Integ 120 Connections Assignment

By Barrett

Tuesday September 3, 2008

Integ 120:  Connections Assignment

            In modern society, we have easy access to massive amounts of information on almost any subject imaginable.  The difficult part, is interpreting, understanding, and ultimately building connections between different pieces of information.  At a glance, a poem by Basho, and two prints of diatoms are as random and far removed as possible from each other.  However, there are in fact many connections between these two very different things.  Firstly, direct connections between the information will be shown and then secondly, broader connections will be revealed.

            There are many direct connections between these pieces of information.  One of the major connections is in the symmetry in both items.  The diatoms have a symmetrical shape.  The common structure for haikus is five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line and five syllables in the third line, which is a symmetrical structure (although, not all haiku must follow this, and indeed this particular haiku is not in the 5-7-5 structure) .  Both the haiku and the diatom have elements of death in them, but death is not their primary focus.  The haiku comments on the cicadas short life.  The diatoms appear lifeless and dead because of the lack of colors and black background.  A very important connection is that both items require thought to understand, and cannot be appreciated at a glance.  At first, one may not see the poem’s message; that the cicadas’ short life does not discourage them from chirping their hearts out. Also, haiku, by their very nature often have double meanings, metaphors or symbolism that requires thought to see.  Very few people would recognize a diatom at a glance.  Initially, my own personal thoughts were that the diatom was some kind of ancient organism that had fossilized.  I also thought the diatom on the right looked like a dome-shaped metallic cover that was fastened on by three bolts on the edges.  These are just a few of the immediate connections that can be made between the haiku and the diatoms.

            There are many secondary or less direct connections between these items.  Both Basho and Haeckel pioneered their works.  Basho did much to develop the haiku style and some Japanese poets claim “Haiku began and ended with Basho” (http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Island/5022/index.html).  The diatoms come from a book called Art Forms in Nature written by Ernst Haeckel that displayed many different organisms in an artistic fashion, and “profoundly influenced Europe’s art nouveau movement (http://www.slate.com/id/2124625/slideshow/2124679/fs/0//entry/2124669/).  A closely linked point is both items are themselves art.  Haiku is a poetic art, and Haeckel’s book made microorganisms into visual art.  The Haiku and the diatoms are both small parts of a greater works.  The diatoms are a just two of many images on just one of many pages of Art Forms in Nature and Basho’s haiku is part of a larger compilation of his poetry.  Both pieces of information involve a revelation or an “aha!” moment.  Jane Reichhold describes these revelations as “haiku moments” and said, “many of us, recognized that "haiku moments" were very much like other flashes of inspiration which, when transported into other media, became paintings, stories, dreams or even new color schemes or recipes.”  Similarly, when Haeckel’s book was first published, many people were surprised at the beauty to be found in the images of microscopic organisms.  These are just a few connections found from looking at this information in a greater context.

One can draw almost infinite connections between various “things”, and it would be extremely difficult if not impossible to find two completely isolated pieces of information.  Everyone has had different experiences, education and views on the world.  Therefore, everyone will make different connections.  It is important to try to understand or world, and a big part of understanding is drawing connections.

Bibliography

http://www.uoguelph.ca/pdc/Factsheets/Insect/Cicadas.htm

http://www.cicadas-pictures.com/cicadas_life_cycle.htm

http://science.jrank.org/pages/1481/Cicadas-Life-cycle-cicadas.html

http://www.ahapoetry.com/HAIKU.HTM

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Island/5022/

http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v18/i2/haeckel.asp

http://www.euronet.nl/users/janpar/virtual/diatoms.html

http://www.slate.com/id/2124625/slideshow/2124679/fs/0//entry/2124669/