The haiku originated in 17th century Japan, but was preceded by the renga. Going all the way back to 13th century Japan, renga was a type of long-form poetry with a rigid set of rules and conventions. Renga poems were created in formal settings as a collaboration between multiple poets tr...
Rules are what a poem needs to be considered a haiku. But as with all forms of art, these rules can be bent and sometimes broken for artistic effect. Qualities are what separate a "good" haiku from a "bad" haiku. It's how you know who's a pro and who's a haiku scrub. ...
'haiku' and 'senryu' are traditional forms of poetry in Japan. A format of 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second and 5 in the third lends itself to creating a beautiful rhythm. In Japanese it is also simply called 5-7-5. Traditionally, there were many rules, for example ...
Margaret Ponting:Initially, I thought there were few rules, but found haiku to be very complex, much like all aspects of Japanese culture. I sometimes find it difficult to pare back my writing. I have been encouraged by the support given to me through this program and appreciate the feedba...
“Art lives from constraints and dies from freedom.” —Leonardo da Vinci “The poem which is absolutely original is absolutely bad.” —T. S. Eliot “I really do sincerely feel that bewilderment is at the core of every great poem, and in order to be bewildered, you have to be able ...
As early as 1892 Masaoka began to feel that a new literary spirit was needed to free poetry from centuries-old rules prescribing topics and vocabulary. In anessayentitled “Jojibun” (“Narration”), which appeared in the newspaperNihonin 1900, Masaoka introduced the wordshasei(“delineation from...