Ishigaki Rin’s poem “Gake (Cliff)” in translation:
This RLE has numerous links links between knowledge claims and trust:
- The poem seems to be based on events that occurred during WWII. The reader may need to trust that the events in the poem have a basis in history.
- The reader of the translated poem need to trust that the English version is faithful to the original Japanese poem. There are a few ways in which this translation differs – the use of indentation in the second stanza as well as the use of ellipses near the end of the poem.
- The reader of a piece of literature has to careful with first-person narrators. Not all of them are trustworthy.
- The poem could be used not just in the arts but also in history. Works of art can be important historical sources. Fictional sources can be a bit tricky though and the trust issues are deeper and more complicated.
When look at RLEs in the arts, it may at first seem to be a difficult to extract knowledge claims. Think carefully about what the goals of the artist – that should lead you directly to knowledge claims.