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Sep 02 2016

Matsuo Bashō: Deep Silence

Isaac Levitan, A Quiet Monastery - The Culturium
Isaac Levitan, A Quiet Monastery.
Photograph: [Public Domain] Wikimedia Commons

How can silence be explained in words?

MATSUO BASHŌ’S FAMOUS haiku is a profound meditation on the power of poetry to express the inexpressible and convey the unspoken eloquence of all that is.

閑かさや 岩にしみ入る 蝉の声
Shizukasa ya iwa ni shimiiru semi no koe

deep silence
the shrill of cicadas
seeps into rocks

—Matsuo Bashō
(1644–94)

[Haiku composed at Yama-dera, “Mountain Temple”, Japan, 1689.]

Matsuo Basho, On Love and Barley - The Culturium

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Post Notes

  • Matsuo Bashō: The Narrow Road to the Deep North
  • John Zerzan: Silence
  • Gabriel Rosenstock: To Thine Own Self Be True
  • Emily Dickinson: A Woman Before Her Time
  • Roger Housden: Ten Poems for Difficult Times
  • Liam Ó Muirthile: Camino de Santiago, Dánta, Poems, Poemas
  • Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden & Zen Master Ryokan

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Written by Paula Marvelly · Categorized: Literature · Tagged: haiku, isaac levitan, japanese, matsuo bashō, poetry, silence

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