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Since the worldwide phenomenon of haiku is under development, we can ask ourselves if there are any particular characteristics of haiku. I will here report what I have read (and hopefully understood) from a book on haiku: The Penguin Book of Haiku, presented by Adam L. Kern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To quote from page XXXVII, the essence of haiku is \u201dits extreme, almost excessive brevity<\/strong>\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many people equalize haiku with a three line poem where there should be 5 – 7 – 5 syllables on the lines following each other. In modern haiku the \u201drule\u201d rather goes: short-long-short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is one example of 5-7-5, not one of the best:<\/p>\n\n\n\n the grazing robot<\/p>\n\n\n\n no longer works on my grass –<\/p>\n\n\n\n dandelions\u2019 stop<\/p>\n\n\n\n (YW)<\/p>\n\n\n\n More essential than syllable counting is the requirement that a haiku should contain a season word (Japanese \u201dkigo\u201d) and a \u201dcut<\/strong>\u201d (Japanese \u201dkire<\/strong>\u201d). For modern poetists, the \u201dcut\u201d is the most important. What is this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cut is the pause between two ideas in a haiku. The cut most often appears after the first line or before the last one. The reader is startled and starts trying to get the ideas to fit together. That\u2019s what makes haiku interesting, at least for me<\/p>\n\n\n\n I made one myself like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n a fallen tree<\/p>\n\n\n\n the smell of broken wood<\/p>\n\n\n\n – into a haiku<\/p>\n\n\n\n (YW)<\/p>\n\n\n\n This one I made in a satiric mood – I thought that every tragedy might be turned into a haiku.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note that there is no season word in this haiku. A tree can fall whenever. For me, the idea was more important than the observation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The relationship between the two parts (sometimes called \u201dfragment\u201d and \u201dphrase\u201d respectively) can consist in:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Contrast<\/p>\n\n\n\n Association<\/p>\n\n\n\n Comparison<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my haiku I wanted to contrast the text (haiku) against the natural phenomenon (tree).<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a lot to be read about this topic, and I want to recommend the following presentation by Alan Summers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n