Bashō's Haiku: Selected Poems of Matsuo Bashō
by David Landis Barnhill
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Description
2005 CHOICE Outstanding Academic TitleBasho's Haiku offers the most comprehensive translation yet of the poetry of Japanese writer Matsuo Bash¿ (1644 ?1694), who is credited with perfecting and popularizing the haiku form of poetry. One of the most widely read Japanese writers, both within his own country and worldwide, Bash¿ is especially beloved by those who appreciate nature and those who practice Zen Buddhism. Born into the samurai class, Bash¿ rejected that world after the death of show more his master and became a wandering poet and teacher. During his travels across Japan, he became a lay Zen monk and studied history and classical poetry. His poems contained a mystical quality and expressed universal themes through simple images from the natural world.David Landis Barnhill's brilliant book strives for literal translations of Bash¿'s work, arranged chronologically in order to show Bash¿'s development as a writer. Avoiding wordy and explanatory translations, Barnhill captures the brevity and vitality of the original Japanese, letting the images suggest the depth of meaning involved. Barnhill also presents an overview of haiku poetry and analyzes the significance of nature in this literary form, while suggesting the importance of Bash¿ to contemporary American literature and environmental thought. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
A large selection of poems, but suffers from a fairly lifeless translation and only sometimes helpful notes.
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Author Information
3+ Works 98 Members
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Bashō's Haiku: Selected Poems of Matsuo Bashō
- People/Characters
- Matsuo Bashō
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Poetry
- DDC/MDS
- 891.6 — Literature & rhetoric Literatures of other languages East Indo-European and Celtic literatures Celtic languages
- LCC
- PL794.4 .A227 — Language and Literature Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania Languages of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania Japanese language and literature Japanese literature Individual authors and works
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 39
- Popularity
- 749,513
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.21)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 1
