HAIKU by Matsuo Basho

Looking closely I see Yoku mireba

a nazuna blooming Nazuna hana saku
under the hedge! Kakine kana.

Flower in the crannied wall by Alfred Lord, Tennyson

Flower in the crannied wall,

I pluck you out of the crannies:
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower - but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.
HAIKU
- A short, unrhymed Japanese poem consisting of 17 syllables (5-
7-5)
- A Japanese poetry form.

Qualities of Haiku:
1. Haiku depend on imagery.
2. Haiku are condensed; the poet leaves out all unnecessary words.
3. Haiku are concerned with emotions; nature is used to reflect
these emotions.
4. Haiku rely heavily on the power of suggestion or connotation.

Matsuo Basho

- Born: 1644, Ueno, Iga province, Japan.

- Died: Nov. 28, 1694, Osaka, Japan
- Considered the greatest of the Japanese haiku poets; has been
called the Shakespeare of Japanese haiku verse because of his
contributions to the development of the form.
- As a boy, he played and studied with the son of his feudal lord in
Kyoto.
- Before he began to compose haikai, he was in the service of a
local samurai, Todo Shinshichiro, but it is not clear whether he
himself was a samurai.
- With his subdued, elegant verse, raised the haiku to the level of
true literature.
- According to Basho:
You should put into words
The light in which you see something
Before it vanishes from your mind.
 Alfred Lord, Tennyson

- born August 6th, 1809, at Somersby, Lincolnshire

- Tennyson excelled at penning short lyrics, such as "Break, Break,
Break", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "Tears, Idle Tears" and
"Crossing the Bar".
- Much of his verse was based on classical mythological themes,
such as Ulysses, although In Memoriam A.H.H. was written to
commemorate his best friend Arthur Hallam, a fellow poet and
fellow student at Trinity College, Cambridge
- The success of his 1842 Poems made Tennyson a popular poet,
and in 1845 he received a Civil List (government) pension of 200
a year, which helped relieve his financial difficulties.
- his appointment in 1850 as Poet Laureate finally established him
as the most popular poet of the Victorian era.
- died on October 6, 1892, at the age of 83.