What is a "Haiku"??? A Haiku is a short form of Japanese poetry with an oriental metric that appeared in the XVI Century, and continues to be very popular. A Haiku has 3 lines and 17 syllables, distributed in an arrangement of 5-7-5. Example: The first line has 5 syllables The second line has 7 syllables The third line has 5 syllables
May I also add... All haikus are not 5-7-5, though that is definitely my favorite pattern and it IS the most popularly used pattern. Some also use four lines with less than 17 syllables, but everyone MUST follow the 17 syllable limit rule or else it simply becomes a small free style poem.
True... However, in my understanding of a haiku... there are various deviations from the "original Japanese" styles or types of haikus, such as you mention... For example there is the "Brazilian Haikus/Haikai" (and many more) which is also known as the "Guilherme de Almeida style" (which was named after a famous brazilian writer -- Guilherme de Almeida-- who introduced the haiku/haikai poetry in Portugese. This style consists of a rime following the rules that he created... Sample _ _ _ _ x o _ _ _ _ _ o _ _ _ _ x x rimes with x o rimes with o .... hence, indeed there are many forms of haikus and other styles of poetry as well! Thank you Joyce for sharing ....