The Lessons of Haiku in 350 Words or Less
The first great poet of Haiku, Basho Matsuo (1644-1694)
Three lines—five syllables, seven syllables, and five syllables—comprise Haiku, which is perhaps the simplest poetic form. Yet, its simplicity is deceptive. It can take years to master the intricacies of the art.
While the history of Haiku is rich and fascinating, what I find useful about the form is how it demonstrates a very simple lesson about poetry: limitations expand creativity.
What exactly do I mean by limitations? Limiting our writing to poetic forms or minimal word counts and setting specific and concrete goals for our artistic pursuits are examples of the much-needed limitations necessary for our creativity. They give us direction, structure, and purpose, as we separate the rich, creative wheat from the chaff.
For instance, poetry demands sparsity and brevity. Haiku exemplifies these qualities, teaching us to get to the point or to develop strong, concise images.
Also, Haiku reminds us that while writing poetry is in itself a simple act, it’s not always easy. Nor should it be. Writing poetry prods us to say more in fewer words, and it’s a lot easier to say a lot than to distill experience, truth, and meaning into as few words as possible.
And significantly, Haiku tends to focus on the here and now, teaching us to be present for our writing and exemplifying how our creativity is always pinned to a specific moment in time.
Finally, Haiku teaches us that spiritual practice and artistic practice are intricately intertwined. The meditative quality of writing is the avenue through which we find inner solitude, stillness, and deep focus, which, in my opinion, are absolutely necessary for great insights.
By setting limits around our artistic pursuits, we actually create a context for creative possibilities, which is precisely the power of Haiku and poetry in general—the promise of an expansive and unlimited creativity through the distillation of experience and truth.
How do you expand the creative possibilities for your writing?
If you’ve enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it.
Share11 Responses to “The Lessons of Haiku in 350 Words or Less”
Comments
Read below or add a comment...
Trackbacks
-
[...] this limitation is fuel for creativity as much as other limitations have been in other areas (see here for one example I mentioned a while back in the Reading Room). And that’s pretty [...]
By not writing haiku in the 5-7-5 format. I’ve always believed that content dictates form which is why I’ve never written in any standard format like a sonnet. That doesn’t mean my poetry has no structure because it has but I always consider the shape of a poem after the words are down on the page.
Jim Murdoch´s last [type] ..The Pigeon
[Reply]
Ami Mattison Reply:
October 1st, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Jim, what I find interesting about your approach to writing poetry (“content dictates form”) is that it suggests you use content to limit the form rather than the other way around. And it seems precisely within that particular limitation that the poetic structure arises. But that’s just my perspective from my own experience of letting the poetic structure arise organically from the content–that process, to me, is an example of how creativity expands within limitations. Thanks for sharing!
[Reply]
Hi Ami–
What I really like about this post (and probably all of yours) is that so much of what you say is true of both poetry and living (which reminds me of one of the reasons that writing is so important). Yes, limits provide opportunities. They require creativity. While they can feel confining and restrictive initially, I find that if I surrender to them I almost always end up with something I never would have without them, and the something is good. Thank you for the reminders this morning.
Rita
Rita´s last [type] ..Not some Pollyanna feel good cheerleader- gratitude 92910
[Reply]
Ami Mattison Reply:
October 1st, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Thanks, Rita! When I was formulating the main point of this piece, I remembered a comment you made on an earlier blog article about how your students liked to muck around with their art with no real goals, schedules, or objectives (i.e. limits) and actually failed to produce very much.
Creativity is limitless, in my opinion. We, however, are not.
Life and living are like that too–limitless–and yet we have only so much time and energy here. It’s like, when we make-do with what we CAN do (within those limits), “surrender” to the limitations (as you said), and try to love ourselves and our efforts, then life just sort of opens up all glistening and throat-achingly beautiful. You know?
[Reply]
Rita Reply:
October 23rd, 2010 at 11:08 pm
Yeah, I know. (Didn’t see this until just today for some reason. Hope all is well. Or at least, enough is well.)
[Reply]
Never tried haiku
I thought it out of my reach
But you snuffed the fear.
hehehe. I’m not a poet, and I know it. But I still liked the post. I agree that creative boundaries and limitations can actually push artists of all stripes to produce valuable works, consider the sonnet/iambic pentameter that ‘limited’ Shakespeare and others, symphonic/classical music form/rules, various historic painting ‘rules’/styles, etc.
Ami´s last [type] ..My latest guest post – in defense of libraries
[Reply]
Ami Mattison Reply:
October 1st, 2010 at 5:57 pm
She’s a poet and doesn’t know it! I agree. History and culture are rich with examples of how rules/forms/styles/traditions, etc. have been the “limitations” through which some of the greatest art has been made. Thanks, Amy!
[Reply]
Ami Mattison Reply:
October 1st, 2010 at 5:59 pm
Ami, can you flippin’ believe I misspelled “OUR” name?! Oy. Long day!
[Reply]
Your usual very good post, Ami.
I recently tried my hand at gogyohka, which can also be a tanka. The former is, at its simplest, verse in 5 lines, with the third line functioning both as the end for the two lines preceding and the beginning for the two lines following.
Haiku has characteristics that most writers in English don’t achieve, simply because of the way English works. Still, I agree with you that trying to write in the form or any other is a disciplined practice that can benefit poetry writing.
Maureen´s last [type] ..Wednesday Wonder- Meet Cyborg Kevin Warwick
[Reply]
Ami Mattison Reply:
October 1st, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Thanks, Maureen! How was your experience with gogyohka? That’s one form (among many) I haven’t tried. I’ll admit that I’m not very practiced in using traditional poetic forms, but I’m constantly intrigued by how writing poetry (for me) is constantly figuring out what I can and can’t do with language. It’s like I’m always pushing up against limits and trying to figure out how to work within or around them, which for me is where creativity (and perhaps ingenuity) arises.
[Reply]