of the two poems

is already a little different from the usual pattern, as the scene depicted in it,

however peaceful, is somehow disturbing. “Broken pieces of glass” situated

among “cinders” in “a hospital where nothing will grow” are not the most

suitable setting / theme for a haiku, especially when compared with the pond

from Basho Matsuo’s poem. Nevertheless, “Between Walls” is still closer to the

original shape of haiku then “The Term”—a poem filled with metaphor; full of

motion and non-realistic pictures, both of which oppose everything what

ordinary haikus are about.

Based on the above observations, I think that in each of the three

discussed poem of Williams there is a discernible trace of haiku’s influence,

however each one of them is either closer or a little bit further from the original

form. The least similar one is “The Term” in which a haiku-like rhythmic—but

neither length, nor structure—is used to depict a very vivid and metaphorical

scene which, only when stripped of its’ metaphor, would qualify to act as a

proper haiku setting. “Between Walls” is much closer to the typical pattern—

both in structure and in picture drawn before the eyes of a reader. Second poem

is a lot shorter, and although it is still based in a scenery that—in my opinion—

does not fully satisfy needs of haiku poetry, its’ topic can evoke the feeling of

peace, dashed with a small portion of grim atmosphere. The closest of three

discussed works of Williams is naturally “The Red Wheelbarrow”, which length

exceeds the typical haiku poems only by five additional syllables. The scene

depicted in the mentioned poem is tranquil, and with no doubt could have been

borrowed from someone’s everyday life. However different—or similar—the

mentioned works of William Carlos Williams may be to a classic haiku, they are

a fine example of impact of the given piece of Japanese poetry on works of a

western author. In my opinion the extensive influence of haikus on international

poetry has been well earned, as—simple, or even trivial, as they may be—the

short poems named “haikus” are capable of embedding peace even in most

restless of spirits.

Sources:

HAIKU for PEOPLE (http://www.toyomasu.com/haiku/#whatishaiku) (11 June 2009)

HAIKU for PEOPLE (http://www.toyomasu.com/haiku/#basho) (11 June 2009)