He would often focus on the trivial details of sick-room life, and in this haiku, his sadness and fatigue are almost palpable. Suffering tuberculosis for much of his life, his poetry was an outlet for his isolation. The last of the Four Great Masters of haiku, Masaoka Shiki had a very direct writing style. In “O snail”, he gently reminds the determined snail that while there are important things to do in life (like climbing mountains), there’s more to life than speed! The mountain isn’t going to go anywhere, is it? 13. “O snail” by Kobayashi IssaĪside from his pessimistic worldview, Issa was also renowned for shining a spotlight on smaller, less-than-glamorous creatures like grasshoppers, bugs, and sparrows. Using clay as a metaphor, Shankar reminds us that we have this one chance to shape our life - to either waste it away or be of use. While many haiku have focused on the brevity of life, this entry from Ravi Shankar (no relation to the sitar player) takes a slightly darker approach. If someone whispered this to you, wouldn’t you feel love, too? 11. The poet draws similarities between the nature of their love and that of ‘speech’ and ‘breath’ - natural and unforced. This particular haiku has many interpretations - with many assuming this to be Kerouac’s take on religion and God. Yep, the iconoclastic author behind On the Road also wrote haikus! As one of the Beat Generation’s leading figures, he was part of a movement that produced some of the 20th century’s influential poems. By likening the two, the poet highlights the fleeting nature of life - be it the people we encounter every day or the wilting petals. The first image entirely comprises humans (faces in the crowd), while the second only shows nature (petals). “In a Station of the Metro” by Ezra PoundĪll imagery with zero verbs, Ezra Pound delicately captures a still moment in time. Penned in English, poet Steve Sanfield’s only haiku is a quiet reminder of our mortality, inviting us to consider what may be important to us before it’s too late. “In the moonlight” by Yosa Busonīuson invites the reader to share in his nostalgia with elements from nature such as ‘pale moonlight’ and the ‘wisteria’s scent’ triggering the our visual and olfactory senses - the fact that the scent is coming from far away adds a transportive element to the poem, asking us to imagine the unseen beauty of this tree. However, the reward of his perseverance is something undeniably beautiful. Neither are linear or smooth, and both demand constant work and perseverance. In this piece, Katsushika Hokusai draws similarities between life and his writing - both processes of repetitive creation and destruction. This particularly emotionally stirring haiku was written a month after the passing of Issa’s daughter. From this humble background emerged beautiful poetry that expressed empathy for the less fortunate, capturing daily hardships faced by common people. The third master of Japanese haiku, Kobayashi Issa, grew up in poverty. So what? Appropriately, this poem suggests that nothing means anything at all - in a pepper’s exile from a salad bowl, in the rules of a poem, or even (dare we say) life. Eagle-eyed readers will notice that the syllable count doesn’t fall into the 5-7-5 pattern, and the lines are off-balance, too. “Haiku Ambulance” by Richard Brautiganįor an example of a haiku that doesn’t adhere to traditional conventions, look no further than Richard Brautigan’s cheeky “Haiku Ambulance”. In this haiku, his image of a single lit candle against the twilight artfully depicts how one candle can light another without being diminished - until you have a star-filled sky. “The light of a candle” by Yosa BusonĪnother of haiku’s Great Masters, Yosa Buson is known for bringing in a certain sensuality to his poems (perhaps owing to his training as a painter).

One interpretation is that by metaphorically using the ‘pond’ to symbolize the mind, Bashō brings to light the impact of external stimuli (embodied by the frog, a traditional subject of Japanese poetry) on the human mind. “The Old Pond”, arguably his most famous piece, stays true to his style of couching observations of human nature within natural imagery. One of the four great masters of Japanese haiku, Matsuo Bashō is known for his simplistic yet thought-provoking haikus.

Here are 40 Haiku poems that ought to leave you in wonder. They often take inspiration from nature and capture brief moments in time via effective imagery. Haiku is a form of traditional Japanese poetry, renowned for its simple yet hard-hitting style. 40 Haiku Poems Examples Everyone Should Know About

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