Ms. Miller / L.A. 6
Name: ______________________________________________________________________ Section: POETRY
HAIKU
(pronounced hi-coo)
Haiku is an ancient form of Japanese poetry.
The standard structure is 17 syllables, in 3 lines:
Line 1: 5 syllables
Line 2: 7 syllables
Line 3: 5 syllables
(Wait, what’s a syllable? __________________________________________________________
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What’s so great about haiku?
 The poems are simple- they don’t try to say too much.
(They can’t, because they’re only 17 syllables.)
 The poems are light- because there aren’t many words, they often feel like floating
poems, or wisps of poems.
* Sometimes a haiku can feel unfinished, but really it’s just giving you a brief taste of
an image – it leaves the whole picture for you to create or piece together in your head.
Haikus are usually about the natural world: the seasons, a forest, a pond, the
wind, the moon, etc., and they often contrast two images.
Over the wintry
forest, winds howl in rage
with no leaves to blow.
Natsume Soseki
green boughs bounce and dance
animatedly jumping
- wind whistles a tune
Francine Roberts
OK, so what do you now know about HAIKU?
List three significant aspects or details about HAIKU from the other side.
Don’t just look back and copy – flex your brain muscle and try to remember, and put what
you know in your own words.
1. ___________________________________________________________
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2. ___________________________________________________________
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3. ___________________________________________________________
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Complete the following haiku, then write two of your own.
1. complete:
green elms in the woods
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2. your own:
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- rain?
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- dew?
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3. your own:
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- fog?
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- tree shadows?
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Draw a picture of one of the haikus?