Introduction:
For this assignment, we are bringing a particular form of poetry into focus: the haiku. The brevity and structure of the haiku are an interesting challenge; haikus give us very little space, and very little time, in which to create the meaning we want to create. At the same time, those constraints force us to be careful with the imagery and symbolism that we choose, to not waste even a single syllable, and to be focused and precise as we create the path through which we lead the reader. For today, we will start with a very brief introduction to the history and origin of haiku, move on to an analysis of haiku, and then create our own to share with the class.
Definition:
We begin with a simple definition of Haiku – a haiku is a brief poem of 3 lines and 17 syllables in a 5-7-5 pattern, in which the first line has five syllables, the second seven syllables, and the third 5.
Brief History of Haiku
Haiku emerges during the Edo period (the Tokugawa shogunate)—roughly 1600-1868. Haiku began as a part of another form of Japanese poetry called renga, or ‘linked verse.’ Renga was a poetic practice in which groups of poets took turns composing stanzas that were linked to the preceding poets verses, whether through metaphor, wordplay, shared imagery or theme, according to a predetermined set of rules. There were two types of renga – ushin, a much more austere tradition that harkened back towards classical poetry of earlier perios; and hakai no renga, or comedic renga, which was built on simpler verses and enjoyed crude or bawdy behavior.
Haikai no renga as a form contained a short opening verse that eventually developed into an independent poetic form. This verse was called senryu when it was comedic; and haiku if it was more serious in nature.
The first person to be regarded as a master of the haiku form is Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694). (Bashō himself led an interesting life. Although he never took the formal vows of a monk, he rejected worldly ambition and embraced simplicity and poverty. He lived in the central Edo district of Ueno, where he was an instructor of linked verse.) One of Bashō’s most famous haikus (and one of the most famous haikus in the world) is as follows:
Ancient pond
A frog jumps in
Sound of water.
More information on Haiku can be found here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/haiku-or-hokku
Analysis of a haiku:
One of the things we are taught habitually about haikus is that they are poems about nature. This is often true, but it is not a hard and fast rule. Haikus often employ nature imagery (as do poems of many other genres) but the haiku’s imagery may be used to capture important cultural, religious, and philosophical themes and concepts.
Consider the following haiku by Jane Reichhold:
moving into the sun
the pony takes with him
some mountain shadow
Reichhold, in her book Writing and Enjoying Haiku, glosses her poem in the following way:
“The first line, if taken literally, sets up an impossibility—nothing of our earth can truly move into the sun. However, earthly things can move into an area where the sun is shining. Already the brevity of haiku demands that the reader try to find a meaning since the line is a fragment which lacks an object. The reader, wanting to be able to form a mental image, needs an object, and so rapidly moves his or her eyes to the second line. Ah, “the pony takes with him”; there is the answer—the pony— but already the rest of the line, “takes with him,” sets up the desire for more information. The reader is now unable to stop reading the haiku in an eagerness to find out the rest of the story. The answer—”some mountain shadow.” …
The reader then goes back to the first line. Now it is understood that it is the pony that is moving into the sun, and it is taking with him some of the shadow of the mountain. It is fairly common to speak of the shadow of a mountain and the shadow of a pony, but to see that the shadow of a pony has moved away some of the mountain’s shadow for itself is a new way of viewing a natural phenomenon.” (p. 12)
Here is another haiku, written by Takahashi Matsuo, a Japanese poet writing in the 20th century and interpreted and explained by the author:
草ものにつづく虫の市風の市
kusamono ni tsuzuku mushi no ichi kaze no ichi
in addition to grass
a market of insects
a market of wind
“There was a tradition right before the summer O-bon festivals to hold markets dedicated to the sale of different types of grasses and flowers, which one could place as offerings on the Buddhist altar. As a result, the word kusaichi (grass market) has become a seasonal word associated with autumn. I enjoy these markets much more than general plant markets one finds in the spring. I never get tired of looking at all the different kinds of plants from the mountains and the fields. I walk through, thinking, “Oh, this is that kind of grass” or “So this is the name for that plant.” Sometimes at the edge of the market would be people selling chirping insects. In writing this poem, I imagined the wind as it blew through the grass market and the insect market. Beyond that, only the wind would be left. For fun, I imagined that on the edge of those markets, there was another market selling wind. Since ancient times, markets have been places where people and things would come in contact, as well as a place to shoot the breeze and exchange information of all sorts.”
This analysis helps to explain some possibilities for how to read haiku; but it leaves us also with so many opportunities for interpretation.
The Assignment:
For this extra credit assignment, I want you to make a happy memory with your pet. Take your dog for a special walk, play with your cat, treat your goldfish to a new rock or tunnel. Or, if you have no pet, make a happy memory with a loved one. Then, write a haiku that captures that memory in an imaginative way. The haiku should follow the standard form detailed above. Write an explanation of your haiku that follows one of the two types of explanations above. You can include a picture of your pet, if you would like (it won’t affect your points).