NA KAONA: HAWAIIAN METAPHORICAL POETRY - Couverture souple

MONIZ, WAYNE

Couverture souple

ISBN 13 : 9798363771613

Editeur : Independently published, 2022

Synopsis

The Hawaiian word for "hidden meaning" is kaona. Mary Pukui, the great Hawaiian historian and culturalist (1949: 247-251), said, "There are two meanings in the mele: the literal and the kaona or inner meaning. The literal is like the body, and the inner meaning is like the spirit of the poem." Vagueness, sometimes lack of gender, verbs without subjects or objects and subjects without verbs are often part of the makeup of the mele.
However, the focus is on elements in nature that represent people, places, things, events in various phases of life, e.g. birth, death, marriage, love, achievements or simply family and friends that we admire.
The kaona is basically what most English speaking students learn in their literature classes as the extended metaphor that incorporates the other forms of figurative language - simile, personification, and symbolism.
The Hawaiians had no printed grammar until the missionaries came and converted their oral language into a written one as well. So, in pre-contact times, when an occasion arose to express oneself, the composer delivered the kaona (created in one's imagination and memorized) directly to another orally (e.g. a mele fo my mother on her birthday) or to a related group of people (e.g. a poem to the siblings of a deceased person). It was a message sometimes discernible only to the recipient of the kaona.
"Kaona", according to Kamehameha Schools' Haku Mele Project, "showcases the composer's level of skill, the knowledge of his/her audience, the complexity of composition, an indicator of intelligence, and the ability to connect the present to the past." It heavily utilizes the five senses. Finally it proudly displays the sophistication of our early Hawaiian ancestors.
To stimulate his/her writing, the poet chooses the person or subject of the poem and recalls an element of nature related to them or that has the same though not so apparent qualities. The most common elements (though not limited to these) are birds, fish and sea creatures, flowers, plants, trees, mountains, rains and mists, ocean, rivers, and winds. All these are referred to specifically - e.g. birds: the nene, fish: akule, flowers: lokelani, plants: uki uki berry, trees: hala, mountains:
Haleakala, rains: wa`ahila, mists: noenoe, ocean: Kahana Bay, rivers: Wailuku, winds: a`e (tradewinds). A waterfall should also be concrete. I've included in the book some kaona by friends. Liizelle Soriano's kaona, Honokohau is the name of the tallest waterfall in the West Maui Mountains. The waterfall has the same though unobvious qualities of the person or subject for whom the poem was composed. Kaona is Hawaiian Poetry akin to the works of the American School of Transcendentalism that includes the great poetic giant: Emerson, Thoreau, Whitmans and Dickinson.
The general readership may miss the full scope of these personally composed gifts to another but nonetheless should appreciated the vivid imagery of nature.
I hope you enjoy Nā Kaona.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Independently published
• Date d'édition: 2022
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 13: 9798363771613
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 240
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Manufactured by Amazon on behalf of the author; https://www.amazon.fr/hz/contact-us; ; c/o Amazon Media EU S.à.r.l., 38 Avenue John F. Kennedy; Luxembourg; L-1855; Luxembourg