Metrical Haiku

Rationale

 

“Haiku is math; Hexameters and Elegiacs are advanced math.” DK Money

In this workshop we departed from the norm of starting with Hexameters and Elegiac Couplets. Instead we began by tackling Hendecasyllables and the Metrical Haiku. Both have the advantage of being inflexible – not too many metrical choices to be made. For the Metrical Haiku, we followed the pattern developed by Stephen Coombs: the addition of syllable weight to the basic formula of a 5-7-5 syllable three-line poem. The form is undaunting, yet each line offers practice in useful patterns for classical meters.