{"id":33532,"date":"2020-12-13T11:00:51","date_gmt":"2020-12-13T16:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thehaikufoundation.org\/?p=33532"},"modified":"2021-02-23T11:24:49","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T16:24:49","slug":"new-to-haiku-what-is-haiku-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehaikufoundation.org\/new-to-haiku-what-is-haiku-2\/","title":{"rendered":"New to Haiku: What is Haiku?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThe shape of haiku is in the blank spaces.\u201d <\/i><\/div>\n
\u2014 Ellen Compton<\/a>, author of <\/i>Gathering Dusk<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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For such a small poem, you would expect there to be a simple definition for English-language haiku. Unfortunately, there isn\u2019t one. The Haiku Foundation<\/i> doesn\u2019t endorse an official definition of haiku in English.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the United States, most people learn about haiku in grade school. American children are taught that haiku is a Japanese poetry form written in three lines: 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second, and 5 syllables for the third. While this definition does provide a starting point for discussion, it is simplified and far from complete. There are other facets to haiku that are more important than syllable count.<\/p>\n

Haiku scholars have attempted to define English-language haiku with varying levels of success. In his book, Haiku: A Poet\u2019s Guide<\/i>, poet and author Lee Gurga<\/a> included these two definitions:<\/p>\n

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\u201c(A) haiku is an up to a breath-length poem in which two, rarely three, objects in a now-moment of awareness are juxtaposed so that each enhances one\u2019s appreciation of the other and together they evoke a felt depth, insight, or intuition of the suchness of things.\u201d <\/i><\/strong>– Robert Spiess<\/a>, notable haiku poet and editor<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cHaiku: A poem recording the essence of a moment keenly perceived, in which nature is linked to human nature. Usually a haiku in English is written in three unrhymed lines of seventeen or fewer syllables.\u201d<\/i><\/strong>– Haiku Society of America<\/a><\/i> [from 1973-2004]
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[As noted by Bill Deegan in the comments below, the Haiku Society of America\u2019s definition of haiku was revised in 2004. This post was amended to include the current official definition, which follows:]<\/div>\n
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\u201dA haiku is a short poem that uses imagistic language to convey the essence of an experience of nature or the season intuitively linked to the human condition.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n
– Haiku Society of America <\/em>[from 2004-present]<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Beautiful as these definitions are, they can be confusing. The next one is more succinct.<\/div>\n
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\u201cHaiku are short imagistic poems about things that make the reader feel connected to nature.\u201d\u00a0 <\/i><\/strong>\u2014 William J. Higginson<\/a>, in his essay \u201c<\/i>Guidelines for Writing Haiku in English<\/a>.\u201d<\/i><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
You could even shorten this definition further, and say that haiku are poems that make the reader feel connected.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n