What is haiku ? By Bridget Thaninayagham
Haiku is a form of japanese poetry which consists of three phrases, 5, 7 and 5. Japanese haiku is written in vertical lines but in english it is wriiten horisontally . Previously Haiku was called Hokku until it was given its current name by a japanese writer, Masaoka Shiki. This happened at the end of the 19 century. Haiku poems originated 300 years ago from Japan. The poems are mostly unique thoughts and feeling linked to human nature. Haiku writers are challeneged to create impressions in only 17 Japanese characters. In english haikus you can express more ideas. This is because 17 english syllables is longer than 17 japanese syllables. English Haiku poems are allowed more freedom to express what they are saying, where as japanese is repressed to very little. The art of japanese haiku is expressing your idea in a limited environment, this is because in english simple short sentences take up the syllables but in japanese one noun and a phrase take up the syllables.
Matsuo Basho A famous poet that masters the art of creating brief and clear haiku pomes, is Matsuo Basho. Basho was the most famous poet in Japan. In japan Basho’s haiku poems are reproduced on monuments and traditional sites. Internationally his haiku poems are famous too.
| Matsuo Basho   |
Summer grass
| This poem is one of Basho's famous poems. As you can see the poem is very simple but meaningful. Basho's poem sometimes may not make much sense, this is because of the syllables that he was limited to use. I chose this poem to analyse as I think it is quite simple but very meaningful. I feel like it is talking about how long ago a plain field of grass use to be the battle field for great warriors. Although this is my point of view. The poem is ambigious which means it can be interpreted in different ways. |
