Encountering the Poems of Daisaku Ikeda
In Encountering the Poems of Daisaku Ikeda, literature scholars Ronald A. Bosco, Kenneth Price, and Sarah Ann Wider consider various dimensions of the poetic oeuvre of Buddhist thinker and leader Daisaku Ikeda. Dr. Bosco looks at lyricism in Mr. Ikeda’s work, Dr. Price traces the poetry’s connection with Walt Whitman, and Dr. Wider elucidates how the poems function as encouragement for their many readers worldwide. The three encounters are at once thoughtful and joyous. Encountering is intended to be a companion volume for the 2014 collection of Daisaku Ikeda poems called Journey of Life (I.B. Tauris).
Ronald. A. Bosco is the Distinguished Research Professor of English and American Literature at the University at Albany, SUNY, where he has taught since 1975. Dr. Bosco recently served as the General Editor of the Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Harvard University Press).
Kenneth M. Price, Hillegass University Professor of American Literature, co-directs the Center for Digital Research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Since 2009, Dr. Price has co-directed The Walt Whitman Archive.
Sarah Ann Wider is Professor of English and Women’s Studies at Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, where she specializes in the American Renaissance, feminist autobiographical and biographical writings, and contemporary Native American literature.
Introduction
Ronald A. Bosco
“A Wondrous Symphony of Life”: Lyricism in the Poems of Daisaku Ikeda
Ronald A. Bosco
A New Errand Bearer: Daisaku Ikeda’s Poetic Response to Walt Whitman and His Quest for Peace
Kenneth M. Price
Daisaku Ikeda’s Poetry of Encouragement
Sarah Ann Wider
About the Authors
About the Poet
Excerpt from the Introduction by Ronald A. Bosco:
“Ikeda understands and practices poetry much in the same way he understands the purpose of life and lives his own. Poetry, like life itself, is for Ikeda an ongoing series of pilgrimages: pilgrimages of the heart, pilgrimages of the imagination, pilgrimages of the intellect, pilgrimages of feeling in which people share the joys, succor the sorrows and advance the aspirations of all with whom they interact—pilgrimages, in sum, through which each and every one of us ultimately identifies ourselves as indiviudals within, as well as beneficiaries and benefactors of, a much larger community to which we belong: Humanity. Recognizing that the power of the human community lies in its ability to appreciate and celebrate its diversity, as a spiritual thinker and humanistic writer Ikeda thrives on the challenge always confronting the poet to ‘perceive the infinite possibilities of humanity’ and transform that perception into poetry…” (p. 2)
Description
In Encountering the Poems of Daisaku Ikeda, literature scholars Ronald A. Bosco, Kenneth Price, and Sarah Ann Wider consider various dimensions of the poetic oeuvre of Buddhist thinker and leader Daisaku Ikeda. Dr. Bosco looks at lyricism in Mr. Ikeda’s work, Dr. Price traces the poetry’s connection with Walt Whitman, and Dr. Wider elucidates how the poems function as encouragement for their many readers worldwide. The three encounters are at once thoughtful and joyous. Encountering is intended to be a companion volume for the 2014 collection of Daisaku Ikeda poems called Journey of Life (I.B. Tauris).
Author(s)
Ronald. A. Bosco is the Distinguished Research Professor of English and American Literature at the University at Albany, SUNY, where he has taught since 1975. Dr. Bosco recently served as the General Editor of the Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Harvard University Press).
Kenneth M. Price, Hillegass University Professor of American Literature, co-directs the Center for Digital Research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Since 2009, Dr. Price has co-directed The Walt Whitman Archive.
Sarah Ann Wider is Professor of English and Women’s Studies at Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, where she specializes in the American Renaissance, feminist autobiographical and biographical writings, and contemporary Native American literature.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Ronald A. Bosco
“A Wondrous Symphony of Life”: Lyricism in the Poems of Daisaku Ikeda
Ronald A. Bosco
A New Errand Bearer: Daisaku Ikeda’s Poetic Response to Walt Whitman and His Quest for Peace
Kenneth M. Price
Daisaku Ikeda’s Poetry of Encouragement
Sarah Ann Wider
About the Authors
About the Poet
Excerpts
Excerpt from the Introduction by Ronald A. Bosco:
“Ikeda understands and practices poetry much in the same way he understands the purpose of life and lives his own. Poetry, like life itself, is for Ikeda an ongoing series of pilgrimages: pilgrimages of the heart, pilgrimages of the imagination, pilgrimages of the intellect, pilgrimages of feeling in which people share the joys, succor the sorrows and advance the aspirations of all with whom they interact—pilgrimages, in sum, through which each and every one of us ultimately identifies ourselves as indiviudals within, as well as beneficiaries and benefactors of, a much larger community to which we belong: Humanity. Recognizing that the power of the human community lies in its ability to appreciate and celebrate its diversity, as a spiritual thinker and humanistic writer Ikeda thrives on the challenge always confronting the poet to ‘perceive the infinite possibilities of humanity’ and transform that perception into poetry…” (p. 2)