Asian literature Asian literature Asian literature is the literature produced in Asia. In Tang and Song dynasty China, famous poets such as Li Bai authored works of great importance. They wrote "shī" (Classical Chinese: 詩) poems, which have lines with equal numbers of characters, as well as "cí" (詞) poems with mixed line varieties. Early-Modern Japanese literature (17th–19th centuries) developed comparable innovations such as haiku, a form of Japanese poetry that evolved from the ancient "hokku" (Japanese language: 発句) mode. Haiku consists of three lines: the first and third lines each have five "morae" (the rough phonological equivalent of syllables), while the
Haiku in English with the one-line vertical column in which Japanese haiku are often printed, was lent legitimacy principally by three people: The single-line haiku usually contains fewer than seventeen syllables. A caesura (pause) may be appropriate, dictated by sense or speech rhythm (following the traditional Japanese tradition of a break, marked by the Kireji), and usually little or no punctuation. This form was used by John Wills and, more recently, has been practiced by poets such as M. Kettner, Janice Bostok, Jim Kacian, Chris Gordon, Scott Metz, Stuart Quine, John Barlow, and many others. As the last two examples in particular illustrate,