The Iceland
2014
First Published
3.41
Average Rating
64
Number of Pages
Part of Series
Proudly part of the New Directions Poetry Pamphlets, a mesmerizing collection by a Japanese forerunner of Modernist poetry Hagiwara writes in the “The author’s past life was that of a disconsolate iceberg that drifts and flows in the extreme regions of the northern seas. Looking at the phantom-like auroras from various spots of the iceberg, he yearned, suffered, rejoiced, sorrowed, at times getting angry with himself, as he wandered on vainly with the tides…. Above his heart were always the disconsolate clouded skies of the extreme regions, the soul-ripping winds of the Iceland howling, screaming. He wrote all that painful life and the diary of a real person in these poems.”
Avg Rating
3.41
Number of Ratings
37
5 STARS
16%
4 STARS
27%
3 STARS
41%
2 STARS
14%
1 STARS
3%
goodreads
Author
Sakutaro Hagiwara
Author · 3 books
Hagiwara Sakutarō (萩原朔太郎) was a Japanese writer of free-style verse, active in the Taishō and early Shōwa periods of Japan. He liberated Japanese free verse from the grip of traditional rules, and he is considered the “father of modern colloquial poetry in Japan”. He published many volumes of essays, literary and cultural criticism, and aphorisms over his long career. His unique style of verse expressed his doubts about existence, and his fears, ennui, and anger through the use of dark images and unambiguous wording.
