Tenrikyo Ofudesaki - Three Ways of Reading the Poems
The poems collected in "The Tip of the Writing Brush" can be appreciated and savored in a number of ways. I will just mention three basic approaches that are commonly applied to the appreciation of poetry in general.
First: Each verse can be experienced as a stand alone poem with no context other than the intimate impact that the poem makes on the mind of the reader.
Second: The poems can also be appreciated within the context of the poetic theme that they appear within and that approach is also capable delivering the same intimate impact as experienced through the stand alone approach.
Third: The poems can be read as literal prose related to events that took place in a particular time and place; that is as a kind of history or biography. In modern terms this is viewed as a common worldly or fundamentalist approach and around the world it continues to be the most common and popular approach.
Of course, regardless of the approach used, it is essential for a reader of poetry, when applying the first two approaches, to have a clear appreciation of the meaning of some key words.