The Renga Blog

Here’s the short version–if you need or want more details, see the links below.

Renga is a form a Japanese poetry. Each verse of the renga is a haiku written by a different person from the previous verse. Traditionally, the verses alternate between two-line and three-line haikus.

Each verse should flow from (or in some way link to) the previous verse, but it is considered a faux pas to cover the same topic more than once in the poem. The new verse should not be connected to the verse before the previous verse. Connection includes sharing topics, themes, emotions, key words, or essentially, having anything whatsoever in common. The goal is to have a smooth flow from beginning to end without stagnating in any one place.

 Some renga may follow the seasonal shift. In the case the renga will start with a reference to the current season and continue as normal (with or without referencing seasons or seasonal words) for a few verses before we go on to the next season. Approximately one-fourth of the verses should be spent on each season, but there’s no hard and fast rule about it.
 

For our purposes a haiku is considered to be a three (or two) line poem capturing the ‘essence of a moment keenly felt’. The number of syllables per line is not important.

Haiku:

The Haiku Society of America

Index of Haiku and Short Poetry Webpages (extensive)

Renga:

Introduction to Renga Compostition

Beginner’s Guidlines to Composing Nijuin Renga (discusses seasonal shift)