HSA logo

Frogpond 45.2 • 2022

Museum of Haiku
Literature Award

Haiku & Senryu

Essay 1 - Beyond Rejection

Essay 2 - Subjective Criticism and Haiku

Haibun

Renku

Book Reviews

Haiku Society of America

wordmark

Subjective Criticism and Haiku

by Mike Spikes

Subjective Criticism and Haiku
(complete PDF version)

Here is a sample excerpt from the opening page of this interview:

I look forward to receiving each issue of Frogpond. It’s always a highlight of the day when it comes in the mail. After briefly perusing the table of contents, I immediately proceed to the sections containing individual haiku and senyru and read them all, from cover to cover. On this rather cursory initial reading, certain poems will instantly strike me as powerful and appealing, while many will not. Sometimes on this first reading I will be able to articulate to myself why I find a particular poem so compelling, but often the draw will be strictly visceral. I will next read all the poems in the issue a second time, more carefully, more slowly, and more deliberately than the first. On this second reading, I will more likely be able to articulate, and articulate in detail, what I found so powerful and appealing about the poems that initially attracted me, and, in addition, I’ll frequently be drawn to other poems that on the first reading didn’t particularly interest me. Finally, on subsequent readings, I’ll go back and further contemplate individual poems, understanding them in even more depth than on the first two readings and sometimes reevaluating my sense of their merit.

Why do some haiku appeal to me more powerfully than others? Why do I find some poems better—stronger works of art—than others? Are my judgments strictly personal and subjective; are they the result of my adherence, either conscious or subconscious, to certain universal, objective standards; or is it even possible clearly to distinguish personal, subjective judgments from universal, objective standards of evaluation? And why do second, third, and further readings of poems that initially appeal to me often increase that appeal, and why do subsequent readings of poems that don’t initially attract my attention frequently result in my positive reevaluation of them? For that matter, what exactly is it that I’m discovering when I interpret a haiku? What motivates my particular response to it? What, that is, is the source of the poem’s sense and significance?

[feature continues for several more pages] . . .

Spikes, Mike. "Subjective Criticism and Haiku." Frogpond 45.2, Spring-Summer 2022, 121-133.

This excerpt inclues the first page of the feature: page 121. The complete feature includes pages 121-133. To read the complete feature, click on the link to the PDF version:

Subjective Criticism and Haiku
(complete PDF version)

3dots