Anthology of Modern Japanese Poetry

This anthology was first published in 1972. It contains mostly free-verse poetry from the 20th century, though it also has haiku, and I think the section of tanka is by far the best selection within the book. No original Japanese is included. An appendix gives brief biographies of each writer, and

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an introduction puts it all into a jumbled framework. I have to assume the selection of free-verse poets represents important notables in Japanese poetry, but something was lacking, whether it was the selection of poems or weak translations, I can't say. The tanka section has crisp, pertinent poems with strong, clear imagery -- it may be worth picking the book up in the bookstore or library and browsing through the tanka.

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