Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Haiku

Poets love nature. Nature nature and human nature. Nature, nature, nature. It's one of the four most important themes in literature and usually involves the other themes within its own theme: i.e., nature poetry includes life, death, and the love of nature.

Haiku: a poem of 17 or fewer syllables (usually in 10 or fewer words) that reflects upon the theme of nature. When poets write haiku about HUMAN NATURE (life + nature) often with a sarcastic or satirical tone, these poems are called: Senryu.

Please read some haiku today. You can read a lot of this stuff very quickly as a break from your writing. Look here for some samples. The more you read, the more you'll understand the form. For the craft, take a look at the next part of this blog entry.
Haiku juxtaposes or contrasts ideas. Frequently, contrasts are set up with the first two lines presenting one idea and then switching suddenly to another idea by the closing of the poem. This technique is referred to as cutting or kireji.

Cutting involves the juxtaposition of images. One image balances a second, effectively creating two parts to a haiku. These two sections should enhance and work off each other like a good friend. In English, the contrast is often emphasized with punctuation such as a long dash (em-dash) or ellipsis. One handy way to do this is to read the first two lines (they should make sense), then read the 2nd and last line. If both phrases make sense, you've probably got a good haiku.

Haiku uses a seasonal or key word called kigo. Each season has its own kigo.

Winter imagery, for example, often depicts grief, death, distance, and serenity. Take a look at some winter kigo and see if you can use it as a central image in your own haiku:

Season: Winter
  • Freezing rain or freezing drizzle
  • Sleigh rides
  • Snowfall, Blizzard
  • Snow or ice sculptures (snowmen, etc)
  • Football Playoffs: "The Super Bowl"
  • Ice fishing
  • Ice hockey
  • Ice skating
  • Polar plunges
  • Sledding, Tobaggoning
  • Snowboarding
  • Skiing
  • Snow shoeing
  • Snow shoveling
  • Candles, firewood, fireplaces, etc.
  • Christmas Eve, Christmas Day
  • Earth Day
  • Epiphany (Episcopal, Catholic)
  • Groundhog Day
  • Hanukkah
  • Martin Luther King Jr., Day
  • Lincoln's Birthday (12th February)
  • President's Day
  • Pearl Harbor Day
  • St. Valentine's Day
  • Washington's Birthday (22nd February)
  • Midterms
  • Blue jays
  • Cardinals
  • Chickadees
  • Juncos
  • Mockingbirds, northern
  • Owls
  • Sparrows
  • Crows (Rochester)
  • Titmouse, tufted
  • Woodpeckers
  • Poinsettia
  • Norway pines
Activity: Write a page of haiku.

8th period: Please conduct a poetry workshop and/or work on revising your previous poems to CRAFT them. Write, read, analyze. Edit, fix, re-write. Write, read, analyze. Edit, fix, re-write. This will lead, eventually, to publication: the last step in the writing process.

HOMEWORK: Please read Patrick Phillips' poem collection from "Chattahoochee"--as you read please note such things as imagery (metaphor, similes, personification, etc.), literary or poetic devices (sound devices, etc.), and nature. You will be asked to write a response to his poetry next class on the forum.

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About this course!

This course stresses understanding the characteristics & techniques in the literary genres of fiction, poetry, and dramatic writing. This course will continue to build on students’ reading and writing skills begun in previous creative writing classes. Readings and discussions of works by major writers in the field will be examined as inspiration and models of fine writing. This educational blog is designed for the use of the students at the School of the Arts in Rochester, NY.