tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653661529565335527.post1190187029102032240..comments2023-12-29T21:03:17.119-08:00Comments on Shaping Words: Finding Room to GrowJim714http://www.blogger.com/profile/06135451195351824085noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653661529565335527.post-15282563250848123182016-05-05T15:19:13.488-07:002016-05-05T15:19:13.488-07:00Thanks, Priscilla, for your comment. Your own Hud...Thanks, Priscilla, for your comment. Your own Hudson Valley Haiku Kai is, I think, an early example of this need to create an environment that nourishes a syllabic approach. I sense a hesitancy for syllabic haijin to make a clean break with official haiku. I think the hope is that official haiku will, at some point, see the validity of a syllabic approach. But I've come to see that as highly unlikely. So my suggestion is that syllabic haiku just let free verse haiku go and not try to change it. Instead, we should walk further down the path we have trod. Thanks again.<br />Jim714https://www.blogger.com/profile/06135451195351824085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653661529565335527.post-73111921978249079332016-04-28T21:16:36.229-07:002016-04-28T21:16:36.229-07:00Thank you for another thoughtful and excellent art...Thank you for another thoughtful and excellent article. You have defined the problem with great care and stunning clarity. I absolutely love the metaphors you use. Formal haiku will remain malnourished in an environment that is not suitable for it and that makes little room for it. I look forward to the emergence of more suitable environments where it can receive the proper nourishment, as well as the appreciation it deserves. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15831364083495417122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653661529565335527.post-58473773871275463332016-04-27T12:10:44.477-07:002016-04-27T12:10:44.477-07:00Greetings:
I have a different perspective. My vi...Greetings:<br /><br />I have a different perspective. My view is that Japanese is just an ordinary language, nothing special, and that it is simple to compare the Japanese syllable to the English syllable. <br /><br />From my perspective it is not a matter of matching the exact, and highly speculative, exact duration of the Japanese. Rather it is the relative duration within each linguistic region. 17 Japanese syllables is to Japanese as 17 syllables in English is to English, as 17 German syllables is to German, etc. Japanese is not a durational yardstick that we need to match. (BTW, the idea that Japanese syllables are extremely short is highly exaggerated; they are about the same duration as Italian or Spanish.) Looked at in this way, the 5-7-5 shape in English does, actually, match the 5-7-5 shape in Japanese. <br /><br />I have written extensively on this issue here at my blog. To access what I have written you can click on the series 'Unexceptional', which is on the right, along with other categories, and all my posts on this will come up.<br /><br />Thanks for taking the time to respond.<br /><br />Best wishes,<br /><br />JimJim714https://www.blogger.com/profile/06135451195351824085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6653661529565335527.post-89564716554236042312016-04-27T11:04:12.975-07:002016-04-27T11:04:12.975-07:00"Formal Haiku" as describe is 5-7-5 in J..."Formal Haiku" as describe is 5-7-5 in Japanese. The equivalent in English would be something close to 3-5-3. However, this misses the point since the natural meter of Japanese is not necessarily the natural meter of English. Maybe the shape of a haiku is short/long/ short with about 11-14 syllables (if you are counting for the sake of meter).<br /><br />Elaine Andrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10425315982671885741noreply@blogger.com