the.com/haiku
seventeen syllables that fit a universe into the space of a breath.
means A traditional Japanese poetic form of three unrhymed lines in a 5-7-5 syllable pattern, typically evoking a single image or moment from nature.
from From Japanese 'haiku,' a shortening of 'haikai no ku' — meaning roughly the 'comic verse' or opening stanza of a longer, lighter linked-poem tradition called 'haikai.' The standalone form was championed and elevated in the late 19th century by the poet Masaoka Shiki, who gave it the name we use today; before him these opening verses were more often called 'hokku.'
- origin
- Born from the opening verse of longer linked poems
- season word
- Traditional haiku must hint at a season
- basho's frog
- His pond poem is Japan's most famous verse
- syllable myth
- Japanese counts sound units, not English syllables
- cut word
- A kireji slices the poem into two clashing images
the old silent pond — basho's most famous haiku from 17th century japan, about a frog jumping into water
autumn moonlight — buson's celebrated haiku from 18th century, evoking solitude and seasonal change
lightning flash and thunder — issa's haiku from early 1800s japan, capturing a single moment of natural drama