Thai poetry
Thai poetry
Thai literature consists out of two categories; poetry and essay. There are several different types of Thai poetry such as Raay, Khloong, Chan, Kaap and Klon. Each poetry type has its own style of distinctive rhythm.
Raay: Raay usually consists of five-syllable group of sentence, linked together by rhyme between the last syllable of a sentence and one of the first three in the next. A series of any number of sentence completes a single stanza. One of the oldest Thai verse forms, raay is often used for laws and chronicles. When raay alternates with khloong the form is known as lilit. In lilit compositions, the raay passages frequently describe action while the khloong passages consist of dialogues or provide commentary. Judging from the similarities in syllable number and tone placement in raay and khloong, it appears that raay may have been the forerunner of the khloong verse forms.
Kloon: Kloon was claimed by many scholars that it is a true Thai form but it has a certain similarities to Chinese verse. Kloon usually has four to eight syllables per line. Kloon form consists of a series of three phrases of two or three syllables each. These phrases can be phonological or syntactic.
Kaap: It is a set of poetry which contains fixed number of syllables (depends on forms of kaap) and rhythm. Its way to create rhythm is similar to Chaan but does not consist of light and heavy syllables to make tone like Chaan. The most common types of Kaap are; yaanii with eleven syllables per line, cha-bang with sixteen syllables, and suraangkhanaang with twenty-eight syllables.
Chan: The chan is a form of poetry which distinctively consists of syllables defined as light (lahu) and heavy (kharu) and arranged in invariable number and sequences.
The classic Thai dancer often appears in Thai poems.
Khloong: The khloong is the oldest form of poetry and a highly intellectual form poetry used only by the sophisticated and educated classes because of its elaborate tonal and rhyming constrains. It has been developed from the nature of the Thai language which contains various intonation. In the early day, Thai had only 3 contrasting tones appeared on syllables ending in a vowel, a semivowel, and a nasal. Nowadays, it splits into 5 tones. Kloong consists of 3 tones which were designated by many western scholars as A, B, and C. Tone A is neutral tone, while tone B and C are low and high tone. The 3 tones of syllables must be placed to create a special rhythm which is the uniqueness of this form of poetry.
Thai poetry