Haiku Poems From The Past To The Present
Almost everyone, at one point or another, has read or heard of haiku poems. It is a Japanese type of poetry and it has been around for so long now. A haiku is a beautifully made piece of poem, which is truly expressive. It brings forth distinctly what the poet is trying to convey. With just very little words, a haiku poet can capture a moment, either about nature or a special event currently taking place.
To be able to create your own haiku poems, you have to know and understand more of it and how it is written. A haiku poem does not go beyond 17 syllables all in all. It is composed of three lines with the first line bearing only five syllables, followed by the second line with seven syllables, and then the third line of five syllables again. The lines do not have to rhyme like the other form of poetry.
Haiku poems are actually spin-offs of a very ancient poetry that used to exist thousands of years passed. According to tradition, the early or the traditional haiku poems mostly focused on nature as its subject. This, however, makes real sense because from the very beginning, nature is always the basic theme for poems. People from way back used to compare their lives with nature, for during their time, nature seemed to be the most powerful element surrounding them.
Meanwhile, newer lines of haiku start to branch out from their humble beginnings. It goes with how the world changes and how it is made up. The world today is filled with various parameters, and for this reason, haiku is slowly reflecting the changes. It is a good thing though, to evolve with the world you are in. And poetry too must bear with the changes since it is life’s reflections, carrying with it myriad of faces.
A haiku’s basic structure is fo
r the author to arrive to his or her point quickly. Making haiku poems is like painting some mural concept on a piece of a postcard. You take a huge idea, comment or emotion on life and express it with only three lines and 17 syllables. Once you do it so well, you can impart diverse images and meanings to the reader with just the limited words of your choice. Contemporary haikus should mirror feelings and thoughts about life, without having to compromise the subject with brevity. Haiku is generally an amazingly flexible type of poetry, knowing its basic limits.
The first compilation of American haikus was called, Borrowed Water, which was piled by Helen Stiles Chenoweth. Jane Reichhold’s “Tigers in a Tea Cup” was one of the first Haiku poems written in the English language. It signified a poet who took the time to venture out and explored Haiku, Haibun and Haiku sequences. By 1992, a follow up of Jane’s book was released entitled, A Dictionary of Haiku. It contained more than 5,000 Haiku poems by Reichhold alone.
As the traditional Haiku dealt more with nature, the modern Haiku on the other hand, tackles any subject suitable. It may relate to nature, a technological context or an urban setting. If the old haiku avoided sensitive topics such as sex, romance and violence, the contemporary Haiku poems specifically deal on such themes instead. Another apparent difference between the old and new Haiku poems is the period of learning. The ancient Haiku takes a longer time to mature while the recent Haiku is even regarded as the “instant” form of short verse and it may be written by anybody, like schoolchildren and professionals.
Some Haiku poets of today have remained faithful and loyal to the old standards of the poem. However, there are also those that dropped such standards, instead, they give more emphasize on personal freedom, pursuing further the subject matter on hand.
To be able to create your own haiku poems, you have to know and understand more of it and how it is written. A haiku poem does not go beyond 17 syllables all in all. It is composed of three lines with the first line bearing only five syllables, followed by the second line with seven syllables, and then the third line of five syllables again. The lines do not have to rhyme like the other form of poetry.
Haiku poems are actually spin-offs of a very ancient poetry that used to exist thousands of years passed. According to tradition, the early or the traditional haiku poems mostly focused on nature as its subject. This, however, makes real sense because from the very beginning, nature is always the basic theme for poems. People from way back used to compare their lives with nature, for during their time, nature seemed to be the most powerful element surrounding them.
Meanwhile, newer lines of haiku start to branch out from their humble beginnings. It goes with how the world changes and how it is made up. The world today is filled with various parameters, and for this reason, haiku is slowly reflecting the changes. It is a good thing though, to evolve with the world you are in. And poetry too must bear with the changes since it is life’s reflections, carrying with it myriad of faces.
A haiku’s basic structure is fo
The first compilation of American haikus was called, Borrowed Water, which was piled by Helen Stiles Chenoweth. Jane Reichhold’s “Tigers in a Tea Cup” was one of the first Haiku poems written in the English language. It signified a poet who took the time to venture out and explored Haiku, Haibun and Haiku sequences. By 1992, a follow up of Jane’s book was released entitled, A Dictionary of Haiku. It contained more than 5,000 Haiku poems by Reichhold alone.
As the traditional Haiku dealt more with nature, the modern Haiku on the other hand, tackles any subject suitable. It may relate to nature, a technological context or an urban setting. If the old haiku avoided sensitive topics such as sex, romance and violence, the contemporary Haiku poems specifically deal on such themes instead. Another apparent difference between the old and new Haiku poems is the period of learning. The ancient Haiku takes a longer time to mature while the recent Haiku is even regarded as the “instant” form of short verse and it may be written by anybody, like schoolchildren and professionals.
Some Haiku poets of today have remained faithful and loyal to the old standards of the poem. However, there are also those that dropped such standards, instead, they give more emphasize on personal freedom, pursuing further the subject matter on hand.