Haiku: Formal Elements
When confronted with the question “what is haiku form?” the answer is not as simple as the three-line, seventeen-syllable form we remember from elementary school. That form is both less and different from what haiku form actually is.
For the Japanese, and for informed poets writing today in English based on the Japanese model, there are three generally recognized formal elements:
· a word or phrase referring to the season
· a “cut” or syntactic division in the poem.
· seventeen “on” or sounds. These are quite different from our syllables.
We will touch on each of these elements in turn.
The essence of haiku resides, in part, in its ability, through the use of a seasonal image, to convey some connection to the natural world and the passage of time. A simple mention of the season, however, is not enough. As Shigehisa Kuriyama writes,
In a poem where the seasonal theme fulfills its true evocative function, there must be a reciprocity between the season, which expands the scope of the haiku and creates the atmospheric background of associations for the specific scene, and the specific scene which points out a characteristic yet often forgotten aspect of the season and thus enriches our understanding of it.
A rather tall order, but its challenge has helped make haiku worth engaging to poets for more than three hundred years. Please note that this is not suggesting that one should strive to write "birds and butterflies" haiku. The best haiku, while using literal images of the seasons, move beyond simple physical representation to insights on the human condition. You might be surprised to hear that traditionally the largest category of seasonal images is called "human affairs," which includes such obvious annual events as Christmas as well as more intuitive seasonal implications such as kite flying (spring), fishing (summer) hunting (autumn) and quilt (winter). Some expand the understanding of season to include the "seasons of life." As your concept of seasons expands, so do the possibilities of your haiku.
The second formal element is the syntactic cut that divides the poem into two parts. The primary poetic technique of the haiku is to place two images (most commonly literal rather than figurative images) side by side without interpretation. At least one of these images, or part of it, comes from nature or the seasons. The second image relates to the first, sometimes closely, sometimes more ambiguously. This juxtaposition of images conveys a sense of significance to the reader by what has been called “internal comparison.” How these images relate to one another is a matter of some delicacy. The relationship cannot be too obvious or the poem will be trite, but if it is too distant the association of images will appear forced or arbitrary. An example of a haiku that successfully juxtaposes images:
the swell of her breast
against the watered silk—
summer moon Charles Trumbull
The cut or caesura between images can also result in a kind of “semantic disjunction” that forces the reader to continually reassess the relationships of the words in the poem as he or she reads:
Chemotherapy
in a comfortable chair
two hours of winter Kiyoko Tokutomi
Finally, the issue of length and lineation, the thing that many of us had been led to believe is the sine qua non of haiku form. Over the past fifty years, there have been many experiments with haiku form in English, some well-informed, some less so. As a result of these experiments, as far as length is concerned, one could divide the vast majority of poems into three groups:
· 17 syllables in three lines (this is the form used by Richard Wright and Paul Muldoon.)
· a three line form of two, three, and two stresses, (or occasionally two, two, and two stresses), without regard to the number of unstressed syllables. (Probably the most common form used by informed poets writing haiku today.)
· “free” or “organic form, varying in length from a single word up to seventeen syllables, and ranging from one to four horizontal lines or one vertical line.
It is a common misconception is that Japanese haiku are written in three lines, but the truth is they are traditionally printed in one vertical line. Another misconception is that the Japanese language has something corresponding closely to our syllables, which it doesn’t. As a result of linguistic differences, R.H. Blyth, the great translator of Japanese haiku, suggested that the second form, of 2-3-2 stresses in three lines was the most appropriate form for English-language haiku. (Some Japanese scholars have suggested that the 2-2-2 stress form most closely resembles the Japanese form.)
Since this is a discussion related to formal poetry, most will probably want to experiment with one of the first two forms. However, please remember that length and lineation is not the only element of form that needs to be considered; both season and caesura need to be engaged when one hopes to write worthwhile short poems that are also worthwhile haiku.
A note on haiku sequences: While haiku have always been intended to be able to stand alone, since the time of Shiki (circa 1890s), haiku sequences have become increasingly interesting to poets. In the best haiku sequences, the individual stanzas retain this “stand alone” quality while interacting with the other verses of the poem in a variety of ways.
A gallery of haiku:
one carp
the color of a woman:
an evening of snow Ryan Underwood
transplanting the sage—
a wheelbarrow full of bees
from backyard to front Robert Gilliland
grating ginger;
the day-end voices
of katydids Ellen Compton
Outside the window
a plum tree—and inside, the
thought of a plum tree Billy Collins
evening calm
the ballgame play-by-play
across the water Jim Kacian
One breaker crashes …
as the next draws up, a lull—
and sandpiper cries. O. Southard
spring moon—
a cricket sits quietly
atop its cabbage Ross Figgins
Venus at dusk—
a thin slice of lemon
in my water glass Emiko Miyashita
Deep within the stream
the huge fish lie motionless
facing the current James W. Hackett
And her homemade kite
of less than perfect design?
Also taken flight. Paul Muldoon
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