AQUiLA MAGAZINE
INGENIOUS ENGINEERING
WRITE A CHOO CHOO HAIKU
You may find the trains on pages 6-7 of Ingenious Engineering inspirational for this one !
WORDWORM ’ S MISSION
Have you ever heard of a haiku ? It ’ s a traditional Japanese poem that ’ s made up of 3 lines , and follows a 5-7-5 syllable pattern . Unfortunately , we don ’ t have time to learn Japanese , but we do have time to embrace the beauty of the form and admire English versions that copy it – after all , imitation is the sincerest form of flattery . Here ’ s a famous example of an English haiku from 1899 .
ACTIVITY SKILLS 1 hour +
DIFFICULTY
The west wind whispered , And touched the eyelids of spring : Her eyes , Primroses .
By R . M . Hansard
Did you count the syllables ? Can you see the pattern ? Haikus do not traditionally rhyme , but there ’ s not lots of words ( or syllables ) to play with , so each part must count . Language that makes you think of nature or the seasons is usually part of the winning formula – this part is called the kigo (‘ season word ’). Our Ingenious Engineering issue is less about nature and more about machines – but you ’ re AQUILAnauts , so you can
make it work ! Your mission is to write a haiku inspired by our marvellous March issue – ready , steady , GO !
WORDWORM WOULD LOVE TO READ YOUR PERFECT POEMS !
Send your wonderful work to us via the AQUILAnauts ’ pages of the AQUILA website and we ’ ll share as many as we can .
www . aquila . co . uk / aquilanauts
AWESOME
MAGAZINE ALERT !
SCAN ME
YOU WILL NEED
o Pen and paper
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© AQUILA MAGAZINE . Written by Jennifer Newton-Brown