Joy in the Morning (haiku poetry)

[Hilda Rumambi]

the sun rises
the leaves smiling
the grass grinning
brings me joy in the morning

[free]

Beautiful!!! So sweet!!! So simple and true.

[Jassy Melson]

Nice image, but it's not a haiku. A haiku is a strict poetic form. The first line must contain five syllables, the second line seven syllables, and the third line five syllables; and there are only three lines in a haiku.

[Delta40]

Nice image, but it's not a haiku. A haiku is a strict poetic form. The first line must contain five syllables, the second line seven syllables, and the third line five syllables; and there are only three lines in a haiku.

I thought that myself but do not know enough about haiku to say whether there are variations of the form.

[Jassy Melson]

There are no variations of a haiku

[tailor STATELY]

Delightful poem Hilda Rumambi.

After a bit of research I found an informative link on what is termed "Haiku in English" on wikipedia. It would appear that there is some flexibility in form: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku_in_English.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[hillwalker]

It's more the case that English Haiku fail to adhere to the Japanese syllable count because the two languages/alphabets are so different. The English Haiku is a compromise at best - but flexibility in form is not an issue.

Jassy is absolutely correct - a haiku is a verse form of 3 lines with a 5-7-5 syllable count. Anything that fails to meet this criteria is not Haiku - simple as that.

The fact that so many 'poets' consider any 3 unrelated lines that display elegance of phrase or suggest a touch of enigma can be called Haiku merely diminishes it.

No wonder most Japanese writers of Haiku despair of our clumsy Western attempts at hi-jacking their art form.

H

[tailor STATELY]

Hmmmm.

Well yes, no; and maybe: from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku
Traditional haiku consist of 17 on (also known as morae), in three phrases of 5, 7 and 5 on respectively.[4] Any one of the three phrases may end with the kireji.[5] Although haiku are often stated to have 17 syllables,[6] this is incorrect as syllables and on are not the same.
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In contrast to English verse typically characterized by meter, Japanese verse counts sound units known as "on" or morae. Traditional haiku consist of 17 on, in three phrases of five, seven and five on respectively. Among contemporary poems teikei (定型; fixed form) haiku continue to use the 5-7-5 pattern while jiyuritsu (自由律; free form) haiku do not.[9] One of the examples below illustrates that even the traditional haiku masters were not always constrained by the 5-7-5 pattern.
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Although the word "on" is often translated as "syllable", in fact one on is counted for a short syllable, an additional one for an elongated vowel, diphthong, or doubled consonant, and one more for an "n" at the end of a syllable. Thus, the word "haibun", though counted as two syllables in English, is counted as four on in Japanese (ha-i-bu-n); and the word "on" itself, which English-speakers would view as a single syllable, comprises two on: the short vowel o and the moraic nasal n̩. This is illustrated by the Issa haiku below, which contains 17 on but only 15 syllables. In addition, some sounds, such as "kyo" (きょ) can be perceived as two syllables in English but is a single on in Japanese.

There is more to the article/web page to infer flexibility within the Japanese form.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Jassy Melson]

It is good to know that English syllables are not necessairly equivalent to Japanese syllables. I did not know that. But the three line rule is strict. There are never four lines or two in a haiku; just as there are never fifteen or thirteen lines in a sonnet.

[Hilda Rumambi]

thank you free
so much free
very much free

[Hilda Rumambi]

ooh...I see, thanks, I just a newbie in haiku poetry, want to learn a lot about it, and with your information here I can improved my haiku... :)

[Hilda Rumambi]

yup..there are always another path for other form...thanks for the information around haiku..I really must a lot to learn about it...thanks guys...

[Hilda Rumambi]

ok hillwalker, I got ur message about the rules of haiku...
but, don't you think that what tailor STATELY said about the flexibility (with those data) could flexible enough in haiku form?

peace..

[hillwalker]

ok hillwalker, I got ur message about the rules of haiku...
but, don't you think that what tailor STATELY said about the flexibility (with those data) could flexible enough in haiku form?

peace..

Peace indeed, my friend.

And no... I don't, since a Japanese syllable and an English syllable are incompatible the only flexibility is in the interpretation of how the set of 'Japanese rules' can be translated into 'Wetsern rules' without diminishing the beauty of the form.

For conformity's sake one is best complying with the strict 5 - 7 - 5 syllable rule.

There's nothing wrong with 4 lines of 4 - 4 - 4 - 7 as in your example, but calling it a haiku is about as useful as calling a pomegranate a pineapple.

Keep writing though - you somehow manage to bring a smile to these pages.

H