Tales of Ise and The Tosa Diary Essay -- Literary Analysis

As seen in examples of monogatari such as Tales of Ise or nikki with The Tosa Diary, poetry is a very much used tool in the writings. While other examples of the two writing styles use poetry, these two examples best demonstrate the breaks in the writing style changes from a narrative and turns into something that takes on a more personal voice when it clearly goes into its poetic style. These poems are made to compliment the setting, such as in a poem credited to the former governor in The Tosa Diary where there is a description of the waves as they illustrate the governor’s sadness as he leaves Kyoto (83). Another point seen from this poem is that the governor is meant to be very good at constructing his poems and with it comes an example of a good poem as opposed to something that a commoner would have to write. Likewise, in the tenth of the Tales of Ise there are poems describing the love a man has for a woman while he is also comparing the physical setting, such as the mo untains. There are comparisons to Mt. Fuji and Mt. Utsu while they represent the waiting for his love or the beautiful vision that the man sees in his dreams with his love respectively (75-6). Such images of the scenery as seen alongside the desires or longing of those who write the poems are examples of how the poems are used to strengthen the narrative prose. Without the poems, the narrative prose in either the monogatari or the nikki would simply be a story and the significance would be lessened as there would not be the personal impact emanating from the characters and their feelings since a reader would only be able to read the description of the events and not get a feel of the thoughts from any of the characters. In the very deep illustrations of the... ...d to be a woman in the company of the boat. The significance lies in the possibility that with the different types of poetry in the narrative, the governor presents examples of the types of poems that should be written by different people coming from different classes. Looking back at the narratives and the significance of the poems in them is that many of the poems are inspired by nature around the authors. Also, the poems provide more of the voice of the authors instead of just the voice of the narrator and helps present the emotional tones of the characters in the narratives to the reader so that there can be more of a connection to it when it is being read. The poems make for a simple addition to the narrative and allows for a much more meaningful experience for a reader and makes for a much more engrossing story, thus adding to the to experience as a whole.