Japanese literature

Japanese literature: haiku

Haiku, which evolved out of earlier forms of poetry during the seventeenth century, is one of the best known of Jap…

Read article

Japanese literature: tanka and renga

Tanka ('short poem') are an older aristocratic form of poetry dating from the seventh century. Renga ('linked verse…

Read article

Japanese literature: stories and folk tales

Short folk stories are a well-established tradition in Japan. Oral tales were written down during the sixth and sev…

Read article

Zen calligraphy

Zen calligraphy springs from shonen sōzoku, a Buddhist term equivalent to ‘true thought’.

Read article

Forms of verse: Haiku

Haiku is a very short non-rhyming form in three lines. A strict haiku contains just 17 syllables, divided into line…

Read article

Creative writing project reading list

Reading list to accompany the creative writing project.

Creative writing project: 6 Revising and polishing

Part 6 of the creative writing project. Your piece of work is starting to take shape nicely. However, there is still some way to go, some polishing to do, to bring it to the highest possible standard ...

Modern theatre: The explosion of new writing

In 1956 the English Stage Company reopened at the Royal Court Theatre under the artistic direction of George Devine. He believed that the writer was the fundamental creative force within theatre and was committed to creating a venue where new writing could be promoted. In the first season he produced Arthur Miller's The Crucible and included new international plays by Bertolt Brecht, Eugene Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Jean Paul Sartre and Marguerite Duras.