Motoori Norinaga · Philosophy

Poetry as Knowledge

Why, for Norinaga, composing <em>waka</em> is not ornament but the practice of knowing <em>mono no aware</em> - poetry as the natural overflow of a heart that cannot contain its feeling, and the <em>Isonokami sasamegoto</em>&rsquo;s defense of poetic truth against every demand that verse be useful or edifying.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Norinaga, especially in the Isonokami sasamegoto , defended poetry as the natural expression of mono no aware - the overflow of a heart too full of feeling to stay silent - and as a way of knowing that feeling, against the view that verse must be useful or morally edifying. Explain why he thought comp…

Leads to William Wordsworth.

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