"Tennyson’s plucking the flower and holding it in his hand, “root and all,” and looking at it, perhaps intently. It is very likely he had a feeling somewhat akin to that of Basho who discovered a nazuna flower by the roadside hedge. But the difference between the two poets is: Basho does not pluck the flower. He just looks at it. He is absorbed in thought. He feels something in his mind, but he docs not express it. He lets an exclamation mark say everything he wishes to say. For he has no words to utter; his feeling is too full, too deep, and he has no desire to conceptualize it. As to Tennyson, he is active and analytical. He first plucks the flower from the place where it grows. He separates it from the ground where it belongs. Quite differently from the Oriental poet, he does not leave the flower alone. He must tear it away from the crannied wall, ”root and all,” which means that the plant must die."
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D. T. Suzuki
Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki (鈴木 大拙 Suzuki Daisetsu, October 18, 1870 – July 12, 1966) was a writer and professor of . His books and essays on introduced many Westerners to , Shin, and generally. Suzuki was also a prolific translator of Chinese, Japanese, and Sanskrit literature.
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