Japanese haiku
Brief seasonal verse
A Japanese haiku is a traditional poetic form consisting of seventeen syllables arranged in three lines of five, seven, and five.
The form typically captures a moment in nature and includes a seasonal reference (kireji).
The frog pond poem by Bashō is perhaps the most famous Japanese haiku.
English haiku often loosens these structural requirements.
- brevityShortness of expression
- natureInherent quality or disposition
- Japanese aestheticsPhilosophical principles governing Eastern beauty
- senryuWitty Japanese three-liner
- wabi-sabiAesthetic valuing transience, incompleteness
tercet · hokku · imagery · syllable · fleeting moments · seasons · calligraphy · ink brush · Zen Buddhism · observation · ephemerality · sensory detail · minimalism · juxtaposition · cicada · cherry · autumn moon · silence
poetic form and length
Japanese haikuepic poetry
Extended narrative in verse
epic poem · Paradise Lost · The Divine Comedy · Beowulf · sonnet