The Tanka poem is very similar to haiku but Tanka poems have more syllables and it uses simile, metaphor and personification.
There are five lines in a Tanka poem.
Line one - 5 syllables Beautiful mountains
Line two - 7 syllables Rivers with cold, cold water.
Line three - 5 syllable White cold snow on rocks
Line four - 7 syllables Trees over the place with frost
Line five - 7 syllables White sparkly snow everywhere.
Tanka poems are written about nature, seasons, love, sadness and other strong emotions. This form of poetry dates back almost 1200 years ago.
The Poetry Zone has a good description of Haiku and Tanka poetry.
This was the response I got to a ? I asked about writing Tankas
maureenclifford wrote:
Does a Tanka not have to be constricted by 57577 format.
Forgive me for butting in here but contemporary tanka does not adhere strictly to 57577 line lengths but rather tends to use a short/long/short/long/long line to effect the Japanese sound-symbols. There is room for experimentation with the structure, as long as it doesn't use more than 31 syllables. Often, it is quite a bit less.
EC
Cheers
Maureen