The form should serve the purpose – photographer unknown.
In my latest contest I am calling upon contestants to write one new senryu on the topic of collective nouns of animals.
Senryu is a concise unrhymed 3-line poem of Japanese origin. Within its seemingly rigid structure, it allows much scope for free expression. What it is not is a failed haiku or a sentence chopped into bits and presentenced as a poem. By using a few choice words, one leaves room for the reader to put his own interpretation on the scene described—the main difference between haiku/senryu and other poetry. The form, as with other poetic forms, should serve the purpose.
An example of a general senryu (NOT the contest example poem):
dirty dishes
one clean pot reflects
tired face
Juxtaposition is not a set requirement for either haiku or senryu as there are other poetic devices at the poet’s disposal to create both contrast and balance in a poem. Juxtaposition in haiku in effect replaces the function of the metaphor used in predominantly Western poetry; hence the use of metaphor is doubling up on poetic devices. It is recommended to use either, but not both in the same poem.
Traditional haiku poets use kireji (cutting word) to lend weight to the poem and to bring it to a formal ending. There is no exact equivalent of kireji in English and its function can be difficult to define. In English haiku, it’s often represented by an em dash or an ellipsis, and never more than one per poem. It defines the two phrases (set at the first or second line) and equally joins both sections and sets them apart. Senryu does not include the kireji or kigo (cutting word); therefore, no punctuation is used in senryu.
EXTRACTS FROM MY BLOG THAT PERTAIN TO SENRYU
Woven Worlds – TANKA PROSE – Overview and Definitions - Suzette Richards's Blog (poetrysoup.com)
General Observations
Examples … cited in blogs [and articles, poetry definitions, etc] often include translations of poetry, but please note that, as with other translations of East Asian poetry, regular grammar rules apply in those cases, e.g. capitalisation of words and punctuation marks. In practice (in English), however, these grammar rules are eschewed during the composition of … poetic forms with their roots in Japanese poetry.
Syllable Counts
As with many efforts by Western poets to transcribe East Asian poetry, syllable counts were prescribed to imitate the sound values, remembering that Japanese tanka [and senryu], for example, is rendered in a single line down the page. These syllable counts replaced the need for metre and rhyme to achieve rhythm in the poem. [Modern poets use far less syllables per line than these archaic prescribed formulae.]
Phrases
All East Asian poetry is divided into phrases. In grammar, a phrase is a group of words functioning as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. Most phrases have a central word defining the type of phrase. This word is called the ‘head’ of the phrase. Some phrases, however, can be headless. For example, ‘the last’ is a noun phrase composed of a determiner and an adjective without a noun. In tanka [and senryu] each line represents a phrase.
Please see the contest page for the full details.
You may pose questions relevant to this contest on here.
Happy quills!
Suzette
A LIST OF COLLECTIVE NOUNS OF ANIMALS TO GET YOU STARTED – you may add your own one, but it must be universally known.
An ambush of tigers
A glittering of hummingbirds
A bed of worms
A bike of hornets
A bouquet of pheasants
A dazzle of zebras
A descent of woodpeckers
An escargatoire of snails
A gang of turkeys
A gaze of raccoons
A hover of trout
A kettle of circling vultures
A kindle of kittens
A lamentation of swans
A mess of iguanas
A parliament of rooks
A pitying of turtledoves
A plump of waterfowl
A scream of swifts
A stubbornness of rhinoceroses
A tower of giraffes
An unkindness of ravens
A wisdom of wombats
A congregation of alligators
A murder of crows [Yes, I am aware that this is only valid under certain circumstances.]
Past examples from my poems
An ostentation of peacocks (A Cut above the Rest)
A deceit of lapwings (Passion)
A flamboyance of flamingos (The Wheel shall Turn)