Haiku in English

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A haiku in English is an English-language poem written in a form or style inspired by Japanese haiku. Like their Japanese counterpart, haiku in English are typically short poems and often reference the seasons, but the degree to which haiku in English implement specific elements of Japanese haiku, such as the arranging of 17 phonetic units (either syllables or the Japanese on ) in a 5–7–5 pattern, varies greatly.

Contents

Typical characteristics

The label "haiku" is sometimes applied to any short, impressionistic poem, but there are certain characteristics that are commonly associated with the genre:

Length and structure

Many Japanese haiku are structured around the number of phonetic units known as on , with a three-phrase format in which 17 on are distributed in a 5–7–5 pattern (5 on in the first phrase, 7 in the second, and 5 in the third). [2] This has prompted an idea that English-language haiku should adopt a similar structure in which syllables are arranged across three lines in a 5–7–5 structure. Linguists, however, note two on often form a single syllable and that a 17-on phrase is, on average, about 12 syllables. [2] [9] Consequently, many contemporary English-language haiku poets work in forms of 10 to 14 syllables. [10] [11] [12]

History

Britain and Australia

In Britain, the editors of The Academy announced the first known English-language haikai contest on April 8, 1899, shortly after the publication of William George Aston's History of Japanese Literature. [13] The contest, number 27 of the magazine's ongoing series, drew dozens of entries, [14] and the prize was awarded to R. M. Hansard:

The west wind whispered,
And touched the eyelids of spring:
Her eyes, Primroses.

The Academy contest inspired other experimentation with the format. Bertram Dobell published more than a dozen haikai in a 1901 verse collection, and in 1903 a group of Cambridge poets, citing Dobell as precedent, published their haikai series, "The Water Party." [15] The Academy's influence was felt as far away as Australia, where editor Alfred Stephens was inspired to conduct a similar contest in the pages of The Bulletin. The prize for this (possibly first Australian) haiku contest went to Robert Crawford. [16]

American writers

In the United States, Yone Noguchi published "A Proposal to American Poets," in The Reader Magazine in February 1904, giving a brief outline of his own English hokku efforts and ending with the exhortation, "Pray, you try Japanese Hokku, my American poets! You say far too much, I should say." [17]

Ezra Pound's influential haiku-influenced poem, "In a Station of the Metro", published in 1913, has been widely regarded[ by whom? ] as a watershed moment in the establishment of English-language haiku as a literary form. [18]

During the Imagist period, a number of mainstream poets, including Amy Lowell, Richard Aldington, and Lewis Grandison Alexander, published what were generally called hokku. Their efforts were actively encouraged by Noguchi, who published his own volume of English-language Japanese Hokkus in 1920. [19]

Postwar revival

In the Beat period, original haiku were composed by Gary Snyder, Jack Kerouac, Richard Wright and James W. Hackett. Wright composed some 4,000 haiku (mostly with 5-7-5 syllabic structure). [20]

Whitecaps on the bay:
A broken signboard banging
In the April wind.

— Richard Wright, collected in Haiku: This Other World, 1998

The first English-language haiku group in America, founded in 1956, was the Writers' Roundtable of Los Altos, California, under the direction of Helen Stiles Chenoweth. [21] The Haiku Society of America was founded in 1968 and began publishing its journal Frogpond in 1978.

In 1963 the journal American Haiku was founded in Platteville, Wisconsin, edited by the European-Americans James Bull and Donald Eulert. Among contributors to the first issue were poets James W. Hackett, O Mabson Southard, and Nick Virgilio. In the second issue of American Haiku Virgilio published his "lily" and "bass" haiku, which became models of brevity, breaking the conventional 5-7-5 syllabic form, and pointing toward the leaner conception of haiku that would take hold in subsequent decades.[ citation needed ]

American Haiku ended publication in 1968 and was succeeded by Modern Haiku in 1969. Other early publications include Chenoweth's 1966 anthology Borrowed Water, featuring the work by the Los Altos Writers' Roundtable, and journals Haiku Highlights , founded 1965 by European-American writer Jean Calkins and later taken over by Lorraine Ellis Harr; Eric Amann's Haiku, founded 1967; and Leroy Kanterman's Haiku West founded 1967.

The first Haiku North America conference was held at Las Positas College in Livermore, California, in 1991, and has been held on alternating years since then. The American Haiku Archives, the largest public archive of haiku-related material outside Japan, was founded in 1996.[ citation needed ] It is housed at the California State Library in Sacramento, California, and includes the official archives of the Haiku Society of America.

Significant contributors to American haiku have included Lee Gurga, Jim Kacian, Elizabeth Searle Lamb, Raymond Roseliep, Marlene Mountain, Alan Pizzarelli, Alexis Rotella, George Swede, and Michael Dylan Welch.

Variant forms

Although the majority of haiku published in English are three lines long, variants also occur.

One line

The most common variation from the three-line standard is one line, sometimes called a monoku. It emerged from being more than an occasional exception during the late 1970s. [22] The one-line form, based on an analogy with the one-line vertical column in which Japanese haiku are often printed, was lent legitimacy principally by three people: [22]

The single-line haiku usually contains fewer than seventeen syllables.[ citation needed ] A caesura (pause) may be appropriate, dictated by sense or speech rhythm (following the Japanese tradition of a break, marked by the Kireji [23] ), and usually little or no punctuation. [24] This form was used by John Wills and, more recently, has been practiced by poets such as M. Kettner, Janice Bostok, Jim Kacian, Chris Gordon, Eve Luckring, Scott Metz, Stuart Quine, John Barlow, and many others.

an icicle the moon drifting through it

— Matsuo Allard, Bird Day Afternoon, High/Coo Press, 1978

The one-line form can create a variety of ambiguities allowing for multiple readings of the same haiku. A variation of the format breaks the line at the caesura or pause. [25]

One word

A single word may occasionally be claimed to be a haiku:

tundra

— Cor van den Heuvel, the window-washer's pail, 1963 [26] (printed alone on an otherwise blank page)

Four or more lines

Haiku of four lines (sometimes known as haiqua) [27] or longer have been written, some of them "vertical haiku" with only a word or two per line, mimicking the vertical printed form of Japanese haiku.

beneath
leaf mold
stone
cool
stone

— Marlene Wills, the old tin roof, 1976

Circle

Haiku have also appeared in circular form (sometimes known as cirku) [27] whereby the poem has no fixed start or end point.

Fixed form

In the "zip" form developed by John Carley, a haiku of 15 syllables is presented over two lines, each of which contains one internal caesura represented by a double space. [28] [29]

buoyed up  on the rising tide
a fleet of head boards  bang the wall
— John Carley, Magma No 19, 2001

A fixed-form 5-3-5 syllable (or 3-5-3 word) haiku is sometimes known as a lune. [30] [31]


Publications in North America

English-language haiku journals published in the U.S. include Modern Haiku , Frogpond (published by the Haiku Society of America), Mayfly (founded by Randy and Shirley Brooks in 1986), Acorn (founded by A. C. Missias in 1998), Bottle Rockets (founded by Stanford M. Forrester), The Heron's Nest (founded by Christopher Herold in 1999, published online with a print annual), Tinywords (founded by Dylan F. Tweney in 2001). Some significant defunct publications include Brussels Sprout (edited from 1988 to 1995 by Francine Porad), Woodnotes (edited from 1989 to 1997 by Michael Dylan Welch), Hal Roth's Wind Chimes, Wisteria, and Moonset (edited from 2005 to 2009 by an'ya (Andja Petrović)). Other notable American publishers of haiku books include Press Here, Bottle Rockets Press, Brooks Books, Turtle Light Press, and Jim Kacian's Red Moon Press.

Publications in other English-speaking countries

In the United Kingdom, publications of Haiku include Presence (formerly Haiku Presence), which was edited for many years by Martin Lucas and is now edited by Ian Storr, and Blithe Spirit, published by the British Haiku Society and named in honor of Reginald Horace Blyth. In Ireland, twenty issues of Haiku Spirit edited by Jim Norton were published between 1995 and 2000, and Shamrock, an online journal edited by Anatoly Kudryavitsky, published international haiku in English from 2007 to 2022. [32] In Australia, twenty issues of Yellow Moon, a literary magazine for writers of haiku and other verse, were published between 1997 and 2006 (issues 1-8 were edited by Patricia Kelsall; issues 9-20 by Beverley George). Nowadays Paper Wasp is published in Australia, Kokako [33] in New Zealand and Chrysanthemum (bilingual German/English) in Germany and Austria. Two other online English-language haiku journals founded outside North America, A Hundred Gourds and Notes from the Gean, are now defunct. John Barlow's Snapshot Press is a UK-based publisher of haiku books. The World Haiku Club publishes The World Haiku Review, The Living Haiku Anthology, The Living Senryu Anthology, Under the Basho, Failed Haiku, and Wales Haiku Journal, Michael Dylan Welch's Graceguts.

Notable English-language haiku poets

See also

Notes

    Related Research Articles

    <i>Haiku</i> Japanese poetry form

    Haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 phonetic units in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a kireji, or "cutting word"; and a kigo, or seasonal reference. Similar poems that do not adhere to these rules are generally classified as senryū.

    Senryū (川柳) is a Japanese form of short poetry similar to haiku in construction: three lines with 17 morae. Senryū tend to be about human foibles while haiku tend to be about nature, and senryū are often cynical or darkly humorous while haiku are more serious.

    Tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature.

    "In a Station of the Metro" is an Imagist poem by Ezra Pound published in April 1913 in the literary magazine Poetry. In the poem, Pound describes a moment in the underground metro station in Paris in 1912; he suggested that the faces of the individuals in the metro were best put into a poem not with a description but with an "equation". Because of the treatment of the subject's appearance by way of the poem's own visuality, it is considered a quintessential Imagist text.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese poetry</span> Literary tradition of Japan

    Japanese poetry is poetry typical of Japan, or written, spoken, or chanted in the Japanese language, which includes Old Japanese, Early Middle Japanese, Late Middle Japanese, and Modern Japanese, as well as poetry in Japan which was written in the Chinese language or ryūka from the Okinawa Islands: it is possible to make a more accurate distinction between Japanese poetry written in Japan or by Japanese people in other languages versus that written in the Japanese language by speaking of Japanese-language poetry. Much of the literary record of Japanese poetry begins when Japanese poets encountered Chinese poetry during the Tang dynasty. Under the influence of the Chinese poets of this era Japanese began to compose poetry in Chinese kanshi); and, as part of this tradition, poetry in Japan tended to be intimately associated with pictorial painting, partly because of the influence of Chinese arts, and the tradition of the use of ink and brush for both writing and drawing. It took several hundred years to digest the foreign impact and make it an integral part of Japanese culture and to merge this kanshi poetry into a Japanese language literary tradition, and then later to develop the diversity of unique poetic forms of native poetry, such as waka, haikai, and other more Japanese poetic specialties. For example, in the Tale of Genji both kanshi and waka are frequently mentioned. The history of Japanese poetry goes from an early semi-historical/mythological phase, through the early Old Japanese literature inclusions, just before the Nara period, the Nara period itself, the Heian period, the Kamakura period, and so on, up through the poetically important Edo period and modern times; however, the history of poetry often is different from socio-political history.

    Haibun is a prosimetric literary form originating in Japan, combining prose and haiku. The range of haibun is broad and frequently includes autobiography, diary, essay, prose poem, short story and travel journal.

    Hokku is the opening stanza of a Japanese orthodox collaborative linked poem, renga, or of its later derivative, renku. From the time of Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694), the hokku began to appear as an independent poem, and was also incorporated in haibun. In the late 19th century, Masaoka Shiki (1867–1902) renamed the standalone hokku as "haiku", and the latter term is now generally applied retrospectively to all hokku appearing independently of renku or renga, irrespective of when they were written. The term hokku continues to be used in its original sense, as the opening verse of a linked poem.

    Haikai may refer in both Japanese and English to haikai no renga (renku), a popular genre of Japanese linked verse, which developed in the sixteenth century out of the earlier aristocratic renga. It meant "vulgar" or "earthy", and often derived its effect from satire and puns, though "under the influence of [Matsuo] Bashō (1644–1694) the tone of haikai no renga became more serious". "Haikai" may also refer to other poetic forms that embrace the haikai aesthetic, including haiku and senryū, haiga, and haibun. However, haikai does not include orthodox renga or waka.

    The Haiku Society of America is a non-profit organization composed of haiku poets, editors, critics, publishers and enthusiasts that promotes the composition and appreciation of haiku in English. Founded in 1968, it is the largest society dedicated to haiku and related forms of poetry outside Japan, and holds meetings, lectures, workshops, readings, and contests, throughout the United States. The society's journal, Frogpond, first published in 1978, appears three times a year. As of 2022, the HSA has over 1,000 members.

    Cor Van den Heuvel is an American haiku poet, editor and archivist.

    William J. Higginson was an American poet, translator and author most notable for his work with haiku and renku, born in New York City. He was one of the charter members of the Haiku Society of America, and was present at its formation meeting in 1968.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Kacian</span> American poet

    James Michael Kacian is an American haiku poet, editor, translator, publisher, organizer, filmmaker, public speaker, and theorist. He has authored more than 20 volumes of English-language haiku, and edited scores more, including serving as editor in chief for Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years. In addition, he is founder and owner of Red Moon Press (1993), a co-founder of the World Haiku Association (2000), and founder and president of The Haiku Foundation (2009).

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Pizzarelli</span> American writer

    Alan Pizzarelli is an American poet, songwriter, and musician. He was born of an Italian-American family in Newark, New Jersey, and raised in the first ward’s Little Italy. He is a major figure in English-language haiku and Senryū.

    Lee Gurga is an American haiku poet. In 1997 he served as president of the Haiku Society of America. He was the editor of Modern Haiku magazine from 2002 to 2006, and is the current editor of the Modern Haiku Press. Gurga lives in Lincoln, Illinois, where he works as a dentist. Also involved in the translation of Japanese haiku into English, Gurga cites Matsuo Bashō, a Japanese poet from the Edo period, as one of his main appreciations. One of his most known haiku is about graduation day for students and is presented in his book Haiku: A Poet's Guide.

    The composition and translation of tanka in English begins at the end of the nineteenth century in England and the United States. Translations into English of classic Japanese tanka date back at least to the 1865 translation of the classic Ogura Hyakunin Isshu ; an early publication of originally English tanka dates to 1899. In the United States, the publication of tanka in Japanese and in English translation acquired extra impetus after World War II and was followed by a rise of the genre's popularity among native speakers of English.

    The Japanese haiku has been adopted in various languages other than Japanese.

    Yamamoto Kenkichi was the pen-name of Ishibashi Teikichi, a Japanese writer and literary critic. As a critic he wrote notable studies of Shishōsetsu as well as of the poet Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. He has been referred to as supportive of Shishōsetsu in an orthodox way.

    Hori Bakusui 堀麦水 (1718-1783) was a major Japanese poet of the Matsuo Bashō revival, writing traditional style haiku poems.

    The British Haiku Society (BHS) was formed in 1990 and aims to promote haiku and to teach and publish Haiku in English.

    Dee Evetts is an English haiku poet and writer.

    References

    1. ↑ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition. Houghton Mifflin Company. 2009. A Japanese lyric verse form having three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables, traditionally invoking an aspect of nature or the seasons.
    2. 1 2 3 "Official Definitions of Haiku and Related Terms". Haiku Society of America. Archived from the original on 27 May 2015.
    3. ↑ Garrison, Denis M. Hidden River: Haiku. Modern English Tanka Press. p. iii. ISBN   978-0-615-13825-1.
    4. ↑ Reichhold, 2002 p.21
    5. ↑ Gurga, 2003 p.105
    6. ↑ Spiess, Robert; Modern Haiku vol. XXXII No. 1 p. 57 "A haiku does not exceed a breath's length." ISSN 0026-7821
    7. ↑ Reichhold, Jane; Writing and Enjoying Haiku - A Hands-On Guide; Kodansha 2002 p.30 and p.75 ISBN   4-7700-2886-5
    8. ↑ Gurga, 2003, p.2 and p.15
    9. ↑ Shirane, Haruo. Love in the Four Seasons, in Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Orientalia Pragensia XV, 2005, p135
    10. ↑ Ross, Bruce; How to Haiku; Tuttle Publishing 2002 p.19 ISBN   0-8048-3232-3
    11. ↑ Gurga, Lee; Haiku - A Poet's Guide; Modern Haiku Press 2003 p.16 ISBN   0-9741894-0-5
    12. ↑ Higginson, William J., The Haiku Handbook, McGraw-Hill, 1985, pp. 101-102 ISBN   0-07-028786-4.
    13. ↑ "Academy and Literature".
    14. ↑ "Academy and Literature".
    15. ↑ "The Water Party," Cambridge Review (1903), xiii.
    16. ↑ Tessa Wooldridge, "Haiku in the Bulletin, 1899," Australian Haiku Society, July 7, 2008
    17. ↑ Yone Noguchi, "A Proposal to American Poets," The Reader Magazine 3:3 (Feb. 1904): 248.
    18. ↑ Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years, eds. Jim Kacian, Philip Rowland, and Allan Burns, W.W. Norton & Co, New York, 2013
    19. ↑ Yone Noguchi, Japanese Hokkus (Boston: Four Seas, 1920).
    20. ↑ Richard Wright's haiku on Terebess Asia Online
    21. ↑ Biography of Lorraine Ellis Harr on the Aha Poetry website
    22. 1 2 Van den Heuvel, Cor. The Haiku Anthology 2nd edition. Simon & Schuster 1986. ISBN   0671628372 p10
    23. ↑ Higginson, William, 'From One-line Poems to Haiku' Haiku Clinic #3, Simply Haiku.com
    24. ↑ William J. Higginson. From One-line Poems to One-line Haiku
    25. ↑ "BROKEN MONOKU- haiku in one broken line". MONOKU. 31 December 2007. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
    26. ↑ "The window-washer's pail". 1963.
    27. 1 2 Gill, Stephen Henry et al., editors. Seasons of the Gods Hailstone Haiku Circle, Kansai, 2007. ISBN   978-4-9900822-3-9 p.2
    28. ↑ Zip School on Carley's website
    29. ↑ Zips in Magma No 19 - Winter 2001
    30. ↑ The Lune: The English Language Haiku by Holly Bliss at GoArticles.com
    31. ↑ Lipson, Greta B. Poetry Writing Handbook: Definitions, Examples, Lessons. Lorenz Educational Press, 1998. ISBN   9781573101080 p53
    32. ↑ Kudryavitsky, Anatoly. "Haiku from Ireland and the rest of the world". Shamrock. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
    33. ↑ "Publications". 26 November 2016.

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