Overview

Written by court princesses, exiled officials, Zen priests, and recluses, the one hundred and fifty poems translated here represent the rich diversity of Japan's poetic tradition. Varying in tone from the sensuous and erotic to the profoundly spiritual, each poem captures a sense of the poignant beauty and longing known only in the fleeting experience of the moment. The translator has selected these five-line tanka - one of the great traditional verse forms of Japanese literature - from sources ranging from the classical imperial anthologies of the eighth and tenth centuries to works of the early twentieth century.

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Hamill lets the lines flow almost seamlessly into each other, sometimes achieving perfect 'pitch' and hitting a natural, almost accidental end rhyme. . . . It seems clear that Hamill has found his calling in translation. With each new volume, we are the luckier for it. --The Japan Times

Hamill lets the lines flow almost seamlessly into each other, sometimes achieving perfect 'pitch' and hitting a natural, almost accidental end rhyme. . . . It seems clear that Hamill has found his calling in translation. With each new volume, we are the luckier for it. -- The Japan Times Hamill lets the lines flow almost seamlessly into each other, sometimes achieving perfect 'pitch' and hitting a natural, almost accidental end rhyme. . . . It seems clear that Hamill has found his calling in translation. With each new volume, we are the luckier for it. - The Japan Times Hamill lets the lines flow almost seamlessly into each other, sometimes achieving perfect 'pitch' and hitting a natural, almost accidental end rhyme. . . . It seems clear that Hamill has found his calling in translation. With each new volume, we are the luckier for it. --The Japan Times

Author Information

Sam Hamill has published over twenty books translated from the Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Latin, and Estonian as well as fifteen books of original poetry and literary essays. He has been the recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest fund, the Andrew Mellon Fund, and the U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission.

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