Key Points

Traditional haiku is an example of pure syllabic verse. Which means that the number of syllables determines the form, not the number of stressed words in a line.

Traditional Japanese pattern:

17 syllables

3 lines

• 1st line: 5 syllables
• 2nd line: 7 syllables
• 3rd line: 5 syllables

Other important elements:

Simple, direct, non-metaphorical language. Don't use abstract words.

Captures a transitory insight or moment in time (called "satori" or the "aha moment" )

Contains a kigo, an image of nature that evokes a particular seasons (usually occurs in the 1st or 3rd line)

Usually contains a cutting or pivot word that turns the movement of the poem in some way.

Haiku in English

Although traditional Japanese haiku was written in a 5-7-5 syllabic structure, many English-speaking writers and translators don't conform to this pattern because of the differences in grammar and rhythm between the two languages. A poem with 17 syllables in English tends to sound wordy and less precise than a poem written in Japanese with the same number of syllables. Therefore, many contemporary English haiku writers use 17 syllables as a maximum and often compress the poems into around 11-13 syllables. They believe these shorter poems more closely approximate the Japanese form, although this remains controversial.

Haiku aesthetic

As Robert Haas says in his book The Essential Haiku, a well-executed haiku doesn't describe nature or an experience, but rather conveys a sense of actually living it, of a "moment seized on and purely rendered." The reader should get the sense that they too are experiencing this moment, not through the writer's senses but through their own. This immediacy is one of things that makes haiku so compelling, yet also, makes it look deceptively simple to write. However, experienced practitioners of this form know that it takes a great deal of focused attention to write in the haiku style.

Buddhist ideas about the natural world

Haiku is a poetic form that is closely aligned with spirituality and Buddhist philosophy, especially Zen Buddhism. Here are a few of the common threads about nature that run through Buddhism and haiku.

transient, ephemeral

contingent

all things suffer