Hi, Everyone!
I have always used the m dash, but I'm wondering about the use of the colon.
Lately, I've found that I might use one or the other to achieve a different result... I started this thread thinking many people on the site have been writing longer than me, and might have a more ready defense for one or the other... or could articulate a preference. I suppose writing this thread is also making me work through what I think, haha.
For me, the m dash is about immediate juxtaposition, or fragmentation, or further explanation of a second subject in line two that differs more distinctly from the first subject in line one--it also serves as the "cutting word" in English-language haiku in the same way an ellipse, !, comma, or colon does, too.
Now the colon: I have only recently encountered the colon reading Nick Virgilio's work. It seems to me he is using the colon over the m dash to the same purpose as the m dash. I don't often see him employ the m dash, and it appears to me to be just a stylistic concern for that reason. I also often find the Japanese Masters (Basho, Issa, Buson, Shiki) are translated with an m dash, though I believe Nick Virgilio's body of work is as meritorious as the best of the Japanese Masters.
In my own writing, I have not been consistent. With this thread I aim to change that. If I want to separate or provide a "cutting word" for a juxtaposition of images, I think, first, is my image drastically different, or similar? For example, I wrote a haiku comparing snowflakes to stars using the m dash:
the spider hanging
snowflakes from the eve--
Orion's Belt
Whereas, in a different haiku, when wanting to provide for that juxtaposition of images, but where the second image in mind functions almost like an explanation of the first, I would use a colon:
Mother's Day:
we wait at home
for our florist
What do you think? Do you prefer the m dash or colon? Is there a difference, or is it about style? Should we use them to different purposes? If editors are reading our haiku, what are they thinking when they see an m dash over a colon, or vice versa?
All best,
Jack
I have always used the m dash, but I'm wondering about the use of the colon.
Lately, I've found that I might use one or the other to achieve a different result... I started this thread thinking many people on the site have been writing longer than me, and might have a more ready defense for one or the other... or could articulate a preference. I suppose writing this thread is also making me work through what I think, haha.
For me, the m dash is about immediate juxtaposition, or fragmentation, or further explanation of a second subject in line two that differs more distinctly from the first subject in line one--it also serves as the "cutting word" in English-language haiku in the same way an ellipse, !, comma, or colon does, too.
Now the colon: I have only recently encountered the colon reading Nick Virgilio's work. It seems to me he is using the colon over the m dash to the same purpose as the m dash. I don't often see him employ the m dash, and it appears to me to be just a stylistic concern for that reason. I also often find the Japanese Masters (Basho, Issa, Buson, Shiki) are translated with an m dash, though I believe Nick Virgilio's body of work is as meritorious as the best of the Japanese Masters.
In my own writing, I have not been consistent. With this thread I aim to change that. If I want to separate or provide a "cutting word" for a juxtaposition of images, I think, first, is my image drastically different, or similar? For example, I wrote a haiku comparing snowflakes to stars using the m dash:
the spider hanging
snowflakes from the eve--
Orion's Belt
Whereas, in a different haiku, when wanting to provide for that juxtaposition of images, but where the second image in mind functions almost like an explanation of the first, I would use a colon:
Mother's Day:
we wait at home
for our florist
What do you think? Do you prefer the m dash or colon? Is there a difference, or is it about style? Should we use them to different purposes? If editors are reading our haiku, what are they thinking when they see an m dash over a colon, or vice versa?
All best,
Jack