Basho's Death Poem

Basho's Death Poem - context Summary

Composed on His Deathbed, 1694

Basho's Death Poem is a haiku composed in 1694 during his final illness. Written on the occasion of death, it frames mortality through travel imagery: the speaker, sick on a journey, accepts that only dreams will continue to wander the desolate moors. The short, spare form compresses resignation and transience, linking personal decline to a wider natural landscape and suggesting inward continuation as life ends.