Page:Japanese Literature (Keene).pdf/44

32 fourth line, but in the New Collection it most commonly falls after the third line, as in this poem: . In this example the last two lines of the poem have the effect of a comment on the first three, and almost stand independent. We can see how such a poem might have been created by two people, unlike the older poems which were generally far more of a piece. Linked-verse of a simple kind became in the eleventh and twelfth centuries a popular court pastime. One man would compose the opening three lines, making them as difficult to “cap” as possible, and a second man would demonstrate his virtuosity by supplying the final two lines in spite of the problems. The first major step forward in the development of linked-verse came with the addition of a third verse in three lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables, thus destroying the limitations imposed by the original tanka form of a poem in five lines, and opening the way to poetry chains of many verses alternating three and two lines. The unit of three verses remained the most important in the long linked-verse, even when the number of links reached 10,000 or more, for each verse had to fit with the one before and the one after. This represented a marked change from the earlier form of linked-verse, where the highest object had been to achieve a brilliant response to a difficult opening. In a long series it was no virtue to compose a verse which it was almost impossible to follow, and thus linked-verse became essentially a co-operative enterprise, and as such was popular