Haikus? PLEASE HELP!!!?

Question

Hi, i want to write a few Haikus (Japanese Poems), i know that the lines are based on the amount of syllables, but can they be any differnet to 5 ,7 ,5? and, Are there any rules for the number of syllables?
Please Reply!

Answer 1

Yes there are different choices of syllables for western haiku. The thing is the content is more important than the syllables (yes you need the syllable count to have it be a haiku, but there are other things to consider). Traditional Haiku give a sense of the season (this could be as simple as using the moon for autumn, barren trees for winter, etc. They also give a sense of an observation, something transitroy. They allow the reader to experience the observation rather than tying it up neatly for them.

I hope some of that helps.

Answer 2

The 5/7/5 syllable count is a tradition in English language haiku, but it's only an approximation of the rules followed by Japanese poets. It's probably best to stick pretty closely to the traditional structure when you're just getting started, but you don't have to think of the syllable count as something absolutely inflexible.

For good examples of haiku translated from Japanese into English, look up the poets Basho and Issa.

Answer 3

Yep, it fairly is 5-7-5 as classic haiku are. The browning of the leaves is a seasonal reference, there's a important injury and there's a proper commentary previous the actual in the third line. Qualifies as a haiku in English all day long. quite advantageous. remember that jap is quite distinctive from English, so it fairly is maximum difficult to attain the jap standards for haiku in an English format. that's practically as good a bypass at it as any.

Answer 4

nope, sorry, they have to be 5, 7, 5. and they also have to be about nature and use no punctuation. and the cool thing is, it doesnt have to rhyme! =D