The masterwork of haiku and one of the greatest travel narratives in any language, this prose-and-haiku sequence records Basho's 1689 journey into the remote north of Japan. Basho invented the modern haiku, elevated it from wordplay to spiritual practice, and showed how seventeen syllables could hold infinity. The frog jumping into the old pond is the most famous sound in world poetry.

The case for it, the case against, and the rest of the canon open with Pro.