Selected Poems of Yone Noguchi


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4.6 stars; 5 reviews)

"Yone Noguchi was an influential Japanese writer of poetry, fiction, essays, and literary criticism in both English and Japanese. Critical evaluations of Noguchi, while varying drastically, have frequently stressed the enigmatic character of his work. Arthur Symons referred to him as a "scarcely to be apprehended personality." Arthur Ransome called him "a poet whose poems are so separate that a hundred of them do not suffice for his expression." Ezra Pound, on first reading The Pilgrimage in 1911 wrote that "His poems seem to be rather beautiful. I don't quite know what to think about them." Nishiwaki Junzaburō wrote, "Most of his earlier poems have always seemed to me so terrific, so bewildering, as to startle me out of reason or system." - Summary by Wikipedia (1 hr 52 min)

Chapters

Foreword 13:47 Read by Nemo
What About my Songs 1:12 Read by Nemo
Where is the Poet 1:20 Read by Eva Davis
The Desert of ' No More ' 1:15 Read by Nemo
Seas of Loneliness 1:41 Read by Eva Davis
The Garden of Truth 1:14 Read by Nemo
Like a Paper Lantern 1:00 Read by Eva Davis
I Hail Myself as I Do Homer - 3:16 Read by Nemo
The Night Reverie in the Forest 4:05 Read by Nemo
Song of Day in Yosemite Valley 4:26 Read by Nemo
Song of Night in Yosemite Valley 1:54 Read by Eva Davis
Apparition 1:14 Read by Nemo
O Cho San 2:28 Read by Eva Davis
Address to a Soyokaze 1:50 Read by Eva Davis
Under the Moon 3:25 Read by Eva Davis
O Hana San 3:22 Read by Nemo
The Myoto 1:14 Read by Eva Davis
The Goddess : God 0:39 Read by Eva Davis
By the Sea 2:08 Read by Nemo
Homekotoba 8:10 Read by Nemo
Upon the Heights 2:00 Read by Nemo
The Poet 1:09 Read by Nemo
The Face in the Mirror 2:58 Read by Eva Davis
How Near to Fairyland 1:17 Read by Nemo
Lines 1:06 Read by Nemo
Spring 1:03 Read by Eva Davis
Prose Poems 8:21 Read by Nemo
The New Art 1:25 Read by Nemo
By the Enagakuji Temple : Moon Night 0:59 Read by Eva Davis
To a Nightingale 2:03 Read by Nemo
I am Like a Leaf 0:58 Read by Nemo
To the Sunflower 0:56 Read by Nemo
Shadow 1:14 Read by Eva Davis
The Fantastic Snow-flakes 1:12 Read by Eva Davis
Ghost of Abyss 1:00 Read by Nemo
Autumn Song 0:50 Read by Eva Davis
Fantasia 1:19 Read by Nemo
The Temple Bell 1:04 Read by Eva Davis
To the Cicada 1:24 Read by Eva Davis
The Lady of Utamaro's Art 1:14 Read by Nemo
The Buddha Priest in Meditation 1:21 Read by Nemo
In the Inland Sea 1:33 Read by Nemo
Kyoto 1:05 Read by Eva Davis
My Little Bird 1:14 Read by Eva Davis
Her Weapons are a Smile and a Little Fan 0:52 Read by Eva Davis
My Heart 1:06 Read by Nemo
The Lotus Worshippers 1:33 Read by Eva Davis
Lines 1:02 Read by Nemo
The Eastern Sea 1:39 Read by Nemo
To a Sparrow 1:09 Read by Nemo
Right and Left 1:00 Read by Nemo
In Japan Beyond 1:36 Read by Nemo
Cradle Songs 1:38 Read by Eva Davis
Japanese Hokkus 2:52 Read by Eva Davis

Reviews

Poetry that sinks into my soul.


(4.5 stars)

I've listened to about half of these poems, so far and know I will go back to them regularly, since you can listen to any number of them and in any order. They share the focus on nature that is what makes Japanese poetry so important to me. It is interesting to read in the LibraVox introduction, that Yone Noguchi wrote both in English and Japanese. I would like to learn more about him. I am now reading his "The American Diary of a Japanese Girl". I thought this author was a female at first and that confusion was added to because of his writings as if by a female narrator.