One of the recurring themes in Manyoshu, a collection of over 4,000 poems (Keene 1955, 33) written by a variety of authors, some of whom were emperors and their lovers, is love and the ability to cope with the loss of one's love. The very nature of the Manyoshu lends itself to this topic, especially because many of the poetic works contained within it are tanka that are highly symbolic and suggestive of association. Therefore, many of the poets featured in this work used various literary devices to express their notions of love and its absence, some of the most notable of which include different aspects of diction, anaphora, alliteration, and other forms of sentence structure. There is a definite propensity of a poem's structure to influence and color its content, particularly due to the utilitarian aspects of much of the literature comprising Manyoshu. Many of these poems were also considered songs to be recited or sung aloud during important rituals to utilize the spiritual aspect of the words and the feelings they conveyed. Therefore, when discussing the theme of love and its loss within this compendium, it is important to understand that specific word choices are very influential in conveying the desires and feelings of both the poets and their poems. Numerous examples abound in which one can see how the diction of a poem helps to convey a particular meaning, especially when the thematic question of that poem has to do with love. Often, much of the poetry within Manyoshu – which is the oldest known poetic work written in Japanese (Morrow 2004) – deals with unrequited feelings of passion between individuals, such as the verses composed by Empress Iwa no Hime, who she was romantically involved with Em... middle of paper... which is why so many poems in this volume deal with the haunting memory of a past relationship that a poet clings to through his writing. Works Cited Keene, Donald. Anthology of Japanese literature, from the early to the mid-19th century. New York: Grove Press. 1955 print.Keene, Donald. Sources of Japanese Tradition: Volume 1: From the Earliest Times to 1600. New York: Columbia University Press. Press. 2002. Tomorrow, Avery. “The indecipherable poem, n. 9 of Manyoshu”. 2004. Network. http://avery.morrow.name/studies/manyoshuNakamura, Dr. Hisashi. “Ten thousand leaves”. Tanka Company. 2009. Network. http://www.tankasociety.com/Tanka%20booklet%20Final%202.pdfReiser, Gary. "FormForAll: Manyoshu poetry". Dversepoets.com 2011. Web. http://dversepoets.com/2011/11/03/formforall-manyoshu-poetry-hosted-today-by-jane-kohut-bartels-lady-nyo/