The Elements of Haiku Poetry

Haiku poetry has been around for many years. It started in Japan and has gone worldwide since. Its simple form makes it interesting to the people who write and read it. Even though haiku poetry is one of, if not the smallest form of poetry, there is a long history behind it and many elements, such as structure, topic, “haiku moment,” season word, imagery, and suggestiveness, that have to be considered when writing haiku.

Haiku poetry appeared in the sixteenth century. It was mostly centered in Japan. There were two main reasons that people wrote haiku. It was a way for people to express their thoughts, and to rise above the limitations imposed by the usual language and thought that treats everything as machines. Most haiku is written in plain, everyday, language. (Lewis)

Haiku developed from a different form of poetry called tanka, which dates all the way back to early Japanese history. Tanka is a five-lined verse. After haiku was created, it was usually seen as the hokku of a renga. A hokku is the first line in a renga and a renga is a long series of poems. The development of haiku was never influenced at all by the west or China.

The word haiku actually means game verse. This form of poetry is sometimes c

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alled hokku of kaikai, but these names are considered to be incorrect. These gardens are sometimes no larger than a table top. The structure of the poem is a three line stanza with five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables. They start early because children are less likely to worry about doing things right from the start. Of the many elements, there are six very important ones: structure, topic, “haiku moment,” season word, imagery, and suggestiveness. ” This quote by Bill Higginson says that haiku is meant to share individual moments of our lives with other people, and that the haiku moment is one way of doing this. The best of haiku poets hide deep meanings in their seventeen syllable poems. Haiku poetry tries to paint a picture in the mind of the reader with words. The word is also used to help describe the setting of the scene and also invokes the season in which the writer is trying to express in his or her haiku.

The most famous of all haiku poets is Matsuo Basho.

Periodicals:

 Strand, Clark, “The Way of Haiku,” Yoga Journal, July/August Issue, 1997, pp25+

 “Haiku,” Hutchinson Dictionary of the Arts, Helicon Publishing, 1999

Encyclopedia:

 “The New Book of Knowledge,” Volume J/K, Grolier, Danbury Connecticut, 1986, pp28

Internet:

 Bachmann, Christopher, “Haiku,” http://www.

Although haiku poetry is the smallest form of poetry and literature in the world today, there is a very big history behind it as well as many elements to take into consideration.

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