Poetry Monday: Frog Haiku
Before we get into our poetry, a special announcement:
You may want to save a toilet paper roll or two for our Fine Arts Friday this week!
Ok, now that’s settled, let’s get started!
When you imagine the sounds of summer, what do you hear?
For many of us, summer wouldn’t sound like summer without the ribbiting rhythm of frogs!
Frogs have been inspiring people for years! In fact, a frog inspired one of the most famous haikus, which was written by Japanese poet Matsuo Basho in the 1600s!
Let’s check it out!
ふるいけや
かわずとびこむ
みずのおと
Well, what do you think? Is it a good poem?
(Just kidding. We know you probably can’t read Japanese.)
Let’s try again, with one of the many translations of Basho’s famous haiku. This translation is by William J. Higginson.
old pond . . .
a frog leaps in
water’s sound
If you know anything about haiku, you are probably wondering why this doesn’t follow the syllable rule. In English, haiku follow this pattern:
Line 1: 5 syllables
Line 2: 7 syllables
Line 3: 5 syllables
While the English translation doesn’t follow those rules, the original Japanese version follows the Japanese rule, which replaces syllables with something called “mora,” or sound units, which we don’t have in English! If you tried to read the Japanese version, it would sound like this:
Furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto
If you count the syllables, you’ll see that it follows the haiku syllable pattern.
There is more to haiku than just syllables, though! In fact, the most important part of haiku is that it tries to pack a lot of meaning and imagery into such a little space.
A traditional haiku attempts to use strong imagery to describe a moment in time and ends with some sort of illumination or discovery.
Let’s look at another translation by Allen Ginsberg:
The old pond
A frog jumped in,
Kerplunk!
When you read this poem, consider these questions.
What do you see?
What do you feel?
What do you hear?