The debate continues among tanka writers – how important is the 31-syllable length? How important is the length of each of the five lines? The same question is asked among haiku writers, and recently many poets have concluded that the form is not important – what is important is the spirit and meaning of the poem – and so many 'tanka' written in English are actually short free-form poems, albeit usually written in five lines.
James Kirkup taught English Literature at Japanese universities for many years: he was an academic, translator and writer who felt that the form and structure of tanka has survived for many centuries and has served well and continues to do so. ‘A syllable is a syllable in whatever language it is written or spoken.’ The only changes to tanka poems over that time, whether written in Japanese or English, relate not to structure but to a widening of subject matter.
This site sees the traditional 31-syllable format not only as a mark of respect and appreciation but also as a way to develop poetic skills. James Kirkup again: ‘But – as in all forms of artistic endeavour – first master the essentials of traditional form and technique. Only then do you have the right to experiment.’ Writing within any structure can achieve this development: tanka is unusually useful way to improve skills because it is a short format with few rules.
Of course there are times when despite all efforts the count has to stray by a syllable or two. And in any case there are words in English that can have a different number according to the requirement of the line - ‘Poem’ can count for one or two as needed. So, in the end, poets accept the limitations of their chosen format as a challenge to improve, but not with total rigidity.
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