美国国家公共电台 NPR Poetry Month: What Makes A Haiku A Haiku?

Poetry Month: What Makes A Haiku A Haiku?

SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:

It's April 1, a day of celebrations - April Fools' Day, Easter Sunday and the first day of Poetry Month. Twitter is now officially open to your submissions¹ to hashtag #nprpoetry. Every year, we get many creative original poems sent to us in under 140 characters. And yes, we know Twitter now allows more characters, but we're still asking you to keep it to 140, if you would, please. Because of that particular requirement, many of the poems we get are haiku. That is a traditional Japanese form of poetry that's based on a five-seven-five syllable² structure - or is it?

We should say this is not an April Fools' joke. This is a real discussion about poetry. I hit the streets of Washington, D.C., this week to find out more about what makes a haiku a haiku. I was joined by Abigail Friedman, a former American diplomat³ to Japan and one of the judges of the Golden Haiku competition. For the past five years, the Golden Triangle neighborhood in Washington, D.C., has asked for haiku submissions. And the winners are printed on yard signs and scattered⁴ around the neighborhood.

You want to read this first one?

ABIGAIL FRIEDMAN: Yeah, I do. The haiku is by Garry Eaton. It won second place. And the haiku reads - (reading) a basketball spins on the edge of the hoop⁵, spring equinox.

MCCAMMON: Nice one, Garry, but a basketball spins on the edge - that's not five syllables⁶.

FRIEDMAN: I will never say to someone that's not a haiku because if people are so wrapped up in pinning down definitions, they're not wrapped up in the desire to write poetry.

MATT LEVITAS: You know, if you ask anybody on the street, you'll be told it's five-seven-five. And certainly, that's true. But that's one of probably a dozen tools in the haiku writer's kit⁷.

MCCAMMON: That's Matt Levitas from the Japan Information and Cultural Center.

LEVITAS: Just say that the syllable count is the only defining feature, and to say that something is not a haiku based on the number of syllables is really missing the forest for the trees.

MCCAMMON: Which is not to say that five-seven-five comes out of nowhere, it's just a bit lost in translation.

FRIEDMAN: Five-seven-five, in Japan, they're sounds. It's a natural rhythm. It's not a natural rhythm in English, so I can see how people would have taken that and come to the U.S. and said, oh, well, those five-seven-five sounds, they're like our syllables. So let's do that. I also think that, in schools, it was a useful vehicle for teachers in elementary school to teach people how to count syllables. I think a lot of teachers today are starting to see that there is a far more important thing to teach children, which is how to get comfortable writing poetry.

MCCAMMON: And Friedman says there are other equally important haiku rules in Japan that haven't made it into the books over here. like the cut word.

FRIEDMAN: It's a cut. It's a break in the flow. And then the third piece is a season word.

MCCAMMON: You're talking seasons like summer, spring, fall?

FRIEDMAN: And the new year. There are five seasons. In Japan, a season word is a very specific thing. It has to be part of the season encyclopedia⁸, to kind of (unintelligible). If your word is not in there, then it's not a season word. But that whole concept of it having to be in the encyclopedia to make it a season word is also alien to the Western culture because we don't have these encyclopedia. So the idea of picking that five-seven-five piece and saying that's what defines it is not apt.

MCCAMMON: If thinking about those rules for haiku helps you get your ideas flowing, Friedman says that's great. But she says the most-important rule for haiku poets is just to go for it, which is what Matt Levitas did when a couple of helicopters flew over D.C. and interrupted our taping.

You're writing a haiku about the helicopters?

LEVITAS: Yeah, I was just thinking how one would treat that. Two choppers pass, we wait for a third.

MCCAMMON: And you really can write a haiku about pretty much anything.

LEVITAS: What do you think of writing a haiku about a cement mixer?

FRIEDMAN: There are haiku about cement mixers (laughter).

MCCAMMON: If you'd like to send us a haiku or any other form of poem, tweet us @npratc using the hashtag #nprpoetry, and you just might hear your poem on the air.

1 submissions   

n.提交( submission的名词复数 )；屈从；归顺；向法官或陪审团提出的意见或论据

参考例句：

• The deadline for submissions to the competition will be Easter 1994. 递交参赛申请的截止时间为1994年的复活节。 来自辞典例句
• Section 556(d) allows the agency to substitute written submissions for oral direct testimony in rulemaking. 第五百五十六条第（四）款准允行政机关在规则制定中用书面提交材料替代口头的直接证言。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

2 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

3 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

4 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

5 hoop   

n.（篮球）篮圈，篮

参考例句：

• The child was rolling a hoop.那个孩子在滚铁环。
• The wooden tub is fitted with the iron hoop.木盆都用铁箍箍紧。

6 syllables   

n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a word with two syllables 双音节单词
• 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓，它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

7 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

8 encyclopedia   

n.百科全书

参考例句：

• The encyclopedia fell to the floor with a thud.那本百科全书砰的一声掉到地上。
• Geoff is a walking encyclopedia.He knows about everything.杰夫是个活百科全书，他什么都懂。