Love Poems from the Japanese
Author: Kenneth Rexroth
Editor: Sam Hamill
Year: 2003
Drawn from classical, medieval, and modern sources—including the imperial collections of the Manyoshu and Kokinshu—the poems in this collection are some of the greatest love poems from the Japanese tradition. The poems range in tone from the spiritual longing of an isolated monk to the erotic ecstasy of a court princess—but share the extraordinary simplicity and luminosity of language that marks Kenneth Rexroth's verse style. An introduction by the poet and translator Sam Hamill, the editor of this collection, and short biographies of the poets are included.
Kenneth Rexroth (1905–1982), a prolific poet, translator, essayist, and playwright, was a key figure in the San Francisco Renaissance of the fifties and sixties. The author of more than thirty books, Rexroth was also a frequent contributor to The Nation .
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