Haiku is a Japanese structure poem format. It consists of three lines
with five, then seven, then five syllables. Generally, they are meant to be
expressions of sensation (usually of nature). That is, something you saw, or
smell. Like little poetry photographs.
Didn't haiku develop from the final "answering" part of a longer
structure, the renga: a thing rather like a sonnet, where an idea is introduced,
developed then replied to, or thrown into a new light? So a haiku could be
compared to the closing couplet of a ShakespeareanSonnet.
The RenGa consists of a waki
(sp?) followed by a hokku (sp?). These forms have been translated into English
as 7-7, 5-7-5. Also, the RenGa is a
truly collaborative form of poetry - so a RenGa wiki page is much more ideal than
a HaiKu wikki page. Also, wakki just
so happens to sound a whole lot like wiki.
Haiku is usually spooged into its basic 5-7-5 format and then used to say
anything. This is ok, provided you recognize that you're not really
writing Haiku.
I've also heard that the 5-7-5 format is too easy in English to
suggest the same kind of profound economy that a Japanese haiku would.'
More importantly, it is difficult to even count syllables in English.
How many does 'file' have? What about 'shit'? In Japanese, syllables are always
clearly delimited.
If you think the answer to both questions is One, understand that a
Japanese speaker would normally pronounce them as fai-ru and
shi-to.
''And even more, Japanese do not count syllables, but "uttering time".
i.e.: DÔ (way), as it has a "long O", counts as TWO "syllables".''
-
- five, seven, then five,
-
- nature's fragrant seasons grow
-
- signal amidst noise
-
- mountains of clouds
-
- cleansing winds of morning
-
- wet apple blossom
-
- HaiKu's inventor
-
- must have had seven fingers
-
- on his middle hand
-
- OnceAndOnlyOnce
-
- RefactorMercilessly
-
- ExtremeProgramming
-
- "We will bury you!"
-
- Freedom wins. We are dancing
-
- on the Berlin Wall.
-
- -- JasperPaulsen
-
- the invisible
-
- rattlesnake: coiled, sleeping
-
- Wakes! and glides away
-
- -- CrotalusRuber?
19940410 MissionGorge?
med Tico
-
- First snow, then silence.
-
- This thousand dollar screen dies
-
- so beautifully.
Seen taped to a printer...
-
- The tao that is seen
-
- Is not the true tao until
-
- You bring fresh toner.
and many more... http://www.enchanter.net/haiku.html
or join a good haiku mailing listfive7five
http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/five7five
I wrote a program in elisp to generate haiku at random from a buffer.
I've also begun to write 'aesthetics' functions which judge lines according to
an aesthetic function. The computer will then generate a number of random lines
(100 to 10000, depending on how fast the computer is an how much time you have
on your hands) and pick the most beautiful.
See http://tommyrot.arrr.net/ComputerPoetry.html
Here is a computer generated haiku from a buffer-ful of spam
-
- today and ADULT
-
- inconveniences NICKEL
-
- FREE independence
For a very similar project, see: http://www.headlinehaikus.com/ - haiku
generated from the text of current news articles. E.g.:
-
- Bankrupt WorldCom? resists breakup
-
- When people see that
-
- the big companies are worth
-
- little or nothing
-
- Today is pretty
-
- Miss, MyDogAteMyHomework?
-
- See you later then
See: http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?search=Haiku
, ComputerErrorHaiku, NetArt, MeetingHaiku
Why the japanese
think seventeen syllables
are enough is a
-
- Writing a poem
-
- In seventeen syllables
-
- Is very diffic
-
- Paper ships at sea
-
- Blue is the color of hope
-
- It's about to rain
-
- Shattered illusions
-
- pierce my space . . . I huddle back,
-
- feel that one crack, too ---
-
- -- AlistairCockburn
EditText of this page (last
edited September 25, 2003)
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