On Love and Barley: The Haiku of Basho (Penguin Classics)

On Love and Barley: The Haiku of Basho (Penguin Classics)

by Lucien Stryk (Translator), Matsuo Basho (Author), Matsuo Basho (Author), Lucien Stryk (Translator)

Synopsis

Basho, one of the greatest of Japanese poets and the master of haiku, was also a Buddhist monk and a life-long traveller. His poems combine 'karumi', or lightness of touch, with the Zen ideal of oneness with creation. Each poem evokes the natural world - the cherry blossom, the leaping frog, the summer moon or the winter snow - suggesting the smallness of human life in comparison to the vastness and drama of nature. Basho himself enjoyed solitude and a life free from possessions, and his haiku are the work of an observant eye and a meditative mind, uncluttered by materialism and alive to the beauty of the world around him.

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More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 92
Edition: Illustrated
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Published: 29 Aug 1985

ISBN 10: 0140444599
ISBN 13: 9780140444599
Book Overview: Basho, one of the greatest of Japanese poets and the master of haiku, was also a Buddhist monk and a life-long traveller.

Author Bio
Basho was born near Kyoto in 1644. A poet and diarist, he spent his youth as companion to the son of the local lord, and with him studied the writing of poetry. In 1667 he moved to Edo (now Tokyo) and continued to write verse. Eventually, he became a recluse. His writings are strongly influenced by the Zen sect of Buddhism. Lucien Stryk is a well-known translator.