Lessons from the Fen

[Seraphim]

not sure haiku needs iambs in order to work well, but if you want them that's okay as well.

It's not about there 'needing' to be iambs, It's not something I even consciously think about anymore. But the English language uses it's non-content words to maintain the flow, and help establish the [natural speaking] rhythm of the line. The patterns and 'rules' are so ingrained in us we don't think of it, but it sounds stilted if we don't use them.

There's also the establishment of one's voice. It takes a long time to develop and it must be one the writer likes.

Actually the whole idea of transposing the Japanese form to English was an exercise in futility. The Japanese pattern is derived from kanji, and each pictogram may have varying syllables in it's pronunciation. A better analogy in English would be a pattern of words, not syllables: 5 words - 7 words - 5 words, so line length would be indeterminate. But, since the English language is accentual-syllabic, that's the standard to which they reverted making the transposition. So if our basis for line length is going to be syllabic, might as well adhere to the conventions of prosody, imo. Our haiku will never be Japanese...

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revision above