No, don't worry, I'm not composing these myself. I have a book from a work colleague that has not yet gone to press, and thought I would share a basbeall haiku a day until I have to leave for Oregon. I could keep on going after that of course, but I want you all to at least know I'm gone, after all, whether you care or not!
Anyway, according to this book the earliest known baseball haiku is by the fourth "great master", Masaoka Shiki, written in 1890, when he was 23, and apparently quite the player. Here it is:
Spring breeze
this grassy field makes me
want to play catch
Not perhaps the best one to start things off with, except that it was the first baseball haiku ever written!
Subsequent posts will not include much detail beyond the haiku themselves. Unless I feel like it.
Baseball Haiku
Baseball Haiku
Rule Britannia!
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Baseball=Life
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Blancito21
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Baseball=Life
- Baseball Deity
- Posts: 1031
- Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2005 11:16 pm
- Location: SF, CA
-
Blancito21
- Perennial All-Star
- Posts: 204
- Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2006 11:57 pm
- Location: Berkeley
All the haiku are "correct", inasmuch as poetry cannot be "incorrect".
OK, here's the short version, for those who can't be bothered to use Wikipedia.
In Japanese, yes, there are quite well-respected rules, such as the 5-7-5 sequence, or at the very least, a total of 17 syllables. There are certain quirks to the language that makes that exact combination of syllables very beautiful, and easy to remember, but those quirks are not present in English. (Or American, hehe!)
But, in English you can say a lot more in 17 syllables than you can in Japanese. So the American writers quickly stopped using that many, as the haiku had too much in them. They had lost the beauty of their brevity. Then there was no consensus about how many syllables it should be, if not 17.
Usually it's 11-13.
OK, here's the short version, for those who can't be bothered to use Wikipedia.
In Japanese, yes, there are quite well-respected rules, such as the 5-7-5 sequence, or at the very least, a total of 17 syllables. There are certain quirks to the language that makes that exact combination of syllables very beautiful, and easy to remember, but those quirks are not present in English. (Or American, hehe!)
But, in English you can say a lot more in 17 syllables than you can in Japanese. So the American writers quickly stopped using that many, as the haiku had too much in them. They had lost the beauty of their brevity. Then there was no consensus about how many syllables it should be, if not 17.
Usually it's 11-13.
Last edited by tallguy on Thu Feb 01, 2007 1:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Rule Britannia!
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Blancito21
- Perennial All-Star
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- Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2006 11:57 pm
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Only an Oxford man...tallguy wrote:All the haiku are "correct", inasmuch as poetry cannot be "incorrect".
OK, here's the short version, for those who can't be bothered to use Wikipedia.
In Japanese, yes, there are quite well-respected rules, such as the 5-7-5 sequence, or at the very least, a total of 17 syllables. There are certain quirks to the language that makes that exact combination of syllables very beautiful, and easy to remember, but those quirks are not present in English. (Or American, hehe!)
But, in English you can say a lot more in 17 syllables than you can in Japanese. So the American writers quickly stopped using that many, as the haiku had too much in them. They had lost the beauty of their brevity. Then there was no consensus about how many syllables it should be, if not 17.
Usually it's 11-13.
Mr. Mcgee don't make me angry...you wouldn't like me when I'm angry!!!