[stylist] Haiku

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

This is taken from the Dictionary of Poetic Terms, a textbook from my
fundamentals of poetry class. I no longer have the front matter so I'm
not sure who edited or published this particular book.

haiku /hi'koo/ (from Japanese for "starting verse"; also spelled
"haikai" and "hokku") a 16th century Japanese form of lyric, syllabic
verse composed of 17 syllables in three lines of five, seven, and five
syllables, respectively. According to traditional form, the imagery in
the poem must be from nature; the poem must contain the name of or
reference to a season; it must allude to religious beliefs or historical
events; it must contain no rhymes; it must create an emotional response
in the reader; and it must penetrate to the heart of its theme in a
sudden epiphany known as satori. The following is a h. by Basho:
Lightning in the sky!
In the deeper dark is heard
A night-heron's cry.
Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell, and John Gould Fletcher, the Imagists, were
influenced by the form.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan