Larry Hammer: 4 books

This is a story book, a reading collection of poems to enjoy for both the stories they tell and the poetry they hold. They are heroic, comic, tragic, satiric, romantic, enigmatic, mythic, erotic—from rousing adventures to domestic dramas. The writers are from Britain, Ireland, United States, Canada,...

A selection of single poem each by a hundred different authors writing between the late 15th century and 1922, selected to best represent each poet. Containing a variety of subjects, styles, and lengths — some of them anthology staples for good reason, while others deserve to be — it is a perfect poetry collection for pleasure reading.

The Kokinshu, compiled around 905 C.E. in 20 thematic books, was the first imperial anthology of Japanese poetry. It defined the acceptable topics, diction, imagery, and style of court poetry for the next thousand years. Haiku poets took many cues from this tradition, including giving primacy to seasonal...

Ono no Komachi is generally recognized as Japan’s greatest love poet before modern times. For most of history, however, she was better known for her legendary beauty and supposed numerous affairs. The texts behind her reputation reveal her to have been superb poetic technician and author of some...