A review by cantordustbunnies
Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death by Yoel Hoffmann

4.0

A wonderful book on a surprisingly boring subject. Of course, there are many masterpieces of poetry within this book. However, while some poems stand out many are repetitive variations on the same metaphor with a limited range of imagery. A lot of the poems in this book would be better standing alone or sprinkled throughout a haiku anthology of varying subject matter but as it is they tend to drown each other out. I thought Yoel Hoffmann did a great job of translation and provided useful explanatory notes as well as interesting yet brief histories of the poets when pertinent. He also has an excellent introduction to the book which puts things into cultural, historical, and artistic perspective. Unless if you're a devotee of some aspect of this book (death, haiku, or Japanese culture more generally) I wouldn't actually recommend this to the average reader. It's difficult to imagine a book that is more complete or well researched than this one on the particular subject of Japanese death poems but it could be too much of a good thing and wound up being monotonous. One positive aspect of so many death poems back to back is that you really get to appreciate how many different attitudes there are towards death and the poet's personality and attitude are compared and contrasted to each other in an interesting way. Picking this book up on a whim might not be such a great idea, but for a devotee or someone with a special interest this book is great.