Page:The Spirit of Japanese Poetry (Noguchi).djvu/99

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Let us bury the old fallen leaves Under the shadow of leaves, tender, green.

Awake from winter’s dream-road, Come to this forest of Spring.”

might be called a Japanese interpretation of Thanatopsis. We have more than one reason to compare him with Bryant. He began his work at the right time when it was easier for a poet to sing, and at the same time easier for us to listen; it was in the idyllic years, if we may say so (though they passed quickly as anything else in Japan) those four or five years we enjoyed before the China-Japan war which changed abruptly the aspect, atmosphere, and aspiration of the country, vivified the sense of life, and raised the question of the relation of man with man as well as of country with country. It was perfectly natural for Shimazaki to start as a poet of Nature; as I understand, the landscape school of poetry is always first to appear in any country. On reading his poems to-day we cannot help showing our dissatisfaction with his want of persistence and minute observation; and we need more enthusiasm, and some higher poetic dash. But his tone, sentiment, and responsive imaginativeness which were brewed in the time when criticism was not so keen, and the impression of foreign knowledge not so strong