Poetics of Transition : A Rhetoric of Anti-parallelism(<Special Feature>Panta Rhei <Utsuroi> Aesthetics)

Abstract

Roman Jacobson defined the poetic function in "Linguistics and Poetics" as follows. "The poetic function projects the principle of equivalence from the axis of selection into the axis of combination". He thought that the essence of poetic composition lies in repetition and demonstrated that parallelism is the necessary condition of poetry in many folks. Though tanka (short verse), the representative form of Japanese poetry, has scarcely repetition. Japanese much loved the parallelism in Chinese poetry and Japanese prose, but excluded it from tanka. Ancient tanka poets juxtaposed two equivalent words not only to produce repetition but also to change the topics. After 10th century poets mainly made use of them to change topics by fusing two words into one dual meaning word or paronomasia (kake-kotoba). For example, a tanka starts with mentioning love, shifts to describing scenery, then ends expressing love again. This verse is composed not by three sentences, but by one sentence with two paronomasia. Readers will enjoy twice transitions like going out and coming back through a revolving door. An unexpected experience of transition is found in various fields of Japanese art. Such as emakimono (picture scroll), Japanese stroll gardens, and especially renga (chained tanka) offer the transition as their key element of artistic effects.