Haiku in English popular in English-language schools as a way to encourage the appreciation and writing of poetry. "Haiku" is a term sometimes loosely applied to any short, impressionistic poem, but there are certain characteristics that are commonly associated with the genre: Some additional traits are especially associated with English-language haiku (as opposed to Japanese-language haiku): Arguably, the first successful haiku in English was "In a Station of the Metro" by Ezra Pound, published in 1913. During the Imagist period, a number of mainstream poets, including Pound, wrote what they called "hokku", usually in a five-six-four syllable pattern. American poet Amy Lowell published
Haiku in non-Japanese haiku or by modern writers of Japanese "free-form" haiku. The best-known Japanese haiku is Bashō's "old pond": This separates into "on" as: Translated: Another haiku by Bashō: This separates into "on" as: Translated: This haiku by Bashō illustrates that he was not always constrained to a 5-7-5 "on" pattern. It contains 18 "on" in the pattern 6-7-5 ("ō" or is treated as two "on".) This separates into "on" as: Translated: This haiku by Issa illustrates that 17 Japanese "on" do not always equate to 17 English syllables ("nan" counts as two "on" and "nonda" as three.) This separates