The English Teacher

Teaching Haikus


* Work on reading skills so that students can present their writings in the best manner. All the assignments except the first one using Haiku's are presented orally by the students before they turn them in. Therefore they need to have their assignments completed by the due date. If the teacher lets the students volunteer, it causes a better class spirit, but some students may put off finishing on time because they rely on others to volunteer. All assignments are to be typed except those written in class and as journals.


UNIT: HAIKU [Focus: Clarity of Expression]
Haikus are underestimated in their challenge and value as a writing assignment. I assign only two or three. When possible, I assign them the week before spring break so the students can work on them over the vacation.
Haikus by definition are: a form of Japanese poetry which states in three lines of five, seven, and five syllables a 1.) clear picture designed to arouse a 2.) distinct emotion and suggest a 3.) spiritual insight. A tradtional haiku is written in the following pattern:

A blank page of sand-
At the water's cutting edge
The pattern shaping.

I don't don't work much on defining 'spiritual' but simply confine it to an 'aha!' or 'light goes on' experience. This assignment requires very little writing but requires much thought and focus and if done correctly, the benefits carry on to longer assignments. The students write their haikus in the traditional pattern but I show them Japanese haikus translated into a couplet form.

Excellent haikus may be found in 'A Net of Fireflies' by Harold Tran Stewart. As Stewart illustrates, the Japanese haikus translate better into English couplets than into the traditional haiku form of three lines of 5, 7, 5, syllables. Stewart's haikus contain the other more important elements of haikus and I use them in class to illustrate these elements and use a few more basic haikus to teach the haiku format of three lines of 5, 7, 5, syllables.
I hand out some of Stewart's Japanese haikus which we read and discuss in the same manner as we will later discuss student haikus. I have the students take turns reading these haikus and discussing them in relation first to clear picture, then distinct emotion, then spiritual insight.

This practice helps students realize what qualities a haiku should possess, and helps them to begin being involved in a discussion without being as self-conscious as they might be discussing their own writing.
Therefore, I read the students' haikus since this is their first assignment and they don't know how their writing will be received. I read an 'anonymous' student haiku. Then I ask the class what the 'mental image' (clear picture) is. As various people comment, the writer can see how the writing is perceived. Next, we discuss the 'distinct emotion,' and then the 'insight.' Sometimes the writers may anonymously want to state the purpose that they thought that their haiku contained. When this unit is done with accuracy, tact, and consideration, the students learn how to give and take feedback, and they do not mind reading their own assignments next time. Note: creative writing classes work best when the seating is in a circle.

Below are some examples of what I feel are exquisite haikus from a Net of Fireflies.

THE RECLUSE

In my ten-foot bamboo hut this spring
There is nothing; there is everything.
--Sodo

THE SPRING SEA

All day, with gently undulating swell,
The spring sea rose and fell, rose and fell.
--Buson

A SHELTER OF LEAVES

A sparrow, springing on this bamboo-cane,
Chirps at the downward sound of steady rain.
--Ho-o

LETTER AND SPIRIT

My ears had found the sermon dull and stale;
But in the woods outside-- the nightingale!
--Shiki

THE SILENT REBUKE

Angrily I returned; awaiting me
Within my court-- the tranquil willow tree.
--Ryota

INVENTION

People caught by suddenly pouring skies:
What ingenious hats they improvise!
--Otsuyu

LIVING IN POVERTY

Though faint and from afar, the cool breeze comes
Crookedly down my alley in the slums.
--Issa

ALIVE

So much vitality in so few inches:
A perch of hopping, chirping, spotted finches!
--Ho-o

THE RUINS OF TAKADACHI FORT

Over the warriors summer grasses wave:
The aftermath of dreams, however brave.
--Basho

"EVERY DAY IS A GOOD DAY"

What happiness to wake, alive again,
Into this same gray world of winter rain!
--Shosha

FLORAL REPAIRS

The morning-glory flowers have opened, patching
My hermitage's roof, which needed thatching.
--Issa

ICY SURPRISE

A wintry blast: the mountain storm is here!
A hailstone skips into my horse's ear!
--Tairo

THE ONLY TRACE

The traveling monk has vanished in the mists:
But still his little silver bell persists.
--Meiutetsu

AFTER THE DEATH OF HER SMALL SON

Alas! How far beyond recall today
My hunter after dragonflies you stray!
--Chiyo

THE BROKEN RESOLUTION

Another year departs: the bell is tolled
--And I never intended growing old.
--Jokun

THE TASK

O timid snail, by nature weak and lowly,
Crawl up the cone of Fuji slowly, slowly...
--Issa


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