April is National Poetry Month in the U.S., so let’s learn about haiku, which is a traditional Japanese short poem form. Here’s an example by the haiku master Basho:
A haiku has three lines with five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, and five syllables in the third line. It also usually includes words that are connected to Nature and philosophy and has some sort of small surprise.
Since the original frog haiku is in Japanese, there are many ways to translate it. Here are 30 below:
The original Japanese:
古池
蛙飛び込む
水の音Furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto
An old pond —
Translated by Kenneth Rexroth
The sound
Of a diving frog.
Pond, there, still and old!
A frog has jumped from the shore.
The splash can be heard.Translated by Eli Siegel
old pond
Translated by Cid Corman
frog leaping
splash
The old pond,
Translated by Alan Watts
A frog jumps in:
Plop!
Breaking the silence
Translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa
Of an ancient pond,
A frog jumped into water —
A deep resonance.
The old pond
Translated by Allen Ginsberg
A frog jumped in,
Kerplunk!
Listen! a frog
Translated by Dorothy Britton
Jumping into the stillness
Of an ancient pond!
Old pond
Translated by Lucien Stryk
leap — splash
a frog.
The old pond —
Translated by Robert Hass
a frog jumps in,
sound of water.
At the ancient pond
Translated by Sam Hamill
a frog plunges into
the sound of water
ancient is the pond —
Translated by Tim Chilcott
suddenly a frog leaps — now!
the water echoes
pond
Translated by James Kirkup
frog
plop!