The two poems that I chose for the assignment were Tu Fu’s “Spring Prospect” and Kakinomoto no Hitomaro’s “From the Manyoshu.” There were quite a few comparisons between these two poems starting with both poets depicting their setting very vividly to place the audience in their respective locations. Tu Fu places us in a war torn location by with a very strong opening line (line 1) depicting his surroundings as being “shattered” by war and leaving only the barebones of nature left with only “hills and streams” remaining. Even though Kakinomoto no Hitomaro’s location is not being torn apart by war, he also depicts his surroundings with vivid imagery at the very beginning of his poem (lines 1-6). His first six lines announces to the audience where his home is, which is a very coastal city. I also noticed that both authors used metaphors in their poems. Tu Fu uses his metaphor in lines two and three of “Spring Prospect” stating that the grass and trees are “feeling the times” and that the “flowers draw tears.” I interpreted this as Tu Fu comparing the elements of nature with the people of China during his time who had to live through the civil war. The people were getting tired of the conflict and also crying because of the suffering that it brought. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro compares his wife to a “swaying sea-tangle” and the “miru-growing ocean” in lines 7 to 12 of “From the Manyoshu.” He wants to audience to know that his wife was very important to him and had a timid personality, but she was also a very deep person with multiple layers. Both of these authors were emotionally troubled by an event in their lives with Tu Fu being trapped by the civil war in China and Kakinomoto no Hitomaro leaving his wife to embark on a journey.

One important difference that I noted between the two poems was the point of view they were told in. Tu Fu told his poem in third person perspective and it took me a few reads to finally realize that he was the person observing all of the surroundings around him. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro tells his poem in a first person perspective, which instantly lets the audience know that he is telling his story of leaving his wife and how he will miss her. Another distinct different I want to point out between the poems is that Kakinomoto no Hitomaro uses proper nouns to name the locations he is describing in his poem. Examples of this are in his first two lines of the poem where he lets us know he is near the Iwami Sea and the Kara Cape. Tu Fu doesn’t use any proper nouns to describe his location, and if I didn’t know the name of the author or didn’t read the introduction, this could’ve been a location outside of China. These two poems were very similar in certain ways, but there were certain distinctions in their form and content.