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Also written by: magpie_270
MYSTERY ISLAND- You decide to take your Neopet on vacation. Your pet really
really wants to go to Mystery Island; I mean, ever since the big plot with the
volcano and Fire Faerie, your pet has really wanted to go. So you decide to
go to Mystery Island, but just for the day. So you and your Neopet are strolling
around, visiting the training school and the volcano, saying hi to Jhuidah and
the Tiki Tack Man. Then your Neopet decides to finish up the trip with a visit
the Haiku Generator. You say sure and the Haiku Keeper gives you and your pet
a strange poem that keeps you both confused for the ride home. Your Neopet really
wants to know what the poem meant… but you have no answer. Deep inside you’re
wondering… what is a haiku??
Well, worry no longer, after reading this article you will be a haiku expert.
When ever your Neofriends need haiku help, you will able to help them.
What is a Haiku?
First, in order to understand what a haiku means, you have to understand what
a haiku is. Basically, a haiku is a really short poem. It is what poets like
to call an open form poem, or a poem that does not rhyme. Haiku’s have a total
of 17 syllables. The first line has five syllables, the second line has seven
syllables, and the final line has five syllables as well.
Just in case you are unfamiliar with the word syllable, let me explain. A syllable
is a part of a word that is separated from the rest in order to be articulated
by a single impulse of the voice. For instance the word dictionary can be split
up into four syllables: dic-tion-ar-y. Syllables are kind of like when you are
trying to pronounce something, in order to pronounce a word, you have to split
it up into its syllables first.
Now, back to the subject. Like I said earlier, haiku’s have a total of 17 syllables.
The first line has five syllables, the second line has seven syllables, and
the final line has five syllables as well. This is just the way that all haiku’s
are written. Professional poets have a lot more rules when writing haiku’s,
but we will just pretend that I never told you that.
What are Haiku’s all about?
Another part of know what a haiku is, is knowing where they came from. Haiku’s
first started being popular in Japan during the sixteenth century. Now Haiku’s
are being written all over the world.
Haiku’s were first written to talk about nature colors, and surprises; nothing
to complicated for anyone to understand. Haiku’s were meant to bring back good
memories, but they were also mean to show nature. Today when people want to
remember something they look back at pictures, back in the sixteenth century
they looked at Haiku’s.
It is also important to note that haiku’s don’t like to talk about hard to
understand subjects. When haiku’s were first written they were meant to be easy,
clear, and short. The three lines in a haiku are meant to be understandable
to the reader; haiku’s never deal with difficult subjects. The news and newspapers
deal with hard issues, haiku’s deal with nature, beauty, and earthy things.
Now that you know what a haiku is and where it came from, lets look at some
haiku’s and try to figure out what they mean.
Night, and the moon!
My neighbor, playing on his flute -
out of tune!
This one is a pretty simple haiku. Like I said earlier, most haiku’s will be
easy to understand because they are not supposed to deal with hard subjects.
“Night and the moon” implies that this poem is taking place at night, probably
after midnight because the moon is mentioned. The haiku next tells us that this
person is playing the flute out of tune. This neighbor must be playing the flute
at night, because the first verse sets up the scene as if it was night time.
Not that complicated. The neighbor of the person who is playing the flute must
be annoyed that a flute is being played at night, which would be why the haiku
was written.
One thing that will be noticeable in the next few haiku’s is the subject. The
subject of our last haiku was the person playing the flute. The next few haiku’s
have the subject on the first line. This is just how the poet wrote the haiku;
it is not really a pattern between all haiku’s. Our next haiku is much like
the last haiku we looked at.
Clouds appear
and bring to men a chance to rest
from looking at the moon.
Again, this haiku is pretty simple. Why am I showing you easy haiku’s? Because
practice makes perfect; if I show you easy ones first, then the hard ones will
be cake (easy). Anyway, back to the point.
This haiku starts out describing the scene; clouds are appearing in the sky.
The next line tells us that some men have been looking up in the sky, but now
the clouds are blocking their view. These first two lines make it pretty easy
to see what is happening, but we still have no idea about what time it is. The
third line helps us answer the riddle. Now we know, from reading the last line,
that these men have been watching the moon, but now the clouds are blocking
their view. The moon implies that this haiku is taking place at night. Like
I said, once you get the hang of it, reading poems are easy as cake.
Here are some practice haiku’s for you. I am not going to explain them, I am
just putting them here as some more examples of easy haiku’s. Feel free to analyze
them and pick them apart until you feel that you are entirely capable to move
on to harder haiku’s. If you are having problems understanding these, then go
back up to the one’s that we previously did and go over them again.
A whale!
Down it goes, and more and more
up goes its tail!
In my old home
which I forsook, the cherries
are in bloom.
Right at my feet -
and when did you get here,
snail?
How to write your own Haiku:
Hope that you had fun reading those. Haiku’s are pretty easy once you really
read into them and pick them apart. You might now even bring your pet out to
Mystery Island and try one of the Haiku Keeper’s haiku’s. Analyzing poetry is
a lot of fun, once you get the hang of it.
If you are thinking about writing your own haiku’s, here are some things to
think about:
1) Make sure that your haiku is in normal format. This means that your haiku
should be three lines and the syllable pattern should be 5, 7, 5, (and make
sure the syllables add up to 17). Some of the poems above might have not been
dome in the right format. You can be the judge now of whether the author of
those haiku’s should be fired or not.
2) What is the point of your haiku? Try to put the subject in the first line.
It is not entirely necessary, but it will make you haiku easier to read. Some
of the haiku’s above have the subject in the first line, and they tend to make
more sense. Just think about how you want your haiku to flow.
3) Make sure that the topic of your haiku is not something hard. Back at the
beginning of this article I mentioned what haiku’s are normally written about.
Re-look at the “What are Haiku’s about” section of this article if you can’t
remember exactly.
4) Last, but not least, make your haiku a one-of-a-kind. Make a fun theme for
your haiku. If you are having problems coming up with ideas, just take a look
out your window. Since all haiku’s are written off of nature, go to an earthy
spot (like a park) and look around. Whether you live in the city, or a country
town, you will always be able to find a spot that shows nature. If you are really
having problems, feel free to Neomail me; I would love to help you write a haiku.
Well, I hope that this article has helped you understand the art of understanding
and writing haiku’s. Whether you like writing poetry or just reading it, haiku’s
are for everyone. If you have any further questions about haiku’s look around
at different poetry websites; there are a lot of sites on the web that are dedicated
to helping people write poetry. Or you can just Neomail me, pippin_fan15, with
whatever questions you might have. Thank you for reading my article and I wish
you happy reading and writing.
About the author: When she is not reading or writing poems, she is playing
with her hermit crab, Kirby. She appreciates all comments, opinions, and constructive
criticisms.
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