A Japanese Adaptation of “The Raven” Hagiwara and Poe

Reiko T su k im u r a

Hagiwara Sakutaro calîs his poem “The Cockerel’’ （Niwatori) an “adapta- tion’’ of E.A. Poe's “The Raven.’’ The paper examines the structure of Hagiwara*s poem with a close reference to PoeJs "The Philosophy of Compo- sition1’ in which Poe allegedly reveals the design of “The Raven.’’ " T h e Cockerel" is analyzed in nine a sp ec ts :1 . length, 2. aim, 3. tone, 4. refrain, 5. locale and time, 6. topic, 7. the rhythmical eâect in the climax, 8. the shift of tone, 9. emblematic ending. This analysis shows that "The Cockerer, follows the outline of Poe's design, but does not conform in its every aspect. The paper finally suggests that perhaps the cock(s crow heard at dawn moved Hagiwara to compose the poem with ''The Philosophy of Composition^ as his aesthetic guideline, but without relinquishing his identity as a poet raised in the tradition ot Japanese poetry.

Hagiwara Sakutaro, one of the most important modern Japanese poets, deals with Poe's “The Philosophy of Composition” in an aphorism

entitled “Poe’s Trick” ：When one analyzes the structure oi any art object, one finds the one or the other aesthetic formula. It is, however, impossible to create art out of this formula. In reality no artist has ever created his works according to aesthetic or prosodic rules, nor believed that he can do so • • • Poe, who is both poet and scientist, uplifted by the influence of an unusual inspiration, wrote that strange poem of fantasy, 'The Raven.’， But at the same time, he him­self analyzed the poem, wrote about the organization of the poetic moods and formulated a principle that resembles a scientific formula. W hat Poe did is to present his poem âs if it were really composed by scientific mathematical rules, and as if Beauty were inductively created by abstracting ideas. Therefore, Poe led his audience to see him as a magecian or juggler and enjoyed himself, dazzling the audience twice with his miraculous art. (II, 406-407)1

This aphorism reveals both Hagiwara^s keen curiosity and suspicion about the elaborate design set by Poe for the attainment of an effect.

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But curiosity seems to have won over suspicion when Hagiwara set to writing “The Cockerel” (Niwatori). Below we have a translation of the

poem.

The Cockerel

Before the day breaks, a cockerel is crowing outside house doors.It is the voice of Mother calling in a long tremor out 】n the nature of the lonely countryside.Too-te-kur, tooru-mor, tooru-mor.2

In the cold bed at dawn my soul flaps its wings.Seen through the crack between the sliding wooden doors the world appears shining bright.But before the day breaks, sadness steals into my bed.It is the voice of a cockerel callingover the mist} ̂ tree tops, away out in the nature of the country­side.Too-te-kur, tooru-mor; tooru-mor.

My Love,My Love,In the cold shadows of the sliding paper doors at dawn,I sense — the faint smell of a chrysanthemum, the quietly decaying white chrysanthemum that gives a smell like a diseased spirit.My Lovej My Love.

Before the day breaks,my heart walks around in the shadows of a graveyard.Ah, something is calling me to this pained anguish.I cannot bear this pale crimson air.

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My Love,My Mother,Come quickly and extinguish the light.I hear the strong wind sound against the far comer of the earth. Too-te-kur, tooni-mor, tooru-mor. (I, 1 5 1 3 )

Hagiwara himself calls the poem an “adaptation” of “The Raven” in the following passage:

To confess honestly, MThe Cockerel/' which I wrote years ago, is an adaptation of Poe’s poem. I represented in it the crowing of a cock with such rhyming sounds as "tôteküm, môrutô,’’ and attempted to present a poetic theme more or less similar to that of ‘The Raven,” using a technique like that demonstrated by Poe. (Il l , 440)s

This statement was made in 1933, fifteen years after the publication of the poem. But, is (<The Cockerel" really an adaptation oi ^The Raven'1 as Hagiwara says? If one reads this poem without knowing Hagiwara^ statement about it, perhaps one is hardly reminded oi ihe Raven■ハ

To be sore, the setting is typically Japanese. Of course, we know that an adaptation requires such changes to suit the different customs, ways of life and other circumstances of the nation into which the literary work is to be adapted. But on the whole The Cockerel” does not give an impression of being an adaptation of, above a l l , r h e Raven” ； rather it is typically Hagiwaranian. Refrains, onomatopoeic sounds and rhyth­mic quality are not unusual in Hagiwara^ poetry at all. The symboli­zation of a beloved by the image of a decaying chrysanthemum appears already in his earliest anthology, Baying at the Moon. The melancholy and vague longing which set the tone of the poem permeates Hagiwara's poetry, particularly in Aoneko (The Blue Cat) to which the poem belongs. A lover s vision of meeting his deceased beloved at a graveyard also recurs in Aoneko.

In fact, this ghastly meeting of lovers reflects Poe's influence. It was a result of this strong attraction to Poe^ stories and poems dealing with love lost to death, particularly to ,(The Fall of the House of Usher/" <<LigeiaJ,) and 'The R a v e n . H e compares himself to the melancholy heroes of these works by Poe.4 Hagiwara writes about the sound effect of the words, nevermore and Lenore in 丄'he Raven :

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The sound effect of the unrhymed poem1 'The Raven,,J b y Poe derives from the echoes of the repeated ominous and melancholic sounds of the words, ’‘nevermore’’ and f,Lenore,” which are heard like the wind blowing from a desolate graveyard far away. Poe built up the motif of the entire poem, by deliberately repeating the words and periodically evoking the mood represented by them. (Ill , 439)

Poe^ influence on Hagiwara is extensive. He regards Poe as his teacher in poetry, and his S h i no genri (The Principle of Poetry) echoes Poe's poetic views. Hagiwara agrees on almost all aspects of Poe s principles. Yet Hagiwara^ severe critical attitude towards the lmita-tion of Western poetry led him to be cautious about the emphasis on formand technique and about an overconcern with effect. He had also a fatalistic view of inspiration as the first prerequisite for the creation of poetry. In these respects he puts himself directly opposite to Poe who advocated, above aD, the importance of effect, regarding it as the fore­most concern in the poetic creation. But these differences come from the two poets1 differing emphases: Hagiwara never slights the effect, nor does he regard poetry as the effortless utterance of sentiment.

Then, to distinguish the difference between an adaptation and aninfluence, we might look at Hagiwara’s “Lady of Raven-Plumage” which bears a stronger resemblance to “The R aven” than our poem under

question.

Lady of Raven-Plumage

Gentle lady of raven-plumage, you steal into my attic and fill it with rich aroma of musk.You are a strange bird of night.You alight lonely on the wooden chair.Your beak pecks at my heart, and my eyes are filled with soft tears.Bird of night,where does this sorrowful longing come from ?Shed your melancholy garment, and flit off on the dewy wind of

night. (I, 161)The choice of words and phrases in the above poem echoes those of 'The Raven，” but there is no refrain. The effect of the poem comes more from the images than from sounds. The poem sums up the tone of

一 x x i v —

melancholy, but does not conform with the structural design of <4The Raven.’’

These differences can explain why Hagiwara designated 4 The Cock- erel” as his “adaptation” of “The Ravenノ Yet “The Cockerel” is too highly an onginal poem to be labeled as f<adaptation/' Then, in what sense might it be called an actual adaptation of 'The Raven and in what sense might it be merely employing the principles used in “The Raven” analyzed by Poe himself in his “Philosophy of Composition”？

As our glance at “The Cockerel” has shown, the poem is apparently so dissimilar to “The Raven” that they do not offer much to be compared. But they have much in common in its theme, setting, topic, poetic mood, and manner of arranging sounds for the evocation of the mood. These are the points on which Poe, as he claims, worked with a mathe­matical precision before he started writing ''The Raven/' We could presume that this design of 'The Raven,J regulated Hagiwara when he wrote “The Cockerel.” Thus, we shall examine the poem with a close reference to “The Philosophy of Composition,” rather than “The Raven itself.

"The Philosophy of Composition" was already available in Japanese in 1908, though not its complete translation. This work entitled f,Slu]m Poe no kushindan” 5 (The Poet Poe’s Account of his Elaborate Design) is a good sumniary of all the points Poe discusses, except the part where he speaks about how to achieve the originality in rhymes. This omission might have been simply made because of the complex technical terms of Western prosody. The summary was in fact the most extensive intro­duction of 'The Philosophy of Composition^ still at the time when Hagiwara wrote ^The Cockerel^ probably in 1917. “The Raven” itself had had three versions of complete translations by that year.6 Hagiwaxa must have read these three versions as well as the summary of <(The Philosophy of Composition.” Though he had some knowledge of English, it is doubtful that he exerted himself to read the works in the

original language.It would be best, then, for us to examine ‘‘The Cockerel” to find out

whether Poe^ design can be applicable to the poem, and that way we could decide whether it is an adaptation or not. We will proceed with our examination, checking one by one those points which Poe considered in 'The Philosophy of Composition.

1 . Length

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' T h e C o c k e r e r * c o n s is ts o f t h i r ty -o n e l in e s , a n d so , o f c o u rs e , m e e ts

th e re q u ir e m e n t o f th e ly r ic d efin e d b y P o e a s b e in g re a d a t o n e s it t in g

a n d a s n o t m u c h e x c e e d in g o n e -h u n d re d l in e s . B u t t h e fa r s h o r te r

le n g th o f th e p o e m is n a tu r a l ly r e la te d to o th e r a s p e c ts o f i t s d iffe re n c e

from “The Raven,” particularly to th e lack of th e narrative e le m e n t ,

w h ic h w ill b e d is cu ss e d b elo w .

2 . B e a u t y , “ th e p r e d o m in a n t a im o f th e p o e m ’ ’ （5 5 4 )フ

P o e e x p la in s th e m a n ife s ta t io n o f B e a u t y in p o e t r y a s th e ^ in te n s e

a n d p u re e le v a t io n of souV' (5 5 3 ; P o e 's i ta lic s ) . W h e th e r “ T h e C o c k e re l

a t ta in s th is a im w ill b e c o m e c le a r in th e p ro c e s s o f o u r a n a ly s is .

3 . M e la n c h o ly , th e to n e o f th e p o e m .

M e la n c h o ly is a lso th e to n e of th e J a p a n e s e p o e m . T h e w o rd

“ y ü s h ü ” （m e la n c h o ly o r “ s a d n e s s ” in th e a b o v e t r a n s la t io n ) is u se d in

th e s ix th l in e o f th e se c o n d s ta n z a . J u s t a s in " T h e R a v e n / ' th e to n e

is g r a d u a lly h e ig h te n e d .

4 . R e fr a in .

U n d e r th is i te m th e r e a re fu r th e r p o in ts to b e c o n s id e r e d . F i r s t ,

P o e ' 'd e te r m in e d to p ro d u c e c o n tin u o u s ly n o v e l e ffe c ts , b y th e v a r ia t io n

of the application o f th e refrain — th e refrain i t s e l f r e m a in in g , fo r th e

m o s t p a r t , in v a r ie d (5 5 5 ; P o e 's i ta lic s ) . H a g iw a r a c o n c u rs w ith P o e b y

p ro v id in g th e v a r ia t io n . T h e l in e s b e fo re th e r e fr a in in th e f i r s t an d

se c o n d s ta n z a s sh o w a v a r ia t io n . T h e l in e p re c e d in g th e r e fr a in in th e

fo u r th s ta n z a is s t i l l m o re v a r ie d . T h e th ir d s t a n z a h a s a r e fr a in o f i ts

o w n , p ro d u c in g a n o v e l e ffe c t w h ic h m a r k s a c le a r s h if t f r o m th e e a r lie r

tw o s ta n z a s . T h is s h if t is r e la te d to th e e ffe c t o f th e d é n o u e m e n t w h ic h

w ill b e t r e a te d la te r .

S e c o n d ly , th e r e fr a in h a s th e <flo n g o a s th e m o s t s o n o ro u s v o w e l,

in c o n n e c t io n w ith r a s t h e m o s t p r o d u c ib le c o n s o n a n t1 * (5 5 6 ) . I n h is

“ N o te s to m y O w n P o e m s ” H a g iw a r a w r ite s : “ I re p r e s e n te d a c o c k ’s

cro w in g , w h ic h I h e a rd in m y b e d c o m in g fro m a d is ta n c e a t d a w n , w ith

so u n d s ^ o o m -m o r , to o -te -k u r / T h e s e so u n d s e x p r e s s th e to n e o f th e

p o e m ” （V , 4 0 1 - 4 0 2 ) . T h e re g u la r r o m a n iz a tio n o f th e r e fr a in is “ t ô m m ô ，

t ô te k ü , b u t H a g iw a ra ro m a n iz e s th e m a s “ to o r u -m o r , to o -te -k u r _ ”

T h is ir re g u la r r o m a n iz a tio n in d ic a te s h is in te n t io n t o fu lfill P o e ^ c o n d i­

t io n s o f th e so u n d s o f o a n d r. T h e e n d s o u n d “ r ” ， u n lik e th e lo n g

v o w els ô a n d ü in a n d m a k e s th e c lo s e o f th e s t a n z a ^ so n o r­

o u s a n d s u s c e p t ib le o f p r o tr a c te d e m p h a s is 11 (5 5 6 ) .

T h ir d ly , P o e c h o o se s th e r e fr a in to b e s a id b y a ^ n o n -r e a s o n in g

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creature incapable of speech’’ （556). W ith th is requirem ent, Hagiwaxa's conform ity w ith P o e ^ design of th e refrain ends. The lovers of the tw o poems are draw n tow ards the sounds of the refrain, bu t Poe*s one-word refrain has om inous m eaning and gains an centripetal effect as the b ird ^ monotonous answ er gradually to rtu res the lover. H agiw ara’s has no meaning, b u t consists of three units of peculiary onom atopoeic syllables. However, they convey the distance through which the echoing sound of a cock’s crow is carried. The effect of the sounds is centrifugal, as if the lover longs to reach ou t the sound, instead of being led, like the hero of “The R a v e n /" to a frenzy of self-torture.

Of course, these differences in the refrain derive from those of the birds and the places where they are. Though Poe considers the locale and tim e of 4T h e Raven*1 a t a la ter point than this, it would be conveni­ent for us to bring them here, because the locale and tim e are closely related to the m elancholy of the sorrowful lovers.

5. Locale and tim e.Poe places his scholar-lover in a ''cham ber rendered sacred to him

by m em ories of h er who h ad frequented i t" (560). The room is ^repre­sented as rich ly furnished’’ （560) to enhance the impression of B eauty . F u rther Poe specifies where and how the b ird is first heard. All these specifications aim a t d ram atizing the lover’s longing for his deceased mistress and arousing the reader's curiosity. Poe also plans to create the effect of con trasts betw een the dark tem pestous n ight outside and “ the (physical) seren ity w ithin the cham ber^ (561). A nother contrast is produced betw een th e m arble and the plum age when the b ird alights on the bust of Pallas.

None of these elaborate arrangem ents of the locale and tim e is found in “ The Cockerel,” though th is poem ’s lover is also in his cham ber. The difference of the b ird n a tu ra lly reverses the tim e of H agiw ara's poem ; the daw n scene outside is b righ t in con trast to the dim ness of the room w ith the closed wooden-doors shu tting out the light. The lover of the Japanese poem is no t specified as a scholar, nor does the room give any particularly scholarly atm osphere. R a ther, H agiw ara chooses a un ique­ly Japanese locale and succeeds in representing it w ith the wooden and paper sliding doors in the second and th ird stanzas. This non-conform ­ity in the locale partia lly explains w hy H agiw ara calls his poem an adap ta tion . His choice of the Japanese locale also offers an exam ple of his p ractice of w h a t he advocated concerning the problem of transla-

一 xxvi i —

tion of poetry . H e m ain ta ins th a t th e w ords of p o e try are closely re la ted to th e geographical and n a tu ra l backgrounds of th e n a tio n in whose language the pa rticu la r poem is w ritten , an d th a t p o e try can only be ad ap ted in to o ther languages^ b u t no t tran sla ted .

H agiw ara in te rp re ts th a t P o e s poem "rep resen ts m a n s prim ordial m em ory b y the ghastly cry of th e ra v e n 1 ' (IV, 445). H e re la tes th is m em ory to m aji s ^nostalg ia for P la to s Id e u th e e te rn a l hom € of thesoul” （III, 148), which is also called elsewhere “Plato’s Eros — the soundof the wings of the soul asp iring to th e I d e a ' (I, 118). H e th in k s th a t Poe's stories and poem s dealing w ith love — Poe calls it the divineEros” (576; “The Poetic Principle’’)一 are also expressions of thism em ory. H ag iw ara m ight have heard a cock crow ing a t daw n and been led to w rite 'T he Cockerel* ' in th e m ann er in w liich P o e com posed 4T h e R a v e n '( and to express a lov er^ longing b y connecting it w ith a vague m ysterious feeling aroused b y th e sounds of th e d is ta n t crow, andby m aking, as Poe does, th e sounds of th e b ird s c ry em blem atica l of thelonging and of the prim ord ial m em ory in m an.

6. Topic : “a lover lamenting his deceased mistress)’（557).

The above discussion has a lready tou ch ed th is item . As we have seen, H ag iw ara perfectly conform s w ith Poe in the considera tion of 11 the m ost m elancholy and m ost poetical topic*1 (557). B u t th e difference found in the n a tu re of th e refrains creates a fu rth e r difference in the com bination of th e lover and the bird. Poe carefully builds up his n a rra tiv e w ithin the lim its of the accountable'^ (563) u n til he brings in the lover's superstitious and incongrous response to th e b ird a t the clim actic s ix teen th stanza . T his n a rra tiv e is m ade possible b y th e physi­cal presence of the bird. "T h e R a v e n >, reflects th e s to ry te lle r Poe.

In 'T h e CockereF' the re is no d ram atic ten sion betw een th e bird an d th e lover, ra th e r th e lover speaks to h is beloved in h is recollection and vision. W hile "T h e R a v e n 1 * gains its s tre n g th th rou g h th e n a rra ­tive con tex t, 'T h e C ockerel'1 excels in its delica te an d rich ly sensual descriptions of the scene w here the lover sorrow fully passes in to a reverie. The scene offers no clear dem arcation betw een re a lity and dream . The lack oi th is dem arcation establishes a stron g resem blance of H ag iw ara 's poem to th e best ones in th e th ir te e n th cen tu ry an tho logy of classical Jap an ese p o e try — S h in k o k in s h u (A N ew A n tho logy of Poem s A ncient an d M odern). (It is sm all w onder th a t H ag iw ara p ro ­duced a book of his com m entaries of th is anthology.) T he d ram atic

一 xxvm —

structure gives 'The Raven11 a greater ftctionalization of the topic, while ‘‘The Cockerel11 has a personal appearance to such an extent that one finds in it a reflection of the Japanese literary tradition which surpasses other literatures of the world in its descriptive symbolism of personal feelings.

7. The rhythmical effect in the climax.PoeJs dramatic design of his poem includes a calculated distribution

of the rhythmical effect. Poe planned to “graduate [the stanzas which were to precede, so that none of them might surpass this [the sixteenth stanza which is the climax of the poem],J (559). The climax of “The Cockerer1 comes in the lines from 3 to 6 in the third stanza. Just as the lover in J<The Raven11 gives up in the climactic sixteenth stanza his attempt to forget his lost Lenore, the hero of 'The Cockerel" calls for his beloved. The calling becomes the refrain of the stanza, thus dis­tinguishing it from other stanzas.

Hagiwara, however, is radically removed from Poe in his imagistical- ]y descriptive symbolization of the loved one. Poe^ epithets for the maiden as “sainted,” “rare and radiantり carry heavenly connotation and belong to the system of Christiam symbolism. The faintly smelling chrysanthemum in "The Cockerer, stands for the deceased beloved, and this expression belongs to the symboKsm of sensibility. As has been mentioned above, Hagiwara uses this sjmibolization of a chrysanthmum in poems written earlier than the one under d iscu ss io n .丄n all of these poems the image symbolizes a woman, sick and dearly loved. He also uses the image in his later works, thus making out of it his own system of symbolism. Therefore, this stanza itself can testify to Hagiwara's originality rather than a mere adaptation.

The climactic lines are also unsurpassible in their rhythmical effect. The effect derives from a rich arrangement of syllable numbers, sounds, and word orders. The syllable structure of the lines 3 -6 will be shown as follows:

Table A (Romanization of the third stanza w ith word-by-word translation) General notes:1. (s) stands for the postposition th a t m arks the subject.2 . (o) stands for the postposition th a t marks the object.3. ( I stands for a caesura.4. Underlined parts are translated with the two original words

p u t together.5. The vertical lines indicate the syllable units in the lines.

— x x i x —

6. A long vowel is shown by doubling the vowel: we count a long vowel as two vowels in accordance with the Japanese practice of counting syllables.

lines total ofsyllable numbers

1 . koibito v〇 l 5 My Love

2. koibito y o ! ^My Love

3. ariake no tsumetai shooji no kage nidawn of cold slid- of sha- 16

ing dowpaper door

4. watakushi wa kagu // honokanaru kiku no nioi oI (s) sen- faint chr- of sm ell(o) 19

se ysanthemum5. yamitaru shirei no nioi no yoo ni

diseased spirit of smell of in likeness 1611

6. kasuka ni kusareyuku shiragiku no ! hana no nioi ofaintness in decaying white of flower of sm ell(o) 21

chrysanthemum 117. koibito yo! 5

My Love8. koibito yoj 5

My Love

Table B (Romanization and syllable units of the final seven syllables) lines 3-6

3 shooji no kage ni 73 1 2 1

4 kiku no nioi o 72 1 3 1

5 nioi no yoo ni 73 1 2 1

6 hana no nioi o 72 1 3 1

Table C (Syllable units in the lines 3-6 . The unit divisions are indicated by the vertical lines in Table A.)

lines syllable units total number of syllables3 5 / 4 / 7 164 7 / 5 / 7 195 4 / 5 / 7 166 4 / 5 / 5 / 7 21

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As we see in T able B, all the ending syllable un its of the four lines have seven syllables, w ith the final ones a lternate ly rhym ing. W ithin the seven-syllable un its, the th ird and fifth lines have an inner un it d iv id­ed a t the fourth syllable, and the fourth and s ix th lines have the division at the th ird syllable. F urtherm ore, all of these four divisions are m arked by the sound “ n o ” . A m athem atical neatness is found in the arrange­m ent of the sm allest syllable un its in the four lines as seen in Table B. The lines a lte rn a te w ith the syllable units arranged in the 3 -1 -2 -1 and 2-1-3-1 patte rns.

A calculated increase of syllables is also found in the to ta l num ber of syllables of the four lines: the th ird and fifth lines have 16 syllables and the fourth 19 an d the six th 2 1 . (See Table C.) One le tter (or syllable) space is left after the verb <<kagu ,/ (to sense) in the fourth line. (See Table A). This caesura effectively produces a feeling of vagueness and u n certa in ity connected to the faintness of the smell of the chrysan­them um . T hus the fourth line can be regarded as having in fact 20 syllables, w hich m akes the syllabic increase to the six th line as subtle as possible. This caesura is also related to the technique of inversion effectively executed in the lines 4 an d 6. The order of the verb “ kagu” and its object “ nioi” （smell) are inverted , allowing the a lternate rhym es at the end of the four lines.

Syntactically speaking, the final seven syllables of the four lines are struc tu red in a p a tte rn of a lternating adverbial phrases (lines 3 and 5) and the object-nouns (lines 4 and 6). The entire six th line is the object of the verb <tkagu ,f a t the beginning of the fourth line just as the in v ert­ed object in th a t same line. The sounds w ith the consonant domi­nates the lines 4 and 6, establishing the syntactical link betw een the two lines. This link serves to heighten the tone of the poem, distinguishing the object — the sym bol of the deceased lady — from o ther parts of the poem.

The above analysis of the th ird stanza has clearly shown th a t in its carefully designed rhy thm ical effect the stanza surpasses all the rest, producing in it an exquisite tone of melancholy.

8. The shift of tone from the fan tastic to the serious.Poe plans to produce the effect of con trast by th is shift. H agiw ara

succeeds in fulfilling th is requirem ent, too. T he vague m elancholy in the second stanza changes into so intense a longing in the th ird stanza th a t the lover m oves into a vision. The vision leads him fu rther into

XXXI

anguish in the final stanza where the vision is no longer as faint as the smell of a decaying flower. Rather it grows mysterious and eerie, causing the hero^ suffering, though without that calculated gradation to dénouement in the dramatic poem by Poe.

9. The emblematical final line.Poe designs to make the bird’s answer “emblmatical of Mournful

Never-ending Remembrance” in the very last line of “The Raven.’’ Here again we find his carefully calculated dramatization. Though “The Cockerel” lacks the drama， the last line preceding the final refrain

becomes emblematical of man^ primordial memory, but not of the “mournful remembrance” of a lover. Hagiwara prepares for this em­blematic ending not in a dramatic structure that Poe elaborates, but through the descriptive symbolism. The “strong wind sound [ing] against the far-comer of the earth*' is linked back to the lines before the refrains of the first and second stanzas: ''It is the voice of Mother calling in a long tremor/out in the nature of the lonely countryside” and "It is the voice of a cockerel calling/over the m isty tree tops, out away in the nature of the countryside.” Thus, in the sound of a cockJs crow, nature, Mother, and the lost love are all fused. This fusion is the theme which Hagiwara intends to present in his poem.

To conclude the above examination, “The Cockerel1 J follows the outline of Poe^ design, and in that light the poem can be regarded as an adaptation, but Hagiwara's disconformity in various aspects proves his originality. Perhaps, as we have already suggested, the cock’s crow heard at dawn moved Hagiwara to compose the poem with "The Philo­sophy of Composition1, as his aesthetic guideline, but without relinquish­ing his identity as a poet raised in the tradition of Japanese poetry. “The Cockerel” is a good example that speaks for Hagiwara's strong opposition to the slavish imitation of W estern poetry.

N otes

1 The citations of Hagiwara*s works are taken from H a g i w a r a S a k u t a v o z e n s h ü [The Complete Works of Hagiwara Sakutaro], ed. Murô Saisei, Miyoshi Tatsuji, and Itô Shinkichi (Tokyo, 1959-1960), 5 vols. Volume and page numbers are indicated in parentheses at the end of each citation. The translations of the Japanese materials are m y own.

2. Hagiwara's romanization is used in transcribing the sounds of the refrain.The ordinary romanization is “tôtekü, tGnrmôru, tônrniôru,1， but in roman-izing other parts of the poem, a long vowel is indicated by doubling the

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vowel as ‘’shooji instead of “shôji." See the discussion on his romanization on page vi.

3. Hagiwara apparently quotes incorrectly the refrain of his own poem. He seems to have remembered wrongly the original sounds ^torum oru," which he himself romanized as “tooru-m or.’’

4. See " A o n e k o o ka ita koro^ [The Period in which I W rote T h e B l u e C a t] , C o m p le te W o r k s , IV, 71.

5. See B u n s h ô s e k a i : s h i n s h i b u n [special enlarged issue], February 1908, pp. 230-234. The article, "Shijin Poe no kushindan" is by an anonymous writer.

6. See Ô ta Saburô, "Poe shôkai no a to ,< [Traces of the Introduction of Poe], P o e z e n s h ü g e p p ô [Belletin attached to the C o m p le te W o r k s o f P o e ] , nos. 1-3, 1963.

フ. The citations of Poe’s works are taken from (The VikingPortable Library). Page numbers are indicated in parentheses imme­diately following each citation.

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