Capturing the human experience, poetry has existed in myriads of structures, rhyme schemes and meters. From fourth century C.E. Rome to 13th century Japan, each form of poetry has history hidden within its lines.
Haiku:
One of the most well-known forms of cultural poetry is the haiku, a short and simplistic style with a rigid format of three lines and 17 syllables total. The lines follow a 5-7-5 syllable pattern and are usually unrhymed. According to Stanford University, the haiku was originally created in 13th century Japan as the opening lines of a renga, a much more lengthy oral poem around 100 stanzas long. Its name changed from hokku to haiku when it was mastered by poet and scholar Matsuo Basho. Basho grew up after Japan had closed its borders, allowing him to completely immerse himself in Japan’s rich cultural history. However, Basho also studied Chinese poetry and Taoism, reflecting the shared tapestry of art that flowed through all of Asia.
Basho shaped the haiku into the revered form of poetry it is today, with modern poets across the world writing, breaking and reanalyzing the rules of the form. The haiku is well-loved because of its simplicity, forcing the writer and reader to focus on a singular moment. Through these constraints, artists are able to highlight the beauty of an idea or an image.
“The general aesthetic of the haiku is the idea of things being concise, precise and based on an essence of something,” De Anza College English professor Ken Weisner said. “They usually want to gaze into the world, to be aware of the earth and nature — which is true about romantic poetry too, but this is a very different gaze and voice. It emphasizes the quick shock of what consciousness is, for there is surprise and insight at a haiku’s core.”
Sonnet:
Similar to the haiku, the sonnet employs a rigid structure of 14 lines, but differs with a standardized rhyme scheme and consistent meter, most notably the iambic pentameter. According to the Ohio State University Pressbooks, the sonnet is thought to have been created by a 13th-century notary named Giacomo da Lentini and later popularized by the Italian scholar Francesco Petrarca, professionally known as Petrarch. After growing popular in Italy, the sonnet finally arrived in England with translations by Sir Thomas Wyatt and published by Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey.
“Culture is connected to belief as well as what’s beautiful,” Weisner said. “If you live in a Western Christian culture, it’s more of a rational mindset. The Renaissance is where the sonnet came from, and you end up with this poetry form that’s in the form of an argument, maybe an inner conversation about how something works, even something as important as love or faith.”
However, the sonnet is most known with regard to poet and playwright William Shakespeare, whose works have become a fabric of modern poetry culture. Some lines, such as “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” are known by most everyone. As it’s grown, the sonnet has also been reshaped and rediscovered.
“It’s a more flowery and longer approach that contrasts to the haiku,” Poetry Club president Patrick Krupa said. “A lot of people think of Shakespeare. You can use a lot more rich language to portray your idea as opposed to the haiku. And while I’m an advocate for the haiku, I still think I prefer the sonnet.”
Ghazal:
Spanning across the Arabian peninsula, ghazals take the shape of a minimum of five same-lengthed couplets, each having freedom to its own. The first couplet usually envelops a refrain — a repeated word fragment — and rhyme, though in later couplets, the scheme is used in the second line only. The final couplet usually includes the poet’s signature, a reference to the author, whether it be an “I,” a nickname, name or a synonym of their name’s meaning. Usually sung by Indian, Iranian and Pakistani musicians, the ghazal sparks thought tied to yearning, sorrow and love.
Though the ghazal was born in seventh-century Arabia, Persian poets outside the borders of the peninsula — such as Hafiz and Rumi — helped highlight the form, which subsequently gained popularity in the 13th and 14th centuries. The ghazal didn’t reach popularity in the English-speaking canon until the 1960s, after an introduction by poet Agha Shahid Ali, who remarked that the ghazal couplets “shine in…vivid isolation.” Some modern examples include Ali’s “Tonight” and Patricia Smith’s “Hip-Hop Ghazal.”
“The ghazal touches people in their hearts,” poet and San José State University English professor J. Michael Martinez said.
Sestina:
More rigidly structured than poetry forms previously mentioned, the sestina is a 39-line poem, with six stanzas, repetition of ending words and an envoi — a short concluding stanza. The form is often credited to Arnat Daniel, a French “troubadour” performer who competitively sang verses with music, often depicting courtly love.
Soon, the poem gained traction in Italy, where poets Dante and Petrarch — with deep admiration for Daniel — continued to practice his form. The sestina saw another wave in the 20th century, increasingly used to portray contemporary issues. Notable examples include poet Ezra Pound, who embedded the sestina into his dramatic monologue “Alaforte,” with his repetition communicating his hatred of the war. 21st century poet John Ashbery’s sestina also plays into social critique with “Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape,” which depicts a colorful Popeye cartoon world to highlight American middle-class dissatisfaction.
“The sestina’s certain rhyme schemes allow for a lot of possibilities,” Martinez said.
The acrostic poem is a poem where the first letter of each line spells out a word or phrase. They can be traced back to ancient Greece, where poets used acrostics to pay tribute to their gods and goddesses. Acrostic poems have been noted to have biblical connotations as well, and according to Sage Journals, the acrostic is “one of the most formally fixed types among biblical poems.” In modern-day, acrostic poems are used to reference a variety of topics, ranging from the humorous to the philosophical.
“I think the acrostic poem is sort of under-utilized,” Levin said. “My daughter and I have been reading this book called ‘The Lost Words,’ and it’s this huge, coffee table-sized book full of beautiful illustrations. It’s full of acrostic poems and a really beautiful use of the acrostic form. I think that it brings out this very sweet, powerful way to imagine the natural world.”
Poetry has developed uniquely across many different cultures, showcasing the basic human need for expression and art. Moreover, the differences in each form of poetry highlight the expansiveness of the human race. We yearn for creativity, unable to limit ourselves to a singular style to express our ideas.
“Isn’t it beautiful how different people across different times, across different places all seem to think that poetry is important?” Levin said. “Pretty much every culture creates poetry, and it sounds different, but it’s that same spark inside that lights the flame. We’ve always done it, and I think we always will.”
