hangezone's review
4.0
"Is it anyone's fault
that I who was once innocent
as the whitest silk
in constellation of stars
would fall into this world?"
honestly it was a really enjoyable read
that I who was once innocent
as the whitest silk
in constellation of stars
would fall into this world?"
honestly it was a really enjoyable read
cathsgraphs's review
3.0
I think poetry is a difficult thing to translate. I wish I could read this book in Japanese. Beautiful poetry about love, but I feel some feeling is lost in the translation or perhaps even culturally.
foggy_rosamund's review
3.0
Her poetry is so important in Japanese literature that her writing period (1878 - 1942) is sometimes known as the Age of Akiko. This selection gives the western reader a brief overview of her most important work, including tanka (five line poems) and longer free-verse pieces. I question the translation at times, as I read some of her work as translated by Kenneth Rexroth, and found his versions of her work to be more lively and robust. However, it is very important for Akiko to have a whole English-language collection devoted to her work, and I appreciate the chance to see something of her development as a poet. Her work in concerned with love, the female body, feminism, and intimacy. She uses the natural world, and her sense of her place in it, to convey these ideas. I found her tanka to be the strongest of her work in this collection: small moments that can be full of insight and beauty. Her free verse poems often felt very clumsy to me -- I don't know whether to blame the translation or whether a western understanding of what makes a good free verse poem and a Japanese understanding of it differ. However, I found her long poem "First Labour Pain" to be very effective and convey her fear and the intimacy of birth. It's interesting to read her later poems in comparison with her early tanka that are full of the joy of youth --
Immersed in my hot
bath like a lovely lily
growing in spring,
my twenty-year-old body --
so beautiful, so sublime.
Quickly her tanka become more complex and touch on sadness and grief, such as
While mother begins
chanting a deathbed sutra,
beside her, the
tiny feet of her infant,
oh so beautiful to see.
We begin to see the complexity of Akiko's character as her work develops.
Camellias and
plum blossoms are equally white.
But pink peach blossoms
don't amplify the shame
heaped upon my many sins.
My three-star rating is mainly because I am not convinced by the translation. Akiko is clearly an important and influential poet, and I want to continue exploring her work.
Immersed in my hot
bath like a lovely lily
growing in spring,
my twenty-year-old body --
so beautiful, so sublime.
Quickly her tanka become more complex and touch on sadness and grief, such as
While mother begins
chanting a deathbed sutra,
beside her, the
tiny feet of her infant,
oh so beautiful to see.
We begin to see the complexity of Akiko's character as her work develops.
Camellias and
plum blossoms are equally white.
But pink peach blossoms
don't amplify the shame
heaped upon my many sins.
My three-star rating is mainly because I am not convinced by the translation. Akiko is clearly an important and influential poet, and I want to continue exploring her work.
mellowbread's review
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
3.25
My first time reading Tanka; they were enjoyable, but I liked the modern-style poems more. My favourites were The Universe and Myself, Self-Awareness, and Women Are Plunder.
elkzahra's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.0
read mostly in class lol!! again. I think it'll be a better experience reading in it's original language, but I notice themes like art music love relationships. I like the modern poem segments as it is more narrative. Akiko has smart conversations written, whether about her brother, son, and especially women (labour). I like the two that touches upon tough financial and community driven as a utopian land. *smiles*
invisibleninjacat's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
I really liked the translations for this collection. I read another collection of Akiko's poetry and was less impressed (they included some of the same poems).
bookworm_leilani's review
5.0
New favorite poet. I had to restrain myself from taking trying to record basically every single tanka and will be buying my own copy in print & ebook.
jwang194's review
4.0
such a pretty collection of poems. the rush of nature motifs subsumes the human moments in a way that folds us people back into the natural world. yosano sometimes slips into soggy sentiment, but overall i really enjoyed these poems! despite coming to “modern” poetry later in life, yosano writes longer poems with just as much flair as she does tanka, and the structural freedom gives her more room to expand interesting moments in detail.