Read the excerpt from "Digging" Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds Bends low, comes up twenty years away Stooping in rhythm through potato drills Where he was digging. Read the haiku by Bashō. On the way to the outhouse— the white of the moonflower by torchlight. How does the structure of these poems differ?
Answer
A
“Digging” jumps from the present time to the past, while Bashō's haiku captures a single moment in time.
B
“Digging” attempts to capture a moment in the distant past, while Bashō's haiku speculates about the future.
C
“Digging” describes a moment in the present time, while Bashō's haiku jumps back in time.
D
“Digging” speculates about the future, while Bashō's haiku commemorates a time from the distant past.
Explanation
In “Digging,” the speaker describes his father bending over in the present, then shifts to the father’s potato-digging twenty years earlier. Bashō’s haiku instead presents one brief scene: seeing a moonflower by torchlight on the way to the outhouse. So “Digging” moves between present and past, while the haiku captures a single moment.
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