Rules for Writing Haiku

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Laura and today I'm going to talk to you about rules for writing a Haiku. The basic rules for writing a Haiku is that the Haiku has to have a five-, seven-, five-syllable progression in the three lines of the poem. So, number one, there are only three lines to a Haiku, and number two, the first line has to have five syllables, the second, seven, and the last, five. Later I'm going to talk with you about some exceptions to this rule that some people have presented and you can of course decide for yourself what you think about that. So my example here is of a Haiku taken from haiku.com. Precipitation, brings more anticipation, and contemplation. This also has a little bit of alliteration in this Haiku. Precipitation: pre-ci-pi-ta-tion; five syllables. Brings more anticipation: brings more an-ti-ci-pa-tion. And contemplation: and con-tem-pla-tion. Those words seem to be, actually they're very good words to pick out for a Haiku because they're big long words: contemplation, anticipation, precipitation. You get all of your syllables in there so you don't have to stress out about finding syllables. In fact a Haiku should not be stressed out over at all. If you're writing a Haiku you should be pretty calm and easy-going because it's a very easy-going sort of verse. Those are basically the rules for writing a Haiku. However, like the Haiku I have here, it's still considered a Haiku. It has really no capitalization, no punctuation, nothing to it at all and in fact it does not contain the same rhyme scheme, but it is still considered by Haiku poets to be considered a Haiku because it deals with parts of nature and it is in the three line format. So I'll read this one. Withering wind, the fence builder pulls the nail, from his lips. So you've got, withering wind, that's four; the fence builder pulls the nail, seven; from his lips, is three. So you have a different kind of syllable feel to it. But it still feels like a Haiku. So they're argument there is it can still be a Haiku without having to adhere to those semi-strict rules of how many syllables each line should have. So it's pretty open to you, as far as what you want to do. But just know that a Haiku is generally a short poem of three lines. And that seems to be something that they also appreciate in here too. So have fun writing your Haiku."