Poems Inspired by Dovzhenko’s Earth (1930)
Terada Torahiko
The film Earth [Zemlya] is neither drama nor epic nor lyric. The one artistic form it can be compared to is our very own haikai-renku [humorous linked-verse].
As a little experiment, let us string together some lines of poorly-written poetry—poetry that is admittedly clunky and completely ignores the formal rules of linked verse.
End of the grass-blowing wind—peaks of the clouds
A girl of eighteen in a refuge of sunflowers
On the dying man’s face—a lingering smile
The autumn harvest has been bountiful
Such is the continuity with which this kasen-style [linked-verse] film begins. Then there are other scenes, one of which may be described as follows:
Dancing on a moonlit road—the night wears on
Gone too soon—dawn’s beads of dew
And at the end:
Choking on the dust of a funeral cortege—tall grass
To mother earth returning—autumn rain
Written by Terada Torahiko | Translated by Adam Kuplowsky
Excerpted from「映画雑感」, 中央公論, October 1931
Film stills from Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s Земля (1930).
Terada Torahiko (1878-1935): Japanese physicist and author. His various essays on film—and in particular, his observations on the similarities between linked-verse and montage—served as an inspiration for renowned film director Yasujiro Ozu.