Tanka Features: Syllabification: 5,7,5,7,7 Rhyme/Rhyme Scheme: None Meter: None History: The Tanka is one of the oldest Japanese poetry examples, originated in the 7th century. In a short time, Tanka poetry gained a lot of popularity in Japan, where people participated in Tanka poetry contests. Poetry was so important, that poeple were judged by how "good" their poetry was. Although in ancient Japan most poets were men, actually the most famous Tanka poets are women; like Lady Murasaki Shikibu, who wrote a book composed of 400 Tanka poems named "The tale of Gengi"
From this example we can clearly identify the structure of a Tanka poem. We can clearly see the syllabification structure in this poem (5,7,5,7,7), which is the only structural feature of Tanka poetry. Additionally we can see that this example has a very common topic between Tankas, the nature. We can see that it is not possible to find meter nor rhyme in this example. This is a correct example of Tanka poetry, and it is also very beautiful.
Reflection before writing my Tanka poem:
I think that writing my Tanka up will be very easy, since it's simple to think about a topic and only arrange it according to an specific syllabification. Plus, the topics on Tankas are often related to nature, so there's not much to think about. I am planning to choose a single topic, like an animal, season or place, and describe it by thinking in adjectives or verbs, therefore the process will be very similar to the write-up of a Diamante. I am exited for starting this type of poem, and I hope i get a good final result with my poem.
My Tanka Poem:
Tanka Process Evidence:
Final Tanka Reflection:
When we analyse my Tanka poem, we can identify that the structure of Tanka poetry is present. We can see that the syllabification of the poem is of 5,7,5,7,7 which is the correct syllabification for this type of poems. Syllabification is the only feature of Tanka poetry structure, therefore it is evident that this poem fulfils the characteristics of Tanka poetry. Apart from syllabification, Tanka poetry is normally based on nature. When I was writing my poem I thought about something that I loved about nature, and that was my cat. Animals are an extremely big, and important part of nature, and even thought Tankas are normally based on landscape descriptions, I think that my cat, and animals in general are actually a valid topic to write a Tanka about when the general theme of this type of poetry is described as "nature" The structure of Tanka poetry is actually very simple and I think this helped me a little bit when writing my poem, but not as much as the other structures of Diamantes and Limericks. This is because the other two structures were more specific and direct towards how the poet should structure the poem, whilst the structure of Tankas only specifies the syllabification structure. This gives you the freedom of writing about anything you like, and gives the poet more possibilities when composing their poems, but I've discovered when writing my Tanka, that is easier for me to have a strict, direct and complete structure that actually guides the poet through the write-up process, than having a structure that specifies little aspects of the poetry type, and gives a lot of freedom to the poet. It's easier for me to be guided, and be told exactly what to do, since I'm not very creative, unless I'm told exactly what to do, when my creativity explodes flowing with the structure. In this case I consider that the structure didn't help me too much.
Syllabification: 5,7,5,7,7
Rhyme/Rhyme Scheme: None
Meter: None
History:
The Tanka is one of the oldest Japanese poetry examples, originated in the 7th century. In a short time, Tanka poetry gained a lot of popularity in Japan, where people participated in Tanka poetry contests. Poetry was so important, that poeple were judged by how "good" their poetry was. Although in ancient Japan most poets were men, actually the most famous Tanka poets are women; like Lady Murasaki Shikibu, who wrote a book composed of 400 Tanka poems named "The tale of Gengi"
Tanka Example:
Beautiful mountains
Rivers with cold, cold water.
White cold snow on rocks
Trees over the place with frost
White sparkly snow everywhere.
http://www.edu.pe.ca/stjean/playing%20with%20poetry/Hennessey/tanka.htm
From this example we can clearly identify the structure of a Tanka poem. We can clearly see the syllabification structure in this poem (5,7,5,7,7), which is the only structural feature of Tanka poetry. Additionally we can see that this example has a very common topic between Tankas, the nature. We can see that it is not possible to find meter nor rhyme in this example. This is a correct example of Tanka poetry, and it is also very beautiful.
Reflection before writing my Tanka poem:
I think that writing my Tanka up will be very easy, since it's simple to think about a topic and only arrange it according to an specific syllabification. Plus, the topics on Tankas are often related to nature, so there's not much to think about. I am planning to choose a single topic, like an animal, season or place, and describe it by thinking in adjectives or verbs, therefore the process will be very similar to the write-up of a Diamante. I am exited for starting this type of poem, and I hope i get a good final result with my poem.
My Tanka Poem:
Tanka Process Evidence:
Final Tanka Reflection:
When we analyse my Tanka poem, we can identify that the structure of Tanka poetry is present. We can see that the syllabification of the poem is of 5,7,5,7,7 which is the correct syllabification for this type of poems. Syllabification is the only feature of Tanka poetry structure, therefore it is evident that this poem fulfils the characteristics of Tanka poetry. Apart from syllabification, Tanka poetry is normally based on nature. When I was writing my poem I thought about something that I loved about nature, and that was my cat. Animals are an extremely big, and important part of nature, and even thought Tankas are normally based on landscape descriptions, I think that my cat, and animals in general are actually a valid topic to write a Tanka about when the general theme of this type of poetry is described as "nature"
The structure of Tanka poetry is actually very simple and I think this helped me a little bit when writing my poem, but not as much as the other structures of Diamantes and Limericks. This is because the other two structures were more specific and direct towards how the poet should structure the poem, whilst the structure of Tankas only specifies the syllabification structure. This gives you the freedom of writing about anything you like, and gives the poet more possibilities when composing their poems, but I've discovered when writing my Tanka, that is easier for me to have a strict, direct and complete structure that actually guides the poet through the write-up process, than having a structure that specifies little aspects of the poetry type, and gives a lot of freedom to the poet. It's easier for me to be guided, and be told exactly what to do, since I'm not very creative, unless I'm told exactly what to do, when my creativity explodes flowing with the structure. In this case I consider that the structure didn't help me too much.