Letter: Lakeland haiku

Sir: Further to the discussion of haiku (Letters, 18 April), it is worth noting that Wordsworth used the 5-7-5 syllable form in the two known Lakeland examples.

Sheep in Grasmere Vale

Suffer intimations of

Immortality

Helvellyn looks big

From the far off lake: up close

It looks bloody huge

After such a promising start, it is a pity he never continued, but then he would never say in 17 syllables what he could say in 170.

Glyn Matthews

Windermere, Cumbria