Chinese and Japanese Poetry
By: Samantha Aguilar and Melanie Hernandez, English 2
"Thick Grow the Rush Leaves"
Their white dew turns to frost.
He whom I love
Must be somewhere along this stream.
I went up the river to look for him,
But the way was difficult and long.
I went down the stream to look for him,
And there in mid-water
Sure enough, it's he!
Close grow the rush leaves,
Their white dew not yet dry.
He whom I love
Is at the water's side.
Up stream I sought him;
But the way was difficult and steep.
Down stream I sought him,
And away in mid-water
There on a ledge, that's he!
Very fresh are the rush leaves;
The white dew still falls.
He whom I love
Is at the water's edge.
Up stream I followed him;
But the way was hard and long.
Down stream I followed him,
And away in mid-water
There on the shoals is he!
The poem, Thick Grow the Rush, is about a women searching love. When she goes upstream the journey is long and hard. This symbolizes that when she looking and trying to find love she can't find it. When she goes downstream the journey isn't hard and tiring. This symbolizes that when she isn't trying for love it comes to her easily.
Important literary elements found in the poem is repetition when the phrase "He whom I love", "mid-water" and "white-dew".
Art and music
"Ono Komachi"
Thinking of him,
That he came in my dreams?
Had i known it a dream
I should not have wakened.
The poem's summary is a woman is not sure if she dreams of a man in her dreams. She then wakes up and realizes that in fact she was dreaming and because she woke up she wishes she had not awoken from the dream.
An important literary element found in the poem would be mood because the poem creates a longing mood for a loved one.