'The sea dark,
The call of the teal
Dimly white'
The Penguin Book of Japanese Verse contains over 700 poems from the third century to the twentieth, including both tanka ('short poem') and haiku, and covering such classic themes as nature, love, partings and time. Displaying the full wit, sadness and subtlety of Japanese poetry, this collection also illustrates the continued popularity of the poetic form in Japan. Introducing the more complex 'New-Style' verse, the anthology offers a complete picture of Japan and its culture through the centuries.
Poetry remains a living part of the culture of Japan today. The clichés of everyday speech are often to be traced to famous ancient poems, and the traditional forms of poetry are widely known and loved. The congenial attitude comes from a poetical history of about a millennium and a half. This classic collection of verse therefore contains poetry from the earliest, primitive period, through the Nara, Heian, Kamakura, Muromachi and Edo periods, ending with modern poetry from 1868 onwards, including the rising poets Tamura Ryuichi and Tanikawa Shuntaro.
Geoffrey Bownas's and Anthony Thwaite;s accessible translations are accompanied by two introductions, placing the poems in their linguistic and historical context. This anthology is broad in scope and content and includes a chronology, appendices, a map and notes.
