Haiku Validator - Readit News

A little pedantic, but: this will tell you if a poem is shaped like the common English conception of a haiku, but it won't tell you if this is a haiku, because a haiku is more than just counting syllables.

Aside from the fact that "syllables" is not exactly the unit being counted in haiku, there are also considerations of theme, tone, and a sort of "open-ended-ness" – among other considerations.

This article served as my introduction to the actual complexities of haiku: https://forgottenpoets.substack.com/p/haiku-thursdays-one-pl...

nadermx · 3 months ago

I just read your tutorial on haiku bulding and wrote one I think applies its framework:

Hacker news haikus

Despite reading this substack

Refregerator

dfltr · 3 months ago

Plus the translation issues, where you can have an absolute sledgehammer of a haiku that would need to be watered down in order fit the "correct" meter in English:

in kyoto / hearing the cry of the cuckoo / i long for kyoto

A little flask app to write and validate haikus. It's definitely not perfect and makes some mistakes. It uses the syllables python library to estimate how many syllables are in each word.

You can check the override list at https://haikuvalidator.com/overrides and if you have any suggestions feel free to let me know any words that are broken.

This is my first time making a web app. Hoping that someone finds it fun / useful.

zamadatix · 3 months ago

For this kind of use case it'd be interesting if it could use a dictionary that notes multiple pronunciations. E.g. for "fire" in that list there isn't necessarily a single correct answer https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/eb/qa/fire-one-syllabl...

bananaflag · 3 months ago

"space" is counted as 2 syllables, should be 1

Seems like a general problem with words ending in 'e'

computerphage · 3 months ago

"Sometimes" and "sense" are both wrong. I don't think this library is very good

pxndxx · 3 months ago

"wrote" came up as 2 syllables :(

gh5000 · 3 months ago

close comes up as 2 syllables in the app, should be 1.

Nice and simple, very nice app.

a haiku once writ needs validation surely validator's broke Line 1 - 5 / 5 a(1) haiku(2) once(1) writ(1) Line 2 - 8 / 7 needs(1) validation(4) surely(3) Line 3 - 6 / 5 validator's(4) broke(2)

ubertaco · 3 months ago

massimoto · 3 months ago

Super fun idea! That syllables package might not be robust enough for this purpose. Even in its documentation's super simple code samples, it estimates the word estimate wrong haha. I think that's somewhat meant to be an admission by the author that it is an estimate.

>>> import syllables

>>> syllables.estimate('estimate')

Doesn't matter in the context of making a fun web app though, cool idea!

mrstone · 3 months ago

jszymborski · 3 months ago

Potato chip bag

Crunchy, like its fried contents

I ate the chip bag

Redster · 3 months ago

riffraff · 3 months ago

isn't surely 2 sillables? That's how the "Don't call me Shirley" joke works in "Airplane!"

Correct. And broke is also one syllable. Hence "validator's broke".

jacobevelyn · 3 months ago

Very cool! I like the interface. For anyone interested in this and similar ideas, haiku/senryū detection is a feature of this old project of mine: https://versepad.com

timonoko · 3 months ago

I truly do not understand how Ænglish poetry works, do you appreciate written form or vocalizations?

But Validator works on sane languages too:

  mieleeni muistuu
  tässä yhteydessä eräs tapaus
  joka tapahtui

jasonlotito · 3 months ago

Type your haiku.

Hope that it validates

and smile when it does.

Edit: Little tools like this are nice. It's simple, it works, and it's just one of those little toys that people can use to have simple fun.