However, the ghostly quality of this poem that coincides with the sadness the poet feels is suggested by the connotations of the word "ashes," which is suggestive of cremation and the end of life. There is a definite mortal quality of this poem, which becomes clearer to the reader when analyzing the second and final stanza, which is contained within the following quotation. "These are the clothes/Your adoring woman has sewn,/Thoughts all astray./to keep until the day we meet again/Do not be troubled about me:/if only life lasts" (Nakamura 2009, 7-8). The poet emphasizes the fact that a reunion with her husband is largely dependent upon their ability to stay "alive." However, the doubt inherent in the tenuous nature of mortal existence is demonstrated by the alliteration in the final line, "if only life lasts." The fact that life may not last, and that the pair may not live to see one another again, imbues this poem with a spectral nature that supports the theme of sadness about the couple's forced loss of love.
As this paper demonstrates, diction is highly influential in the way Japanese poets depict love and its loss through Manyoshu. The importance of this diction is evident in the wide
These devices enable the poets to depict the fleeting nature of love, which is why so many of the poems in this volume deal with the haunting memory of a past relationship that a poet is clinging to through his or her writing.
Works Cited
Keene, Donald. Anthology of Japanese Literature, From the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century. New York: Grove Press. 1955 Print.
Keene, Donald. Sources of Japanese Tradition: Volume 1: From Earliest Times to 1600. New York: Columbia University Press. Print. 2002.
Morrow, Avery. "The Undecipherable Poem, No. 9 of the Manyoshu." 2004. Web. http://avery.morrow.name/studies/manyoshu
Nakamura, Dr. Hisashi. "Ten Thousand Leaves." Tanka Society. 2009. Web. http://www.tankasociety.com/Tanka%20booklet%20Final%202.pdf
Reiser, Gary. "FormForAll -- Manyoshu Poetry." Dversepoets.com 2011. Web. http://dversepoets.com/2011/11/03/formforall-manyoshu-poetry-hosted-today-by-jane-kohut-bartels-lady-nyo/
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