Haikus - traditional Japanese poetry involving strong imagery and heavy symbolism. It is three lines, 5-7-5 syllables per line, and it involves nature and a season. The season must be clearly identifiable.
Examples: Here are two of the most famous of traditional Japanese haikus. (these are both translated from Japanese into English, so the syllables don't match the 5-7-5)
The old pond
A frog jumps in -
The sound of water
No sky
no earth - but still
snowflakes fall.
So....as you can see, a traditional haiku really portrays one single "picture" - a frog jumping in a pond, snowflakes falling in a still sky. However, it is a very VIVID picture...and we can tell that these pictures evoke or represent something, at least a strong feeling. Haikus are all about saying many things with very few words. You know how a picture is worth a thousand words...that's kind of what a haiku tries to do...lots of meaning in just three lines.
Terms you need to make and understand for an awesome haiku (yes, there will be a test on these terms, so copy them down into your notes....
Imagery- creating a strong picture with words, usually involving sensory details.
Symbolism: Having a thing (object, season, or color) represent some bigger idea.
Metaphor: two things compared using a form of "TO BE"
Simile: using "like" or "as" to compare two things.
Oxymorons: when you place two "opposite" things close together to show their contrast. To find some really good examples, click here.
Enjambment: when a line of poetry does not end in end-punctuation (periods, colons, or semicolons)
End-Stopped: when a line of poetry does end in end-punctuation (periods, colons, or semicolons)
