When first presented with the two “pieces of information” shown on the right I was baffled. I was to connect a haiku about cicadas and an image of… something. I was initially unsure of how to approach the assignment. When I returned home, I looked at the image on UW-ACE, and decided to tell my browser to view the image alone in case it had been scaled down. I then noticed the file name:

Nothing in the cry of cicadas suggests they are about to die. ~Basho

“Diatomeas-Haeckel.jpg”. A simple search in Wikipedia for “Diatomeas” brought up an article about Diatoms, single-celled algae with hard silica cell walls. Lo and behold, the very image I had been presented with was displayed further down the page, proclaiming itself to be a drawing by Ernst Haeckel^1. All that remained was to connect diatoms and Basho’s haiku, which proved surprisingly easy.             The first thing which springs to mind is that cicadas and Diatoms have an anatomic similarity: a hard outer coating. Cicadas, like all insects, have an exoskeleton composed of chitin and protein^2; diatoms have a cell wall composed partly of silica^3. There are other similarities between cicadas and diatoms as well, such as how both cicadas and diatoms are found living in the ground^4,5. Related to this is how soil containing fossilized diatoms is a potent insecticide, as the silica causes insects living in the soil to rapidly dehydrate to death^6. In these senses, taken from the biology of cicadas and diatoms, the haiku and the drawing above are connected.             However, all the connexions previously mentioned are only between cicadas and diatoms. For deeper, more meaningful connexions, I thought that connecting the haiku itself to the image would be better. I began to think more in terms of art, realizing that since the haiku was written by Basho, and the image was drawn by Haeckel, that they were both works of art created by humans. In addition, they are both works of art with living organisms as their subjects. They are also what I would consider to be well-made art. The haiku’s English translation was well done, as it preserves the haiku form (three lines, seventeen syllables), and the haiku appears to have a deeper meaning behind it (which I had not yet deduced at this time). The image is a faithful representation of an incredibly well-drawn depiction of two diatoms, and the diatoms are also very pleasing to the eye. In these artistic senses, the two pieces of information are connected.             Yet I was still not satisfied with these explanations. I sought to find an interpretation of the haiku in order to connect it with the drawing. Eventually, I arrived at a webpage showing an article on Basho’s works^7. The haiku was present, along with the second stanza in the poem. The haiku was presented in context, with a comparison of the haiku to another poem by Saigyo, and comments from the article’s author. This allowed me to decide on an interpretation of the haiku. It is autumn, but the cicadas continue to sing. They do not know nor care that winter is coming, which will bring about their deaths. This reflects a similar seasonal cycle in diatoms. In autumn, when conditions are usually favourable, their populations increase rapidly. When winter comes, decreased amounts of sunlight and nutrients cause diatom levels to drop^8. The diatoms continue to behave as normal when winter approaches, unaware of their imminent doom. The unsuspected autumnal tragedy featured in the poem occurs both for cicadas and diatoms. This is another way in which the two seemingly unrelated “pieces of information” are connected.             Though this was at first a daunting assignment, it quickly became easy to connect the two “pieces of information.” Using biological information, artistic interpretation, and a combination of the two, connexions between the haiku by Basho and the drawing by Haeckel began to emerge easily. It is fascinating how a little thought can connect most anything.

References

[1] "Diatom." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 16 September 2008. 22 September 2008

          < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatom>.

2 Meyer, John R. "The Exoskeleton." North Carolina State University . 14 February 2006.

          22 September 2008 <http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/ent425/tutorial/integ.html>.

3 Becker, John. "siliceous cell walls." Montery Bay Aquarium Research Institute. 1996.

          22 September 2008 <http://www.mbari.org/staff/conn/botany/diatoms/john/basics/

          silica/silica.htm>.

4 Roach, John. "Cicada Swarm Returns Underground." National Geographic. 2 August

          2004. 22 September 2008 <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/

          08/0802_040802_cicada.html>.

5 Maule, Alec. "Cellular and Genetic Tracers of Transport Time in Groundwater

          Systems." U.S. Geological Survey. 2003. 22 September 2008

          <http://wfrc.usgs.gov/research/fish%20populations/STMaule5.htm>.

6 Hill, Stuart B. "DIATOMACEOUS EARTH: A Non Toxic Pesticide." Ecological

Agriculture Projects 47(2): 14, 42 (May, 1986). 22 September 2008

          <http://eap.mcgill.ca/Publications/eap4.htm>.

⁷ Meng-hu. "Basho, Plodding in Saigyo’s Footsteps." Simply Haiku: A Quarterly Journal

of Japanese Short Form Poetry Winter 2005, vol. 3., no. 4. 22 September 2008

          <http://www.hermitary.com/articles/basho_saigyo.html>.

⁸ "CalSpace/SIO/Earthguide-Diatoms-Species-California Current." University of

California. 2000. 22 September 2008

          <http://earthguide.ucsd.edu.proxy.lib.uwaterloo.ca/diatom/d6.html>