Waka: Poetic Forms
Poetic Form Fridays are made to share various poetic forms. This week, we look at the waka, a Japanese 5-liner.
Poetic Form Fridays are made to share various poetic forms. This week, we look at the waka, a Japanese 5-liner.
Waka Poems
The waka is a Japanese 5-line poem (or stanza) that is often considered synonymous with the tanka, because both have a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable per line structure. However, the waka groups its lines together in a particular way. The first 2 lines should make up one piece, the next 2 lines should make the next, and then, the final line can stand on its own--or as part of the second group.
It's possible to end stop after line 2, 4, and 5. But other forms of punctuation can do the trick as well.
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This e-book covers more than 40 poetic forms and shares examples to illustrate how each form works. Discover a new universe of poetic possibilities and apply it to your poetry today!
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Here’s my attempt at a waka:
after, by Robert Lee Brewer
midnight stalks the grounds
of your partly eclipsed heart,
beating the sunshine
across this sad calendar--
remembering past cycles...
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
