'Scuse me butting in, but... Yes, haiku were originally meant to follow the 5-7-5 syllables convention. Though they were also supposed to end with a noun or another strongly emotional word, and to contain some kind of word or phrase that referred to the season during which they were composed (winter, spring, etc; football season wouldn't count!). According to Basho, haiku had to describe a particular incident while suggesting a universal principle.
Even Japanese poets had started ditching the strict rules by the end of the 19th Century. Including the strict syllable-counting. And right from the start of the European fascination with haiku (in France around the turn of the 20th Century), whether or not to stick to the "traditional" rules has been pretty much a matter of the poets own preference. So there you go. It can be haiku even when it doesn't follow the 5-7-5 syllable formula. Just my poetic tuppenyworth. Philip ----- Original Message ----- From: Christopher J Mulder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: 27 February 2002 17:06 Subject: FLUXLIST: Haiku after Arguelles (A replyification) I suppose..but poetry has fine lines between forms...when one calls his poetry haiku..then that one should know that syllables are in sets of 5- 7-5..otherwise..it's not haiku...it'sfreewrite, short prose, or stream of conciousness poetry... Christopher ----- Original Message ----- From: tom�z <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 3:16 pm Subject: Re: FLUXLIST: Haiku after Arguelles > > i cannot say that i am overwhelmed by the haiku's, > i know too little about it either, > but at some point, couldn't you > argue that a technically bad haiku, may well still be a haiku? > Christopher J Mulder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > John Bennett, > > Maybe I'm overstepping my bounds or am missing something..but your > haiku's...should be in syllables of 5-7-5...your's are not...Am I > misreading them?...Help me out. > > CHRIS MULDER > ARtist - ARTeest - Artust > > > tom�z > > > > --------------------------------- > Do You Yahoo!? > Get personalised at My Yahoo!.
