ENGLISH TANKA is a Japanese five line poem. Each line should be a cohesive phrase and the lines should be grammatically connected, it should not sound like a list or a telegram.. The five lines must be integrated into a unified poem. The fifth line should be the strongest line.

PIVOT LINE Pivot lines are a feature of Japanese tanka and are often a feature of
English tanka, but not necessarily so. A pivot line, usually line 3, can be read sensibly
with lines 1 and 2, and also sensibly with lines 4 and 5, a property that can be used to
introduce ambiguity and resonance into the poem.

One method of composing tanka is to write what is basically a haiku for lines 1, 2, 3, which deals with a natural subject and then write two more lines to append to that which deal with a human experience in a manner that has metaphorical, symbolic, or other resonance with the haiku.

Tanka may be beautifully lyrical poems, often about love, loss, longing, and similar aspects of our emotional lives,


click here if you want to read modern tanka examples


click here to read Tanka Society of America


click here if you want to read modern tanka rules

Thank you very much for your time and kind review.

Gypsy
"The poet waits quietly to paint the unsaid.

Picture by Amanda Church and Pinterest

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