Tips to enjoy writing　英語俳句を楽しむ為に


One of the goals of haiku poetry is to be concise. Brevity is, in fact, often more important than grammar.

There are a lot of words in the English language that serve mostly grammatical functions. Not every English speaker would be able to explain what they mean, but they would all surely agree that a sentence just wouldn’t sound right without them.

The thing about haiku, contrary to what many early adopters of the form believed, is that they aren’t sentences. They don’t, strictly speaking, have to adhere to any kind of grammar at all. In addition, while those grammatical function words tend to clarify one’s meaning and lead to more precise utterances, haiku also don’t concern themselves very much with precision. Vagueness and incompleteness actually lead to a more profound impact on the reader. If the relationships between the images presented are left unclear, the union between those images is strengthened by many possible relationships all coming into play at once.

Here is a sampling of nine “function words” chosen from the group of around 300 such words that English uses:

of, at, in, the, a, and, that, when, while

Here is a challenge for you as you write your haiku: use the above words (and words like them) as little as possible!

I will conclude with the following two English translations of a Japanese haiku. How many function words does each one use, and what is the effect of those words on the flow of the poems?


夜桜の花弁ひとひら三日月や

a petal at night
above the cherry blossoms
a crescent moon

cherry petal
under the night sky
crescent moon


When used sparingly, and in the right locations, function words can have a beneficial effect on the flow and rhythm of a poem.


– Chay Schiller