Haiku

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Resources

A Japanese verse-form dating from the sixteenth century which traditionally comprises lines of five, seven and five syllables. The name comes from two Japanese words meaning “sportive” or “pleasantry”, and the form evolved from the

hokku

which stood at the beginning of longer poems and set their tone, eventually becoming an independent form in its own right. Its early masters were Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), whose work is often found in English translations, Yosa Buson (1716-84) and Issa Kobayashi (1762-1826).

Here a famous example by Basho:

Here a famous example by Basho:

No one travels Along this road but IThis autumn evening.

No one travels Along this road but IThis autumn evening.

Haiku use extreme economy to convey emotions such as longing or loss, or comic surprise, and are

351 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Haiku". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 November 2001; last revised 30 August 2005. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=494, accessed 28 March 2024.]

494 Haiku 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.