The first haiku would probably the most known among all the works of Matsuo Basho and all be the most interpreted one.
Despite several attempts on explaining the “The Old Pond” many new readers of Japanese poetry are amazed by the beauty of the poem and intrigue by its real definition. Along with the discussion about this particular haiku we will also include two new haikus created by the Master of Matsuo Basho. The first haiku represents the timelessness of the pond.The word “old” in the first line signifies the existence of the pond long before the leaping or the jumping of the frog. Meaning the pond has been there, ages ago and the silence of the pond at a particular moment was broken by the frog followed by the sound the leaping (of the frog) creates. The jumping of the frog on the second line would mean a new beginning, a sprout of life and hope within time.
But the disturbance on the pond doesn’t exactly change anything.Because after the splash of the sound of the water and the waves that it create, the pond will resume to its normal state that is tranquil, and peaceful, and sad and alone, forever. The disturbance is then just a microcosmic of the macrocosm. The second deals with the life and the sadness that people on a particular place endure. It tries to describe the feeling of those who are in Sado Island. During Matsuo Basho’s time, Sado is an island for the political exile.
The feeling that they get was describe from the rumbling waves in the ocean or the sea that surrounds the island, to the scenic view of the sky, moon, and the stars during the night. It shows both the agitation of the exiles and the loneliness they feel upon staying. The rumbling waves can be equated 2 to restlessness, agitation, and uneasiness while the stillness of the sky (Milky Way) would mean silence and deep sadness. Both the first and the third line though describes two different thing, would actually magnifies the depression and the feeling of a lone and an outcast.And finally the last haiku that we have depicts a path in which very few walks through. Probably, during that time it was only the writer who walks through it during that particular night as the poem suggest in the third line.
The leaves on the ground may have been so thick that the path itself was covered by it, leaving not a single mark of footsteps and other marking that was created by few travelers that passes through the road with their horses and other means of transportation.The person on the poem most likely was assuming that the last person that took that route could have been there months ago that its tracts are barely seen at all. By looking at the three haikus we can say that in so many ways they are the same. In plot meaning the way they are written, it goes first by describing the theme and then adding some thoughts and words that magnifies the tone and amplify the irony and representation, and therefore achieving good literary work that the meaning and definition can be endless.
On the first haiku it goes by describing the pond and then it is followed by another character that actually accentuates the whole poem. After which it was followed by the interaction of the two. Same goes with the third haiku wherein, the first line describes that theme which is the road, then another character the traveler and an additional description that completes the whole picture. The second one is much like the 3 first and the third one but the tone of the poem is much more intense, showing desperation and deep stress.
