Bashō: Barnhill's Basho's Haiku: Selected Poems of Matsuo Basho.

Bashō: Haiku, haibun, and renga of Matsuo Bashō. Bashō: Barnhill's Basho's Haiku: Selected Poems of Matsuo Basho. Bashō: Oseko's Complete Translations of Basho Haiku. Bashō: Reichhold's Basho: the Complete Haiku.

Highlights of Poetry. Index of poetry. How to Write Poetry. Books read.

Matsuo Bashō
Writings: various translations. Haiku. Haibun. Renga. Time Line.

A complete library would include, in addition to this Barnhill book:

Matsuo Bashō
Oseko's annotated translations.
Comparison of Oseko and Reichhold translations.
Examples of Oseko and Reichhold and Barnhill translations.
Comparison of other translations from Bashō's haibun.

Features of Barnhill's
Basho's Haiku: Selected Poems of Matsuo Basho

Factoids for Barnhill's Basho's Haiku: Selected Poems of Matsuo Basho:

Note that Barnhill sometimes uses hokku, the historic term that would have been used by Basho himself, for a short poem that was the initial link or stanza of a linked set that of formed a renku. And sometimes he uses haiku (the modern term) to refer to the short poems that Basho wrote. This seems apt, as (a) we are talking about translations and (b) many of the poems that have come down to us were not necessarily opening links (i.e., hokku). The term hokku began to be expanded. But the modern and more general term is haiku, which is use in these comments.

Features of the translated haiku:

• 724 of the Basho's roughly 1000 known haiku are translated and annotated here.
• Organized by year of composition and by season within that year.
• Barnhill mostly adheres in the translations to the original Japanese word order so that the sequences of images arrives as Basho intended. Barnhill does change Japanese post-positions into prepositions and makes other sensible changes.
• With each translation, Barnhill includes the romaji (romanized text) and a translation of any accompanying headnote provided by Basho.
• The section of notes is of comparable size to the section of haiku.

Features of the supporting material.

• Organized by year of composition and by season within that year.
• Disastrous flaw which appears twice on page 5, where Barnhill claims:
  "It is common knowledge that the traditional form of a Japanese haiku is three lines with seven, five, and seven syllables." The traditional Japanese haiku uses a sound pattern of 5-7-5 not 7-5-7. Also the Japanese traditionally wrote their haiku as a single vertical line (sometimes on multiple lines for haiga).

Factoids for Barnhill's Basho's Haiku: Selected Poems of Matsuo Basho:

• Translator, editor, and annotator: David Landis Barnhill.
• ISBN-10: 0791461661; ISBN-13: 978-0791461662.
• Published August 2004; 346 pages.
• Contents
  • Introduction
  • Basho's Haiku
  • Contents
  • Preface
  • Selected Chronology of the Life of Matsuo Basho
  • Introduction: The Haiku Poetry Of Matsuo Basho
  • Translation of the Hokku (in 136 pages)
  • Notes (in 114 pages)
  • Major Nature Images in Basho's Hokku (10 pages)
  • Glossary (4 pages)
  • Bibliography (4 pages)
  • Index to Basho's Hokku in Translation (24 pages)
  • Index to Basho's Hokku in Japanese (18 pages)
  • Index of Names [of people referenced in the work] (3 pages)

Yuki Teikei Haiku Society: Join. GEPPO magazine. Annual anthologies. The Yuki Teikei Haiku Society Retreat at Asilomar: 2007. 2008 (a haibun). 2010.

Toward an Aesthetic for English-Language Haiku by Lee Gurga. 2004 Pescadero Haiku Weekend Workshop (including exercises) with Christopher Herold.

How to write specific forms: Haibun. Haiku. Hay(na)ku. Rengay. Renku. Tanka. Ballade. Concrete. Ghazal. Lai. Pantoum. Prose poem. Rondeau. Rubáiyát. Sestina. Skaldic verse. Sonnet. Terza rima. Triolet. Tritina. Villanelle.

Poets: Bashō. Beverly Acuff Momoi. Buson. Claire Gallagher. Hosai Ozaki. J. Zimmerman. J. Zimmerman (haibun). J. Zimmerman (haiku). J. Zimmerman (tanka). Jane Hirshfield. Kay Ryan. Kay Ryan's style. Kay Ryan The Best Of It: New and Selected Poems. Ki no Tsurayuki. Marianna Monaco. Ouzel (James Arnold). Patricia Donegan. Patricia J. Machmiller. Renée Owen. Shiki.

The Essential Haiku: Versions of Bashō, Buson, and Issa edited by Robert Hass. Basho's Haiku: Selected Poems of Matsuo Basho translated and with an introduction by David Landis Barnhill. 724 poems. Local web page on Barnhill's Basho's Haiku: Selected Poems of Matsuo Basho.

How to Learn Japanese.

Links and Books.

Links and Books.

• Best American Poetry series.
• Best Poems by the Best Poets - Some Lists of Winners.
• Laureate: the Poets Laureate of Britain
• Laureate: the Poets Laureate of the U.S.A.
• Other Books of Poetry Form.

Related pages: Poetry index. How to Write Poetry. How to write specific forms: Haibun. Haiku. Hay(na)ku. Rengay. Tanka.

Books of Poetry Form.

Copyright © 2016-2016 by J. Zimmerman, except for the quoted poems. All rights reserved.

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