Sei Shōnagon List Exercise
One of the
greatest prose writers in the long tradition of Japanese literature, Sei Shōnagon lived over
1,000 years ago. And though her life’s great work, The Pillow Book is rich in information about the period in which
she lived, her own life is somewhat of a mystery. She served as Lady-in-Waiting
to Empress Sadako in the last decade of the tenth
century and The Pillow Book covers
the ten+ years of that service, but this is the extent of what we know about
her.
Included in this
diary is gossip, vividly descriptive passages, sketches and most importantly,
for our purposes, lists. Included in these lists are: “Rare Things,” “Elegant
Things,” "Hateful Things," "Things That Should be Short,” "Things That Cannot Be Compared” and “Things that have Lost
their Power.”
From The Pillow Book:
Poetic
Subjects
The capital city.
Arrowroot.
Water-bur. Colts. Hail. Bamboo
grass. The round-leaved violet. Club moss. Water oats. Flat river-boats. The mandarin duck.
The scattered chigaya reed. Lawns. The green vine. The pear tree. The jujube tree. The althea.
Method:
You could
start by writing a class poem on the chalkboard, asking participants to shout
out suggestions.
A SPLAB
workshop example:
Things That Make You
Joyful
your family
people
pets
surprises
candy
a soft pillow that you
get to sleep on for a
whole day
love
springtime
new shoes
tv
shows
relaxing
being included
care
toys
colors
books
places
buildings
designs
thinking of nothing
sitting down and
thinking of nothing
listening
(Rashi Stephens)
If the above
had been poem shouted out by students, asking them to be more specific than “toys”
would be a good way to reinforce the luminous
details notion of writing. Details ARE the life of all great writing and
students should always be encouraged to dig deeper and not settle for light verse. Do notice how one entry
went for three, albeit short, lines:
a
soft pillow that you
get
to sleep on for a
whole
day
Breaking up
the rhythm with a multi-line image is a great way to keep the reader (listener)
involved in the poem. Joe Brainard’s I Remember series is a wonderful example
of this sense of knowing how to alternate rhythms and go deeper.
Other
potential subjects for this exercise: “Things That Fade with Time;” “Things
That Come Back” and “Things I Will Never Do Before I
Die.”
peN
11:39A – 7.16.09
Work Cited:
Morris, Ivan. The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon.