Haiku. Japanese Lyric with Illustrations

Japanese lyrical poems haiku are characterized by extreme brevity and a distinctive poetics, reflecting in their style the life of nature and humanity in their seamless, indivisible unity against the backdrop of the changing seasons. The term "after-feeling" fully reflects Japanese lyrics — for the deep resonance born of words does not quiet down immediately. The ability to awaken imagination is one of the main properties of Japanese poetry. Masters such as Bashō, Buson, and Issa are just a few among those whose poems still have the power to stir our feelings. In the translation by the poet, philologist, and literary scholar Vera Nikolaevna Markova, unique Japanese poetic miniatures transform into aphoristic free verses that turn into blank verse.