About Harry Haikus

Updated August 5, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Want to sound wise and solemn? Make people pay close attention to your words? Then put those words in haiku.

Haiku is a very old form of poetry from Japan. It consists of three unrhymed lines. Traditionally, the first and last lines have five syllables each, and the middle line has seven syllables. Notice how many syllables are in each line of this haiku by the 17th-century Japanese poet Basho. (Often when haiku is translated, however, the number of syllables is changed.)

from all directions
winds bring petals of cherry
into the bird lake
—Basho

Having few words and pausing at the end of each short line gives a special feeling to haiku. Even a simple statement sounds thoughtful—as though it has a deeper meaning. Check out the examples below. We've taken some dialogue from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and written it as if it were haiku.