Tanka
📋 What it is
A tanka is a five-line poem with a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable pattern — a haiku plus two lines.
🗣️ Coach says
A tanka is haiku's longer cousin: five lines of 5-7-5-7-7. The extra two lines add feeling or a personal twist to the image. If haiku is a photo, tanka is a photo with a whispered thought.
🧠 Memory hook
Tanka = 5-7-5-7-7 (a haiku + two more 7s). More room for feeling.
😂 Giggle
Why did the imagery jump off the page?
Because a good poem shows you a picture instead of just telling you!
😲 Whoa!
Tanka is even older than haiku — Japanese poets have written them for over 1,300 years.
✅ Quick check: How many lines does a tanka have?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
Five — following 5-7-5-7-7 syllables.
A tanka extends the haiku's three lines to five.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Add two 7-syllable lines to a haiku you wrote to turn it into a tanka.