In his literature, Basho’s Journey – The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Basho expresses what he sees, feels and hear by using poem, prose and detailed stories in his travel notebook. The difference between his use of poem and prose are evident when he describes a place or individual that has impacted him. For example, his description of Nikko, “so holy: green leaves, young leaves, in sun’s light” and his departure, “departing spring, birds cry, in the fishes’ eyes are tears.” Basho uses poem when his emotions has override the experience itself; This is where he is very descriptive. I believe Basho uses prose when describing the sacredness of place and also when he is told about the history of the place (especially when there is a specific quotation). For example, his description of chestnut “people of the world don’t discern these blossom, chestnut by the eaves” and  the Pattern Rubbing Rock, ” planting seedlings with the hands- ancient pattern from the fern of longing”.

Prose is the use of plain language and Poetry is the use of literary devices such as rhymes, metaphors, and personification in poems. The use of prose revolutionized Haiku to become more than simply another form of poetry as stated in “The world of Haiku”. Prose allows the writer to use plain language to become more descriptive in there writing. Prose gives the poets another tool for a more detailed narrative. Poetry uses literary elements to give the readers a better interpretation of the poets message. Poetry makes writing compelling and engaging so the reader craves to analyze the literary work. Poetry is a more descriptive and creative form of writing. These two forms allow the writer and reader to create images of the literary work. They are two different styles in prose being common language storytelling and poetry being storytelling through style such as comparisons and rhymes.

When Basho uses prose he is more detailed and describes the development of the narrative. He is more detailed in the explaining of the setting and surroundings throughout the journey. He constantly switches from prose to poetry after he has described the setting in prose, to show any activity of the scenery in poetry.

In Basho’s travel note book most of the journey is described in prose while significant symbols are described in poetry in order to present the deeper meaning of those symbols. In most of the prose Basho describes his journey as if he is walking. However, when he comes across of something heart touching he writes a poem about it in order to respect it and remember it. The separation of prose and poetry works as signifiers. For example, as he describes “27th day of  Yayoi,” he describes his day and gathering of his friends in the prose. However, he reserves a poem in order to describe the pain of departure as he says “birds cry, in the fishes’ eyes are tears.” These emotional words carry a heavy and deep meaning for him. As he separates his emotional words from the prose, his emotions about his journey stands out to the readers. Moreover, in his text, Basho uses lengthy prose to create a sense of long journey throughout the day. As the traveller stops and rests he remembers the most important part of his journey and writes a poem as he reflects upon his journey. Through his poetry he appreciates the beauty of nature and he personifies those beauty to keep a lively vibe in his literature. For example, he says, “black hair mountain was hung with haze, still white with some snow. Head shaven, at black hair mountain changing clothes.” As he describes the beauty of mountain and its seasonal change, he creates connection between daily human life and a mountain when he says “changing clothes.” To express his feeling of attachment to mountain, he compares it to the daily life in his poetry. Again, he expresses his attachment to nature in poetry to create space where he can express the emotional significance of his journey.

The difference between prose and poetry is that prose is very straightforward most of the time, it is equivalent to just everyday language and speech people use. Poetry is much more descriptive and is used in an artistic way to describe something or someone. Poetry is a language that is more expressive due to the rhymes and or comparisons being used. The author Matsuo Bashō switches between prose and poetry when he is narrating his journey to widen the perspective of traveling. Author Bashō uses prose to simply document what he’s seen, what’s he’s done and what he encounters on his trips. But, he also uses poetry specifically, to what is now commonly known as, a haiku. One can tell when he alternates from storytelling to poetry because he indents and spaces to separate and describe an emotional thought or a response. There are indents and dashes in the small sections where the poems are located. Using prose, Bashõ is very direct because in a way, he is keeping record, but when it comes to using poetry, he is very lively but only for a brief moment. I believe the reason why Bashō choses to write in prose, then change the style to poetry is because he is trying to convey and express how he is feeling of whom or what he encounters. In a way, he uses poetry to describe to the readers of what he is visually thinking (in words of course) instead of using prose and being long-winded.

Matsuo Basho creates differences within “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” through his use of both prose and poetry. One of the differences between Basho use of prose and poetry is the number of details provided. When Basho uses prose, he is more descriptive and detailed about his adventures. When using prose, he describes the process of his journey, the individuals that he encounters, and the conversations that he has. When he was using poetry in his travel notebook, Basho wrote short summaries of his experiences making his poetry less detailed and vague in comparison to his prose. Another difference is that when Basho uses poetry, he tends to focus on the beauty of the locations that he visits and highlights the important parts of his trip. For example, when he talks about the Nikko mountains, he describes the green leaves and the sunlight focusing on the mountain’s natural beauty. While in the prose, he talks about the history of the mountain and how it got its name.

I believe that Basho chose to write in prose and poetry during separate moments of his experiences because each serves him a specific purpose. When Basho uses prose, he does this to document his experiences and to be more detailed about his travel journey and adventures. He also does this to keep a record of his trips and separate the different locations. In contrast, when Basho uses poetry, I believe that he does this as a creative release. This is because Basho generally focuses on the most memorable experiences when using poetry that had a lasting impact on him.

Eloise Albaret

By switching between prose and poetry, Basho is creating a multilayered description of what he encountered on his journeys. One of the most obvious difference between the two, is the layout of the poetry versus the prose. The poetry, which was segmented into three short lines, created this break in the middle of the page and painted a better visual for the reader. The prose simply described what Basho had seen and encountered, while the poetry had a lighter, more playful feel to it. It incorporated these sort of “inside jokes” or funny little anecdotes, such as the custom of one group of people, who dyed their clothing on a large rock. The fact that Basho went back and edited his travel book after his actual travels, is also a crucial point to understand, since he could have omitted certain details or added things, which he may have misremembered or forgotten. He also might have found that certain poems needed a preface of prose, or vice versa, in order to clarify where he was and what he saw.

For me, the poems acted almost as pictures within the text. Even by looking at the page as a whole, the haikus create this sort of break for the reader and usually they elaborated on what Basho had said in the prose. Since the original text was written in Japanese, the penmanship of the haikus was most likely beautiful and added to the visual, which Basho was trying to create. Maybe by seeing the original, the reader could have gained a greater appreciation for the art of the characters and picture the scenic landscapes better.

Basho loved poetry and sought inspiration from historical poetic sights, so he went on journeys. He also believed that poetry was a way to travel through language. His use of prose, however, was written after these journeys as a form of poetic revision. Basho always searched for new poetic themes. His travel diaries were meant to influence how people saw certain things. He gave the haikai movement “a distinctive prose style.” With these innovations of haikai prose, haikai poetry reached a new degree of freedom that allowed poetry, prose, painting, and freedom all merge together.