Something Whispered In The Shakuhachi Poem Analysis

The poem “Something Whispered in the Shakuhachi” by Garret Hongo focuses on a bamboo grower who was a gardener before the start of the war and used the bamboo he grew to make flutes (Hongo line 7 & 9). The poem is very intimate, reminiscent, and lyrical. Hongo ‘s work focuses on one elderly and weak man who is capable of revealing the strength of spirit that can go beyond the most challenging as well as demeaning of circumstances. The narrator takes up the poignant theme of the internment of the Japanese Americans in the United States after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Following the ambush, many Japanese Americans were relocated and kept in concentration camps (Hongo, line 56 & 64). Alternatively, the poem is more about the spirit of courage and strength and the essence of memory that provides support and consolation to an individual’s mind all through and following the period of acute crisis. Conversely, “the poem love

In many of his poems, the poet remembers his past days before the displacement period and the time that followed. Therefore, most of the poem is set in the memory of the narrator. He begins to remember the good olden times when he would plant bamboos in the ditches next to the fields. The poet is depicted as a farmer, but his land was not good since it was rocky and dry (Hongo, line 8, 18, & 19). The author narrates how things changed during the war. The Japanese Americans had to leave their homes and their possessions to relocate in the concentration camps. Although a simple farmer, he shows immense determination and strength of spirit in this critical situation. Even though the poet portrays his land as rocky, dry, and barren, he does not forget the place as well as the memories linked with it (Hongo, line 18, 19, & 46). Therefore the narrator can be depicted as having a deep emotional bond with his