Like a kite cut from the string, lightly the soul of my youth has taken flight. what does it mean?

Question

Like a kite cut from the string, lightly the soul of my youth has taken flight. it's haiku.
but i don't get it. is this positive or negative? his youth has gone away or his youth was liberated from ties that binded him and is flying free?

Answer 1

question of perspective.

For the kite owner (kid usually), its the end of a dream.. typically sad.

For the kite, its the promise of freedom... yet... without any idea of what that freedom has in the offing.

I think this haiku should be discussed in depth in a room decorated like an 19th century African safari ;)

Answer 2

I think it's meant to be ambiguous, but while one might think of the loss of youth as a negative, the imagery here seems quite positive and liberating. He speaks of it as having "lightly" taken flight, which connotes something gentle or soft.

I think that if it were meant to be just negative, he would have used a harsher word (such as "blown") or different imagery.

Answer 3

When a kite string breaks the kite crashes. If you think of it literally then definitely negative.

Answer 4

The beauty of haiku is in its "complex" simplicity....it is at once both a positive and a negative, with just enough substance to stimulate a furtile imagination, yet not so much verbage to constrict it to a single interpretation. It's as open to interpretation as a Jackson Pollack painting, and because of that open-ended appeal, it can therefore resonate with a wider audience (or multiple ways to a limited audience) as their current moods allow.

Answer 5

Usually, when a kite string is cut, the kite crashes and is torn apart.

Answer 6

I like to take the positive from that

Answer 7

you could take it positive or negative. It just means that the person got older.