Thomas Perdue
Actually, haiku written in Japanese are in one line (not three, the division into three lines just came about in the English language version of the form).
And Rapscallion is quite well informed. He is right, the 5-7-5 form actually is incorrect in English as it is too long for a haiku. An English syllable is longer than a Japanese on, so the form is altered by sticking to that pattern (ie on and syllabe are not the same thing as is the common misconception).
And haiku is actually plural as is (it is haiku, not haikus).

It's a very interesting form, fun to write. :-)


T.
2008-12-01

Rapscallion
I liked it. I've been studying haiku recently. In English to try to approximate the traditional Japanese form of 5-7-5 (which aren't exactly syllables in Japanese but sound characters) an English poem is closer with a 2 beat first line, 3 beat second, and 2 beat third. English syllables are often longer than their Japanese counterparts so the English poets started shortening theirs to seek that brevity and immediacy. That's a drop in the haiku bucket though! It's such a complex little form. The Haiku Handbook is great if anyone want to really dig depply.
2008-08-01

John Lambremont, Sr.
The form is but a part, but its part in no way tiny.

Nice 'ku, Stan!
2008-08-01

:) i recently found out that there is an entire science of writing haiku, and that the form is but a tiny part in relation to all other elements...but i guess it would be difficult anyway to transfer into other languages the japanese philosophy of the haiku...
Lilly xxx
2008-08-01