A Mikang and An Orange: Ezra Pound, Yone Noguchi, and Poetics of Translation

Abstract

In examining the validity of the claim that Yone Noguchi made a critical influence on Ezra Pound’s Imagism, this paper describes a brief history of the ‘Hokku’ in East Asia and traces how the classical Chinese poetic component, ‘Faju,’ is changed into the Japanese vernacular ‘Hokku’ and ‘Haikai’ and then naturalized into a modern Western style ‘Haiku’ poem. Then, it examines Noguchi’s interpretations of the Japanese Hokku spirit in the context of the invented traditions of modern Japan, orchestrated by Okakura Kakuzo with the help of Ernest Fenollosa. Finally, it sheds light on Pound’s comparative approach to world literatures around the early 1910s and argues that his poetic theory of vorticism germinated from his cosmopolitan spirit to preserve the links with other nations, literatures, and cultures.