Haiku in the West is frequently misunderstood, largely because of the way it is taught in schools.
A common belief is that a haiku is a three-line poem where the three lines have five, seven, and five syllables respectively.
One problem is that this is not a hard-and-fast rule – in fact, it would make a haiku written in English too long.
The other problem is that few people are aware of two other aspects of traditional haiku that are more important than the syllable count.
This brief Haiku Primer aims to put these misconceptions and omissions right. (It’s also a great way to dip your toes in the haiku waters before going through my full 15-module Haiku For Beginners course.)
Haiku Primer is currently available, for free, on:
- Gumroad (as a PDF)