Poetry Corner – an occasional all-about-poetry shindig
Tanka and Haiku
Mona Mehas
I enjoy teaching people how to write using different poetry forms. Many folks think they know how to write haiku but what they are using are the rules they learned in elementary school. Haiku don't have to be 5-7-5 syllables.
Generally speaking, I've discovered that many people don't know much about tanka or how they're different from haiku. Let me preface this by saying I am NOT an expert on either of these Japanese forms. I'm a member of the Tanka Society of America and participate in a monthly class to help me learn. I've had a couple tanka published in the Society's journals. When I first published my poetry books, I included tanka that were the childhood count of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables because I didn't know better. I've learned a bit since then.
Haiku
Haiku are three-line poems that convey a single moment when the poet sees or realizes something. Instead of thinking in terms of syllables, think of short-long-short (usually, not always.) Flashes of insight about nature, gratitude, happiness, etc. Two lines create an image, a third line might interpret that image, maybe giving a contrast.
I am not going to give examples here of haiku because of rights, permission, license, but they are readily available online. The main things: haiku should be clear and direct with strong images, be compact and concise, and broken into two parts.
Tanka
In the early Japanese court, poetry was a pastime, especially tanka and its predecessor waka. An aristocrat was not considered educated unless he composed these little poems. Often, they were love poems dispatched by a messenger.
Tanka begin with a feeling. Often, we write about what caused the emotions so the reader can experience it too. Other times, tanka get right to the feelings, naming them. Sometimes we put the emotion in the tanka as we feel it. Notice the body sensations that accompany the emotions.
In haiku with only three lines, the turn must be between lines two and three (almost always, anyway.) With the five lines of tanka, the volta can appear anywhere after the first line.
Another way I describe the difference between haiku and tanka is with my breath. The three lines of a haiku make me gasp and sometimes hold my breath. The two lines after those that make up a tanka is an exhale. That's how I physically experience a beautiful tanka.
Tanka are older than haiku, so I am not sure why they are less well known. Tanka state feelings subjectively more often than haiku. There is a turn, or pivot, or volta, in most tanka similar to the two parts of a haiku. Many haiku use season words (they aren't required) but tanka often don't mention seasons or weather.
For me, the best part of tanka is the extension of an idea. I also enjoy the freedom of subject matter. I always pay attention to the volta in a tanka, usually the middle line for me but not always. In the tanka class, we are taught to think of long and short instead of syllables. Thus, tanka lines would likely be short, long, short, long, long. Keep in mind the fluidity of these rules.
I'll post my two tanka published this year.
politicians
say what we want to hear
on both sides
their words pave way
for dishonest leaders
https://www.tankasocietyofamerica.org/laurels/laurels-3, poem #50.
In this tanka, I hear the pivot in the last line. Notice it isn't about weather or seasons.
anticipation
in three lines
I inhale
a volta color burst
then breathe again
Ribbons, Tanka Society of America, fall 2024, page 19.
https://www.amazon.com/RIBBONS-Fall-Winter-2024-Number/dp/B0DH3LDMTY/ref=sr_1_1
In the second tanka, I attempt to express the held breath I experience with the first three lines, as in a haiku, followed by the exhale of the last two lines of the tanka. I feel the volta in the third and fourth lines.
Now that I've said all this, remember the rules will be broken. I've seen haiku all in one line, or two lines. I have a book of tanka written in three lines.
So much for the rules.
I don't normally write haiku because I like to experience a full breath, a complete reaction. But I love composing tanka. Notice how you react with your breath and your body. What matters is the feeling we get when reading and writing these little gems.
Now, go write!
References:
https://www.writebetterpoems.com/articles/how-to-write-haiku
https://www.graceguts.com/essays/the-seed-of-the-human-heart-writing-tanka
