Rajni Singh – Haiku as a Poetic Genre
Haiku is one of the oldest forms of poetry; yet the form has only recently been discovered and embraced by writers around the world. It is believed that in 1970’s Haiku as a literary genre got highlighted internationally. Today, it is written in English as well as in several different languages and enjoyed widely in nearly 50 countries. But the actual credit for this Haiku boom goes to Paul Louis who with the publication of his collection entitled Haiku, in the early 20th century, revived this genre. And since then the popularity and internationalization of Haiku has kept on multiplying.
Haiku is short and light poetry with traditionally 5-7-5 sound syllables with a season word. Historically speaking, this poetic form had its roots in Tanka, a kind of prayer/incantations to Gods by the Japanese. Tanka, with its 5-7-5-7-7 sound syllable count, its lofty ancestry and its shortness and ease for memorization, later became the favourite poetical form of the Japanese imperial court. And from 9th to 12th centuries it reached the highest popularity and brilliance. However, in the 12th century a new form generated out of Tanka, with the rival of an old Chinese form of linking tanka poems together in a novel way. The poem was ‘split’ in half, allowing one author to write the first three lines 5-7-5 and the concluding lines i.e. 7-7 part to be written by another, especially by men. This chain of writing did not stop there, again a new 5-7-5 was written as an answer to the previous 7-7 links and this genre was called ‘renga’ (meaning linked elegance). Renga became a fashionable form of poetry in the 14th century with two main styles: a serious, courtly style and the comic style, especially of the merchant class. Basho was a renga master of the comic style. This poetic form was not as simple to write as it appeared. Writing a good hokku i.e. the starting verse and haikai (any verse in a renga) was really a challenging task. Thus, all could not meet the standards of a good hokku/ haikai. The quality of the renga tended to fluctuate with Buson and Issa and in the beginning of the 19th century Masaoka Shikideclared renga officially dead and also ended the ongoing debate on hokku / haikai by combining the two names into a new one- Haiku.
Haiku is the smallest literary form with lot many rules and it is difficult for one to follow all the rules. Moreover, several of the rules are so contradictory with each other that there is no way to honour them all at once. Say, for example, the sound units of the three liners have a wide range of patterns-seventeen syllables in one line, seventeen syllables written in three lines, seventeen syllables written in three lines divided into 5-7-5, seventeen syllables written in a vertical (flush left or centred) line, less than seventeen syllables written in three lines as short- long- short, less than seventeen syllables written in three vertical lines as short- long- short and writing in one breath (which nearly covers 12-17 syllables). Second, the number of images and the kind of images which again do not follow any fixity- a Haiku with two images that are only comparative when illuminated by the third image; a Haiku with two images that are only associative when illuminated by the third image, two images that are only in contrast when illuminated by the third image and then the kind of images- images that evoke simple rustic seclusion/accepted poverty (sabi), images evoking classical elegant separateness (shubumi), images that evoke nostalgic romantic images / austere beauty (wabi), images from nature, images not from nature, season words (kigo), non-season words (muki), lofty / uplifting images. Third, the rules of punctuation- no punctuation to attain ambiguity, all normal sentence punctuation are also admissible- a colon (:) and full stop (.), a pause (;), three dots for something left unsaid, a comma for a slight pause, a dash for saying the same thing in other words, capitalizing the first word of every line or only the first word as well as the proper names according to English rules. Next, the rules of grammar- eliminating all the possible uses of gerunds and adverbs, little use of pronouns, ending the Haiku with a noun, avoiding too many / all verbs and prepositions. Finally, the rules of rhetoric- avoiding rhymes / bringing in rhymes by rhyming the last words in the first and third lines, using rhymes in other places within the Haiku, using assonance and alliteration; and using puns and paradoxes to attain levels of meaning in Haiku.
Haiku usually combine three different lines, with a distinct grammatical break, called kireji, usually placed at the end of either the first five or second seven sound units. These two parts of a haiku are called the "phrase and the fragment." In Japanese, there are actual kireji words. In English, kireji is often replaced with commas, hyphens, elipses, or implied breaks in the haiku. These elements of the older haiku are considered by many to be essential to haiku as well, although they are not always included by modern writers of Japanese "free-form haiku" and of non-Japanese haiku. Japanese haiku are typically written as a single line, while English language haiku are traditionally separated into three lines.
In Japanese, nouns do not have different singular and plural forms, so 'haiku' is usually used as both a singular and plural noun in English as well. Senryu is a similar poetry form that emphasizes humor and human foibles instead of seasons, and which may not have kigo or kireji.
It is quite natural that with so many options, a beginner of Haiku might get highly confused and find it difficult to start off with. But it is to be noted here that rules are not written in stone. Thus, it can be said that there is no one way to write a Haiku, there is no one style or technique that is absolutely the best. Every writer can work out for herself. In fact, the varieties in style and technique of Haiku provide enough freedom for the readers and writers of Haiku to expose, expand and to investigate.
Today one can notice new trends emerging in Haiku from several countries, including India as well. Now, there is no strict adherence to the old, traditional guidelines. Despite a small community of Haiku writers in India, the Haiku form has been widely experimented and written in several regional languages, including Hindi.
http://www.museindia.com/showfeature6.asp?id=814
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