Examples: https://reedsy.com/discovery/blog/haiku-poem-examples
Haiku
are:
Very short: just three lines usually
fewer than twenty syllables long.
Descriptive: most haiku focus sharply
on a detail of nature or everyday life.
Personal: most haiku express a
reaction to or reflection on what is described.
Divided into two parts: includes a turning
point, often marked by a dash or colon, where the poet shifts from description
to reflection, or shifts from close-up to a broader perspective.
The
Rules of Haiku
Form: Traditional Japanese
haiku have seventeen syllables divided into three lines of five syllables,
seven syllables, and five syllables respectively. These syllable counts are
often ignored when haiku are written in other languages, but the basic form of
three short lines, with the middle line slightly longer than the other two, is
usually observed.
Structure: Haiku divide into two
parts, with a break coming after the first or second line, so that the poem
seems to make two separate statements that are related in some unexpected or
indirect way. In Japanese, this break is marked by what haiku poets call a “cutting
word.” In English and other languages, the break is often marked by punctuation.
This two-part structure is important to the poetic effect of a haiku, prompting
a sense of discovery as one reads or a feeling of sudden insight.
Language: Haiku should include
what Japanese poets call a kigo - a
word that gives the reader a clue to the season being described. The kigo can
be the name of a season (autumn, winter) or a subtler clue, such as a reference
to the harvest or new fallen snow. Through the years, certain signs of the
seasons have become conventional in Japanese haiku: cherry blossoms are a kigo for spring, mosquitoes a kigo for summer.
Subject: Haiku present a snapshot
of everyday experience, revealing an unsuspected significance in a detail of
nature or human life. Haiku poets find their subject matter in the world around
them, not in ancient legends or exotic fantasies. They write for a popular
audience and give their audience a new way to look at things they have probably
overlooked in the past.
Adapted from: https://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plans/can-you-haiku
