Haiku – Pocket Edition

 Haiku – Pocket Edition

Reviewed By  Janet Mawdesley       December 1, 2024

 

Author  translated Hart Larrabee.

Distributor:      Amazon
ISBN:                 978-1838864408
Publisher:         Amber Books
Release Date:   October 2024  

   Website:   https://www.amazon.com/Haiku-Pocket-Hart-Larrabee/dp/1838864407

FaceBook:    

YouTube:   

Instagram:   

X Formally Twitter:    

This delightful Pocket Edition illustrated anthology of Haiku follows on from the original book, released earlier in 2024, bound and presented in the traditional Japanese style.

Hart Larrabee has taken four masters of the art of Haiku poetry, translated their works and presented them in a beautiful format once again, allowing the spare, elegant words to be able to be read anywhere, anytime.

This formal style of Japanese poetry goes back to Renga, which dates back to the medieval period (1185-1600) and was a form of Court poetry. Settled times allowed a lighter form of the poetry to emerge known as Haikai which was able to be enjoyed by people of all walks of life.

Hokku was the next style to be developed which has slowly ebbed into the modern world as a form of poetry, Haiku, that is written and enjoyed by many, but a form of poetry that must still adhere to the traditional format, that of no more than seventeen words, set out in the 5-7-5 pattern.

Each of the chosen Masters, Matsuo Basho (1644-1690, Yosa Busin (1716-1784)0, Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828) and Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902), works have been carefully selected to bring into the world of today the ever changing landscape of poetry.

Their words are presented in Japanese then translated to English, the traditional characters lining the e edge the page. Elegant pictures and sketches add an additional layer of beauty to the carefully chosen words to make the Pocket Edition of Haiku one of charm and grace.

Fiction, Poetry