The document provides information about haiku, including its traditional characteristics and examples. It discusses how haiku focus on a brief seasonal moment, are written in the present tense, contain a pause in the first or second line with a seasonal reference, and depict evocative images through 5-7-5 syllables. Two example haiku are presented, one by Basho about hail falling on a pine tree, and another criticized for its lack of structure and focus on the poet rather than nature.

1. Haiku

2. What do you already know about haiku? During class I inked student responses on this slide

3. Characteristics of Traditional Japanese Haiku Focus on a brief seasonal moment Written in present tense Pause at the end of 1 st or 2 nd line and a seasonal word- kigo Contain evocative, colorful images 5-7-5 syllable count

4. The hail falls pitter pat And fiercely rattles down upon The brave old pine tree Basho

5. Explanatory Slide: Not Included in Original Powerpoint Students read the haiku on the previous page and discussed the following questions: What words help you know that the poem is about a particular season? What words suggest that the poem is about nature? How many syllables do these poems have? Noted that the poem does not follow 5-7-5 pattern likely b/c of translation

6. The cherry blossoms Cover the ground Like the heads of my enemies From The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/

7. Explanatory Slide: Not Included in Original Powerpoint Students had read the text The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn by Dorothy and Thomas Hobbler, which included the poem on the previous slide. In the novel, the poem is written by an obtuse character and is cited by the protagonist as an example of bad haiku. We discussed why this was so. Students noted the lack of traditional structure and the focus of the poet on himself and his conquests rather than nature.

8. But I don’t know how to start! Photo Credit- http://www.flickr.com/photos/alasam

9. Ask yourself… What season is being depicted? What is happening the moment the photo is taken? What colors and textures appear in the photo?