Further Reading

Always more to read! Graceguts focuses mostly on writing by Michael Dylan Welch, chiefly about haiku and other poetry. However, this page mostly promotes writing by others, reproduced on this site by permission of their authors, where possible, or linked to on other sites. For essays by Michael Dylan Welch, see the Essays page. See also “Selected Essays and Interviews from Woodnotes for 34 mostly additional pieces by other writers.

Haiku Fundamentals

I particularly recommend the following content by other writers for anyone interested in the fundamentals of haiku poetry, especially regarding haiku form:       +


For those new to haiku, also consider reading Jane Reichhold’s Bare Bones School of Haiku for step-by-step lessons that will give you a good introduction to various challenges in writing haiku (be aware that some of the links in its resources section are out of date). For an overview of haiku from a British perspective (but still relevant worldwide), please visit Haiku: Another Kind of Poetry. For children and teachers, I also recommend visiting Johnette Downing’s Two Dragonfiles site (now available only through the archived site linked to here). For more on the fundamentals of the sounds (not syllables) counted in Japanese haiku, and the genre’s history, see Japanese Prosody, Haiku, and Haiku in English on Wikipedia.


For a discerning discussion on the problem of pseudo-haiku and the love/hate relationship one might have with different kinds of haiku (that is, literary haiku versus mere syllable-counting), listen to Jacke Wilsons 25 July 2022 podcast On Matsuo Bashō, Haiku’s Greatest Master (the haiku part gets going with 48:40 remaining in the podcast).

Advanced Haiku

For more advanced haiku writers, I recommend the following content:


My Essays on Fundamentals and Haiku Form

For context or further assistance, if you haven’t already read my introductory essays on writing haiku in English, please visit the following pages:


See also Recommended Books on Haiku and A Survey of English-Language Haiku Activity. Also try exploring additional essays on my Essays page, and essays by other writers on “Selected Essays and Interviews from Woodnotes. See additional haiku links on the Links page.

 

If you have any comments or questions, please contact Michael Dylan Welch.