Seventeen Syllable Poignancy

An old silent pond

A frog jumps into the pond—

Splash! Silence again.

--Matsuo Basho

Most of the styles of poetry that have dominated the realm of English poetry have originated in the West. Greece, Rome, ancient England—to them we can trace many of today’s poetical forms.

Some forms, however, come from the East, from very different cultures and very different histories. Perhaps the most popular Asian form is the haiku. It’s very different from the types of poetry I’ve talked about in previous blog posts. It doesn’t rhyme, and it doesn’t have syllabic meter, but it is ancient and traditional, and I think it’s worth pondering.

I don’t have time to go into the historical and cultural aspects of the haiku, fun as that would be; nor do I know as much about haikus as I would wish, but what I note about the haiku is its poignancy.

It’s the shortest poetic form I know of, traditionally consisting of seven syllables in three lines. (I don’t think the ancient Greek, Roman, and English poets were very good at brevity.)

Since you only have seventeen syllables to say what you want to say, you have to choose tight phrasing and thought-provoking imagery. It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words. With a haiku, you have to use a mere handful of words to evoke a picture.

Suzanne U. Rhodes said that poetry is “taut truth.” A haiku is poetry at its tautest, and I have great respect for those who can do them well.

 (Photo credit to Michael C on Unsplash)