how many syllables does a tanka have
Often, tanka read like notes from a diary and convey a single event that has some special significance in the poetâs life or consciousnessâa realization, personal insight, or memory. Spriggsâs poem also shows how the basic structural features of Japanese tanka have been adapted. The pattern of short/long/short/long/long lines is intact, and the use of thirty-one syllables in five lines of 5-7-5-7-7 parallels the pattern of thirty-one sound units of Japanese tanka.