Mathematics across the curriculum: Poetry and the haiku John Gough Deakin University (retired) <[email protected]> “Today’s language lesson is about a special kind A haiku is like a captivating photo of something of poem: the haiku.”1 And so the lesson begins— in nature. A traditional haiku has at least two easy, familiar, predictable. No calculations, geo- parts, often contrasting. It also mentions or metric diagrams or metric measurements. Not a suggests a season of the year. (Leaves colouring mathematical thought in anyone’s head—which or falling, for example, suggest autumn; daf- is hardly surprising. fodils indicate spring.) It exemplifies the mystical But wait a minute: what about these math- paradoxes of Zen Buddhism but these spiritual ematical demands and opportunities in a poetry ideas go beyond the scope of this discussion. lesson on haiku? Number of lines, counting Haiku seem simple. But which of the following syllables, defining syllables, Japan, seasons, gram- is a haiku? matical cohesion, meaningful focus… A. Midday cicadas Counting a mere three lines is, literally, child’s Like a thousand alarm clocks play. Any student who can learn to write haiku Waking the babies. will have automated counting lines “one, two, three”and syllable counting up to seven. Such B. The afternoon traffic counting is mathematical, but I will ignore it. Is roaring like a waterfall’s However, there is more. Distant drumming. Syllables can be slippery. How many syllables C. Midday cockatoos in that last sentence? It depends how you say the Screeching conversations words. For example, syll-a-bles can be slipp-er-y Almost sound sensible. (that is eight); or do you say, “slip-ry”? (Count- D. The orchard petals ing syllables in English is not exactly the same as Scattering in gusty wind counting ‘sounds’ in Japanese. But the difference Bright as autumn leaves. is subtle and technical—beyond the scope of this discussion.) Counting syllables in words and Also, to understand what is and what is not sentences is not mathematically challenging, but a haiku, it helps to distinguish haiku from not- good linguistic practice for haiku writing. quite-haiku, such as: Although brief, a haiku is like a meditation on • Senryū: This is another Japanese poetry or observation of an experience, conveyed direct- form with a haiku’s line-syllable structure ly through objective images or sensory feelings but focussing on human oddities while with no personal judgment or analysis. If you see haiku tend to be about nature: senryū are something that makes you want to say to others, often cynical, or wryly humorous, while “Wow!” or, “Look at that,” or, “That’s striking or haiku are seriously thoughtful. Senryū do puzzling,” it may be a suitable topic for a haiku. not include a kireji (a cutting word separat- ing the two ideas of the haiku-type poem) or 1. A haiku is a short Japanese form of poetry, of three lines, with five syllables in the first, seven in the second, and five in a kigo, or season-reference. the last. Like sheep and fish, the plural of haiku is haiku. 38 APMC 19 (2) 2014 Mathematics across the curriculum: Poetry and the haiku • Tanka: This is another Japanese Zen-medita- No fractions in sight. tive form consisting of five units (or separate No geometry or maps. lines), usually with the following pattern of No mathematics! syllables: 5–7–5–7–7. But wait a minute: • Double-haiku: This is a Western hybrid We are counting syllables created by J. D. Salinger (author of The And numbers of lines. Catcher in the Rye), used by his fictional character Seymour Glass. A double-haiku The hint of season has a line-syllable pattern of 5–7–5–5–7–5 The Japanese origin and scope for more substantial statements. Mathematical! Simply shaping (or reshaping) our prose into It should be impossible to teach a lesson on the 5–7–5 syllable-counted pattern begins a haiku, at almost any age-level, without men- kind of mathematical—and literary—thinking. tioning something about seasons, Japan, Zen Sometimes squeezing an entire story into a haiku Buddhism and famous Japanese haiku poets is a problem (cue: problem solving). David Bader (for example, Matsuo Basho (1644–1694) and (2005) does this, amusingly, for The Odyssey: Kobayashi Issa (1763–1827). Considering places, Aegean forecast times, definitions and classifications demands Storms, chance of one-eyed giants, mathematical apparatus such as a map, time-line, Delays expected. formal definitions, examples, counter examples and distinctions. Bader omits most of Odysseus’ ten-year journey, Many poets writing haiku in English relax the but you cannot fit everything in! Why not try 5–7–5 line-syllable pattern, such as Ezra Pound’s the same with nursery rhymes or children’s early haiku-homage In a Station of the Metro: stories? For example: The apparition of these faces in the crowd Noddy Goes to Toyland Petals on a wet, black bough. Flee the woodcarver Here’s Toyland – am I a toy? Notice that by adding a title, Pound expands on Yes! And brave! – I stay! what can be said—the extra words help explain the poem. I recommend using the correct num- Humpty Dumpty ber of syllables. Being challenged by the formal Look how high I am! rules for poetry focusses the creative mind. Whoops! Whoa, there. Can we help? However, Basho sometimes placed haiku, like Neigh! snapshots, in a prose narrative, as in his book Let’s have scrambled eggs! The Narrow Road to the Deep North, describing I hope you are convinced and encouraged his long journey to the north of Japan. to look more widely for mathematics where Finally, look back at the hidden (or implicit) you might have thought there was none—not haiku in our prose beginning. because we should always add some mathematics, In today’s lesson but because the mathematics has always been we will be learning about there and must be considered if we are to teach a special poem. our chosen, seemingly non-mathematical, lesson. Sure: put on your Poetry Cap—but leave your Using just three lines, Mathematics Cap on, too! A haiku is Japanese Catching a moment. References Bader, D. 2005. Haiku U: From Aristotle to Zola, 100 great books Haikus are easy. in 17 syllables. New York: Penguin. There are no calculations. Matsuo, B. (1966). The narrow road to the deep north and other No metric measures. travel sketches (trans. Nobuyuki Yuasa). Harmondsworth: Penguin. Answers (A) fits the haiku pattern; (B) misses the syllable counts and the reference to a season; (C) misses the syllable counts; (D) has two allusions to seasons. Can you revise (B), (C) and (D) so they become haikus? APMC 19 (2) 2014 39.