1

How to write a Tanka poem

The Tanka poem is very similar to haiku but Tanka poems have more
syllables and it uses simile, metaphor and personification.

There are five lines in a Tanka poem.

Line one - 5 syllables Beautiful mountains

Line two - 7 syllables Rivers with cold, cold water.
Line three - 5
White cold snow on rocks
syllables
Line four - 7 syllables Trees over the place with frost
Line five - 7 syllables White sparkly snow everywhere.

Tanka poems are written about nature, seasons, love, sadness and
other strong emotions. This form of poetry dates back almost 1300
years ago.

How to write a Tanka poem

The Tanka poem is very similar to haiku but Tanka poems have more
syllables and it uses simile, metaphor and personification.

There are five lines in a Tanka poem.

Line one - 5 syllables Beautiful mountains

Line two - 7 syllables Rivers with cold, cold water.
Line three - 5
White cold snow on rocks
syllables
Line four - 7 syllables Trees over the place with frost
Line five - 7 syllables White sparkly snow everywhere.
Tanka poems are written about nature, seasons, love, sadness and
other strong emotions. This form of poetry dates back almost 1300
years ago.
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Lesson Plan for Tanka Poems

Learning Objectives:

After completing this lesson, students will be able to:

- identify tanka as a five-line poem of 31 on in a line pattern of 5-7-5-7-7 that
examines an image and responds on a personal, emotional level
- analyze tanka to determine its structure and intent
- understand how a poem pivots from a poetic image to a linked emotional response
compose two haikus
- To use language carefully and for effect. To know what a simile, metaphor,
personification and hyperbole are and how to use them. Some students will also
be able to combine their knowledge of figures of speech and tanka poems

Procedure:

This lesson is intended to teach the students about the simple poetry form that is Tanka
Poetry. It will involve showing the students some Tanka Poetry, breaking down what a
Tanka Poem is, and then having the students write their own Tanka Poems.

- Explaining how a Tanka Poem works, where the first and third lines have five
syllables while the second, fourth, and fifth lines have seven syllables.
- Displaying some Tanka poems.
- Comparing them to Haiku poems to help ease the students into their usage.
- "Speaking" in tanka.
- Writing Tanka poems
- After the students have all written their poems, they will read them
Homework:
Students will write a Tanka poem with the title ‘The Last Page’
Plenary:
1. To revise the rules for writing tanka poem
 3

How to Write a Tanka Poem

Tanka, which means “short song,” has been an important literary form in Japanese
culture for nearly a thousand years. The original Japanese form of tanka had only
one line of poetry containing 31 speech sounds—what we would call syllables. However,
most tanka poems that are written in English today are broken into five poetic lines with a
certain number of syllables in each line.

The basic structure of a tanka poem is 5 – 7 – 5 – 7 – 7. In other words, there are 5

syllables in line 1, 7 syllables in line 2, 5 syllables in line 3, and 7 syllables in lines 4 and
5. If you have ever written a haiku, you will notice that tanka is kind of like a longer
version of haiku that gives you a little more room to tell a story. Here is one example of a
tanka poem:

Crash at two A.M.

I opened my bedroom door
A white cat ran by
Startled by the clanging fall
Of the treat jar’s metal lid

Looking at this example, you might have noticed that there is no end punctuation or
rhyming used in tanka.

If you read this example carefully, you might also see that there is something special
about the third line, “A white cat ran by.” This line is called the “pivot,” which means a
turning point. The pivot divides the tanka into two different sections, which are joined in
the middle in order to tell the whole story. The first section uses the pivot as the ending
line:

Crash at two A.M.

I opened my bedroom door
A white cat ran by

Notice that this is a complete image that tells us part of a story. If we only read these
three lines, we would still understand that the loud noise was somehow caused by a cat.
Now look at the last three lines of the tanka, with the pivot as the first line of a new
section:

A white cat ran by

Startled by the clanging fall
Of the treat jar’s metal lid

This is also a complete image, which gives us an idea of why the white cat is running
away.
 4

Now look at the tanka and see how the line “A white cat ran by” is used to connect the
two sections to create the full story, which begins with a loud noise in the middle of the
night and ends just a moment later with the explanation for the noise:

Crash at two A.M.

I opened my bedroom door
A white cat ran by
Startled by the clanging fall
Of the treat jar’s metal lid

You might also notice that this tanka contains detailed language that helps us imagine
what it felt like to be there in the story. For example, instead of saying “I woke up in the
middle of the night,” the poem starts with the words “Crash at two A.M.” The poem also
uses the word “clanging” to describe the noise, and “a white cat” gives us a more distinct
visual image than just the words “a cat.” Using words that paint a picture in the readers
imagination is called “imagery.”

Now that you know about the parts of a tanka poem, you can try your hand at writing
your own tanka.

First, think of a funny or interesting situation that happened to you (or someone you
know). Write down a few sentences that describe the situation: who was there, what
action was taken, and what resulted from that action. Make a list of powerful words that
will help the reader imagine the story, with details about what you saw, heard, and felt in
the situation. What you have written so far will be your notes that will help you write the
poem. Now, use this pattern to start forming your tanka:

5 syllables in line 1
7 syllables in line 2
5 syllables in line 3
7 syllables in line 4
7 syllables in line 5

You may want to speak the lines aloud, or even count on your fingers, in order to get just
the right number of syllables in each line.

Most people see it as a fun challenge to fit an interesting story into this pattern of
syllables. But what if you find it frustrating? You don’t have to give up on tanka just
because counting syllables isn’t your thing. In fact, some poets who write tanka in
English don’t even use the 5 – 7 – 5 – 7 – 7 format. Instead, they simply alternate the
lengths of the lines: short / long / short / long / long. If you decide to write your tanka this
way, be sure to use strong visual words and concrete details to bring your story to life,
and try to include a pivot line. Most importantly, have fun!

https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/
 5

Tanka Meet the haiku's more extreme cousin. Like haiku, tankas begin
with three unrhymed lines, the first being five syllables long, then
seven, then five. But where the haiku ends, tanka continues with two
more unrhymed lines of seven syllables each. This Japanese lyric poem
is well over 1200 years old (its more popular counterpart, haiku, is
around 300), and it often involves metaphors and other figurative
language.
Prepare students for this form of poetry by doing a quick overview on
syllables and then "speaking" in tanka. Have students sit in a circle.
The first person will start the conversation, but each line must fit a 5-7-
5-7-7 syllabic pattern. For example:

Student 1: Have you read tankas? (5)

 Student 2: No, I've never heard of them. (7)
Student 3: They're interesting. (5)
Student 4: It's fun to count syllables. (7)
Student 5: But only if you can count. (7)
Have students count with their fingers as they speak. You also may
want to write "5-7-5-7-7" on the board and point to each number to
help students keep track of how many syllables to use. When a student
uses too many or too few syllables, they are out, and the game
continues. Students will not only be speaking in tanka, they'll be
thinking it too. Writing should be no problem.
 
 6

Student 1: Have you read tankas? (5)

Student 2: No, I've never heard of them. (7)

Student 3: They're interesting. (5)

Student 4: It's fun to count syllables. (7)

Student 5: But only if you can count. (7)

 7

How to Write a Tanka Poem

Tanka, which means “short song,” has been an important literary form in Japanese
culture for nearly a thousand years. The original Japanese form of tanka had only
one line of poetry containing 31 speech sounds—what we would call syllables. However,
most tanka poems that are written in English today are broken into five poetic lines with a
certain number of syllables in each line.

The basic structure of a tanka poem is 5 – 7 – 5 – 7 – 7. In other words, there are 5

syllables in line 1, 7 syllables in line 2, 5 syllables in line 3, and 7 syllables in lines 4 and
5. If you have ever written a haiku, you will notice that tanka is kind of like a longer
version of haiku that gives you a little more room to tell a story. Here is one example of a
tanka poem:

Crash at two A.M.

I opened my bedroom door
A white cat ran by
Startled by the clanging fall
Of the treat jar’s metal lid

Looking at this example, you might have noticed that there is no end punctuation or
rhyming used in tanka.

If you read this example carefully, you might also see that there is something special
about the third line, “A white cat ran by.” This line is called the “pivot,” which means a
turning point. The pivot divides the tanka into two different sections, which are joined in
the middle in order to tell the whole story. The first section uses the pivot as the ending
line:

Crash at two A.M.

I opened my bedroom door
A white cat ran by

Notice that this is a complete image that tells us part of a story. If we only read these
three lines, we would still understand that the loud noise was somehow caused by a cat.
Now look at the last three lines of the tanka, with the pivot as the first line of a new
section:

A white cat ran by

Startled by the clanging fall
Of the treat jar’s metal lid
 8

This is also a complete image, which gives us an idea of why the white cat is running
away.

Now look at the tanka and see how the line “A white cat ran by” is used to connect the
two sections to create the full story, which begins with a loud noise in the middle of the
night and ends just a moment later with the explanation for the noise:

Crash at two A.M.

I opened my bedroom door
A white cat ran by
Startled by the clanging fall
Of the treat jar’s metal lid

You might also notice that this tanka contains detailed language that helps us imagine
what it felt like to be there in the story. For example, instead of saying “I woke up in the
middle of the night,” the poem starts with the words “Crash at two A.M.” The poem also
uses the word “clanging” to describe the noise, and “a white cat” gives us a more distinct
visual image than just the words “a cat.” Using words that paint a picture in the readers
imagination is called “imagery.”

Now that you know about the parts of a tanka poem, you can try your hand at writing
your own tanka.

First, think of a funny or interesting situation that happened to you (or someone you
know). Write down a few sentences that describe the situation: who was there, what
action was taken, and what resulted from that action. Make a list of powerful words that
will help the reader imagine the story, with details about what you saw, heard, and felt in
the situation. What you have written so far will be your notes that will help you write the
poem. Now, use this pattern to start forming your tanka:

5 syllables in line 1
7 syllables in line 2
5 syllables in line 3
7 syllables in line 4
7 syllables in line 5

You may want to speak the lines aloud, or even count on your fingers, in order to get just
the right number of syllables in each line.

Most people see it as a fun challenge to fit an interesting story into this pattern of
syllables. But what if you find it frustrating? You don’t have to give up on tanka just
because counting syllables isn’t your thing. In fact, some poets who write tanka in
English don’t even use the 5 – 7 – 5 – 7 – 7 format. Instead, they simply alternate the
lengths of the lines: short / long / short / long / long. If you decide to write your tanka this
way, be sure to use strong visual words and concrete details to bring your story to life,
and try to include a pivot line. Most importantly, have fun!
 9

https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/

TANKA
 10

Meet the haiku's more extreme cousin tanka, which means “short song,”. It
has been an important literary form in Japanese culture for over 1200 years.
The original Japanese form of tanka had only one line of poetry containing
31 syllables.
Like haiku, tankas begin with three unrhymed lines, the first being five
syllables long, then seven, then five.
But where the haiku ends, tanka continues with two more unrhymed lines of
seven syllables each. It often involves metaphors and other figurative
language.
"Speaking" in tanka. Have students sit in a circle. The first person will start
the conversation, but each line must fit a 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic pattern. For
example:
Student 1: Have you read tankas? (5)
 Student 2: No, I've never heard of them. (7)
Student 3: They're interesting. (5)
Student 4: It's fun to count syllables. (7)
Student 5: But only if you can count. (7)

Have students count with their fingers as they speak. You also may want to
write "5-7-5-7-7" on the board and point to each number to help students
keep track of how many syllables to use. When a student uses too many or
too few syllables, they are out, and the game continues. Students will not
only be speaking in tanka, they'll be thinking it too. Writing should be no
problem.

Here is one example of a tanka poem:

 11

Crash at two A.M.

I opened my bedroom door
A white cat ran by
Startled by the clanging fall
Of the treat jar’s metal lid

Looking at this example, you might have noticed that there is no end
punctuation or rhyming used in tanka.

You have noticed that tanka is kind of like a longer version of haiku
that gives you a little more room to tell a story.

If you read this example carefully, you might also see that there is something
special about the third line, “A white cat ran by.” This line is called the
“pivot,” which means a turning point. The pivot divides the tanka into
two different sections, which are joined in the middle in order to tell the
whole story. The first section uses the pivot as the ending line:

Crash at two A.M.

I opened my bedroom door
A white cat ran by

Notice that this is a complete image that tells us part of a story. If we only
read these three lines, we would still understand that the loud noise was
somehow caused by a cat. Now look at the last three lines of the tanka, with
the pivot as the first line of a new section:

A white cat ran by

Startled by the clanging fall
Of the treat jar’s metal lid

This is also a complete image, which gives us an idea of why the white cat is
running away.

Now look at the tanka and see how the line “A white cat ran by” is used to
connect the two sections to create the full story, which begins with a loud
noise in the middle of the night and ends just a moment later with the
explanation for the noise:

Crash at two A.M.

I opened my bedroom door
 12

A white cat ran by

Startled by the clanging fall
Of the treat jar’s metal lid

You might also notice that this tanka contains detailed language that
helps us imagine what it felt like to be there in the story. For example,
instead of saying “I woke up in the middle of the night,” the poem starts
with the words “Crash at two A.M.” The poem also uses the word
“clanging” to describe the noise, and “a white cat” gives us a more distinct
visual image than just the words “a cat.” Using words that paint a picture in
the readers imagination is called “imagery.”

Now that you know about the parts of a tanka poem, you can try your hand
at writing your own tanka.

First, think of a funny or interesting situation that happened to you (or

someone you know). Write down a few sentences that describe the situation:
who was there, what action was taken, and what resulted from that action.
Make a list of powerful words that will help the reader imagine the story,
with details about what you saw, heard, and felt in the situation. What you
have written so far will be your notes that will help you write the poem.
Now, use this pattern to start forming your tanka:

5 syllables in line 1
7 syllables in line 2
5 syllables in line 3
7 syllables in line 4
7 syllables in line 5

You may want to speak the lines aloud, or even count on your fingers, in
order to get just the right number of syllables in each line.

Write your tanka this way, be sure to use strong visual words and concrete
details to bring your story to life, and try to include a pivot line. Most
importantly, have fun!
13