How to Write a Haiku

Haiku is a short and brief style of writing poetry which, like Tanka, originates from ancient Japanese culture, although the Haiku style was invented at a much later stage than the Tanka. This form of poetry was given its name by the famous 19^th century Japanese poet Masaoka Shiki, whose works can be seen here.

In fact, Haiku is a lot more than just a type of poetry. The words of every single Haiku should mean a lot more than just their original definitions. They should be suggestive of deeper, thought-provoking symbolism. Because Haiku poems are usually short and made up of just a few words and sentences within a single stanza, they are bound to be very intense and thought provoking; full of meaning, indeed. Each line of a Haiku can embody a whole idea within itself, with the entire poem flowing together to complete the picture. This is perhaps why the Haiku is becoming growingly popular across the world, and is now even written in English language.

However, writing Haiku does not have to be something difficult, so if you are seriously thinking about how to write Haiku, reading through this article and checking out some good examples of Haiku on the internet should be enough for you to master the art. In fact, this form of poetry is actually quite simplistic; perhaps one of the simplest forms of poetry that exist. However, the fact that its basic poetic structure is quite simple does not take away the beautiful outcome that the activity of writing Haiku can generate. Nevertheless, the original structure of Haiku cannot be replicated exactly in languages other than Japanese due to linguistic constraints. Whereas as a 'mora' is a long syllable consisting of two short ones (other variations exist), a traditional Japanese Haiku comprises 17 'morae' (plural form of 'mora') in three phrases of 5, 7, and 5 morae respectively.

Nevertheless, given that the basics of its rhyming and rhythmic patterns are fairly simple and easy to understand and imitate, writing Haiku can be made much easier if you were to find an appropriate theme or topic, to begin with. This will be the starting point of your poetic endeavor. Once you understand and practice the basic elements that create the Haiku poems, then writing them will not be a challenge anymore. However you have to make sure that each line makes sense independently. Inspiring examples of Haiku from the poet Matsuo Basho can be read here.