haikus
Japanese three-liners
Haikus is the plural of haiku, a form of Japanese poetry consisting of three lines with five, seven, and five syllables respectively.
Traditional haikus capture a moment in nature or evoke a season, though contemporary ones range widely: She writes haikus on her commute.
The plural haiku is equally correct.
Opening stanza of renga
- wabi-sabiAesthetic valuing transience, incompleteness
- cherry blossomsOrnamental tree flowers
- Mount FujiJapan's tallest summit
- ZenMeditative Buddhist school
kanji · senryu · tanka · Japanese aesthetics
Units of pronunciation
- 5-7-5Haiku syllable count
- brevityShortness of expression
- juxtapositionAdjacent contrasting placement
- fragmentIncomplete portion of whole
phrase · mora · compression · economy · concise · pared-back · spare · unadorned
Metered poetic passage
- imageryVivid descriptive language
- juxtapositionAdjacent contrasting placement
- metaphorImplied identity comparison
- momentBrief period of time
contemplation · observation · simplicity · resonance · suggestion · ellipsis · evocation · insight
Recoiling metal spiral
- summerYear's warmest season
- autumnPost-summer cooling period
- winterYear's coldest quarter
- cherry blossomOrnamental Prunus flower
harvest moon · snow · cicadas · frog · migration · falling leaves · new year · fireflies
hokku
Opening stanza of renga
- wabi-sabiAesthetic valuing transience, incompleteness
- cherry blossomsOrnamental tree flowers
- Mount FujiJapan's tallest summit
Zen · kanji · senryu · tanka · Japanese aesthetics
syllables
Units of pronunciation
- 5-7-5Haiku syllable count
- brevityShortness of expression
- juxtapositionAdjacent contrasting placement
fragment · phrase · mora · compression · economy · concise · pared-back · spare · unadorned · pivot
verse
Metered poetic passage
- imageryVivid descriptive language
- juxtapositionAdjacent contrasting placement
- metaphorImplied identity comparison
moment · contemplation · observation · simplicity · resonance · suggestion · ellipsis · evocation · insight · snapshot
spring
Recoiling metal spiral
cherry blossom · harvest moon · snow · cicadas · frog · migration · falling leaves · new year · fireflies · frost
cherry blossoms
Ornamental tree flowers
- moonlightReflected solar radiance, nocturnal
- frog pondPool housing amphibians
- autumn leavesDeciduous trees' seasonal shedding
cicadas · dewdrop · bamboo · crow · fireflies · plum blossom · snow · rain · wind · sunset
haikusepics
Long heroic narratives
epic poems · Paradise Lost · Beowulf · The Divine Comedy · sagas
haikussonnets
Fourteen-line rhymed poems
villanelles · limericks · Shakespearean sonnets · ballads · sestinas
haikusfree verse
Poetry without fixed structure
prose poetry · stream of consciousness · beat poetry · confessional poetry · experimental poetry
- haiku poetryShort Japanese verse form
- modern haikuBrief, imagistic three-line poem
- Japanese haikuThree-line, seventeen-syllable verse