TRENDS AND STRUCTURE IN CONTEMPORARY THA.I POETRY With Translations and Bibliography THE CORNELL UNIVER8l·r1 SOOTHEAST ASIA PROOIW( The Southeast Asia. Program was organ:l.zeci" at Cornell· University in the Department of Far Eastern Studies in 19500 It is a teaching and research.program of interdisoipJinary-· studies in the humanities, social sciences and some natural · mgion, sciences. It deals with Sout;heast Asia as· a and with the individual countries of the area: Burma, Cambooia, Indo­ nesia, Laos, Malaya, the Philippines, Thailand_, and Vietnam. The aotiviti-es of the· Program are· carried on both at · o Cornell- and in Southeast"· Asia . They include an und"1'graduate curriculum· at co·rnell which provides instmction by -�pecialists in Sou.theast Asian cultural history and present-day affairs and off-ers intensive t:r,1in1ng in--eaeh of the major·1-angu-ages of the area. The.Program sponsors· group research projects on Th;i1Jand, on Indonesia!' on the Philippines, and on the area•e Chinese minorities• At the eame time, individual..staff am students of the done every- country.Program have field research in Southeast Asian A list of publications :relating to Southeast Asia which may be obtained on prepaid order directly from the Progn.in is given-at the end of this volumeo I.nf'>rmation on Program staff, fellovrships, requirements for degrees, and current course offer­ ings will be found in an Announcement of the Deparlment· ·or Far I .. Eastern· studies obtainable from the Director SoutheastA sia ' Program, Franklin HalJ, Cornell University, Ithaca, NewYorko TRENDS AND STRUCTURE IN CONTEMPORARY THAI POETRY With Translations and Bibliography By James m. Kosel Data Pa.pert Nnmher 43 Southeast Asa. Progr$JJ1 Department of Far-Eastern-'Studieit Cornell University, Ithaca,. New ·York August 1961 . Price $ 2.oo Cop;yright James N. Kosel, 1961 FOREWORD Translations of :t,he literatures e£ ·southeast-A.sia English are fevr lito . in number -and vary gl"e&tly in. qualityo Some of' the c1:.assios s�il1-·· a- wa1t their. · . tranaiatorso This gap is -gra.du.ally· being :r11le� a-s mG:re:�am··morf;) young AU&�rali.an-and British scholars ...aeqaire-the •tlepth·· of- 11-npistie eul.turalAmerican, · -and. ... knowledge-.. SO· essential for ·goed·"l·M --,aeeura� traielationss,. T� : to their efforts, truly labors of love, -a ·fflDSJ..l but of short· stories and poetry from the Sou.theast Asian ll·terattt-res:.steaay is· ,a;ppearlng·_stream- in English languag­ ma.gazines am anthologies aro1ind the worldo ·This is in addition-to a substa.ncm tial number of such translations into French1 German and Rttssiu.. ·- . - ·- -·· .... � ... Se-v-e:ral organizations;, pe.rtieu1'8:rly MF.SCO·. and the Asia So�i�ty� are a acti:vely-�ngaged in· sponsoring literary-transl tions from Soatheast Asia as well -as from the rest of Asia. A�·-·eeveril:""W6fflB have..•appeared � the presses under their epuneo:rship:s,· ··with· mere--•eekedul«i for the ..near :t'trbll!N.- Those of us e™med with the tff.®h1ng of -�se· -a..� acutely aware -eou:rees on 1-iterat-ures of paueity of good� translations· and the more the theeff orts that are beingreadable made in -various quarters.thus app:reciate·all In of is the field Thai literary translations it P:ri.Me Prem Purachatra �o has dene---sueh' ·ou�standing..-e,ervi� i,n-.,m&Jdllg·--EHi>me-of theThai elas�ies · ·avail.;.;;. abl-e to Engli-sh- reede:re. T� Thailand P.E.J•··:e·lub iii- Bu.gk,ett i-s·s·�eply interest.­ ed . -fl].eo in Eagli�h ..(a·Dd-- --ot-,her foNi:gn· J:angaa,ge)· •··MMerings- -of---their· literature and-� ,ind�btedly -.ne6urage such activity. Up till now� however» few have such undertaken a difficult task. Henoe.s,..-w�-welcome- all the more 11:r. Jlosel's study' of contemporaryThai poetryo It helps fill a very: important gap in our k.novrleclge o:r lite�tu:re and we venture to say that it is probably one of tlie--very· :rew seriouf'1'1184 studies-·- in ·the English. 1-anguage oh t,he . poetry--0f--•a.'f1¥ Seu.i;s.east,�AsiaB . J&>. uosel country• · is·•well ,qual:i fi-ed· to pNpare sueh ...e,- -study. · He has had·.:t--h.e· ·-adv-ail:tage· · of several. to '!'hail.ands, he ability language 0£ the country-trips and has drunk hasdeeply acquired at the ama�:iJlg well of Thai culturelithe and history• We are pleased to be able to present Mro llosel,ts· study in its present formwith the Thai text of the transla�d poems available to those interested in comparing the original against the translation.. Needless to say, we eam.estly hope .. that this work will not only provide insights the · · -s-0me into sub�et of Thai poet-ry,1,n'lld cultlire, but will also spur others on to s1rn1Jar endeavoi'"S� whether inTha1 literature or in another or the literatures of Southeast Asia. John M. Echols Ithaca; Hew-York July 1961 CONTENTS Page INTRODOCT ION • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ,. • • • • • • • l I. CONTErilPOlW?Y 1�S AND C�CTERI�ICS. • • • • • • • • • . • • - • - .3 • • • Spoial Conditions of Poetic Production •••• • • • • • 3 P��try•• o • • . Change in Relative Emphasis on • • • _ • • • • 4 ·, • • •••• .. 0 llodern Poets in the c·1assical Tradition. •· . • • 5 Orientation an� Form • •• • • • ••• • •• ••••••• • • . · · 6 Contemporary- Poets •o .• ·• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • o 10 II. THE KLpbf VEBSE F(EJ( • • • • • •• • - • • • • • - •· • -• • • • • o o 12 o • Histori·cal Development • •.• •• • •• • ••••• •• • • 12 ·• ·• __ Varieties of llpn,. ...... ........ .. ....... Prosodic Stracture •. • •••• •• •• • •·••- • • • • •• • 16 . III. • 0 • 0 • . • ·• • ·• • • • • • • 0 0- • .. • • • • ••·O •' .. .. - . ... ,,, _ 21 TRANSLATIONS • .. -- ·• 0 • • -Th�se Pla.ees I :Love - K11nlasap Rung:rtldi . ·• • • • •• 21 • • • To the Sea - Nari l'anthawat •.• • •• •• •• -0• • o • 23 . V Meditations on love.- Sawat Thongsieharoen. o o ••••-• • -• 25 t . - Till ldfe s End - Chayasi_ Sunth9nphiphit.- ·• • •- • •- • •• •o 27 O 'O 0 0 ♦ ♦ ♦ 0 ·• You Are N�t a Courtesan -- Chetsada Wi'g'hit • ., 29 ' . o • • • o , • • • •. To an Endearing Jlaiden - Ratana Yawaprapat. 31 o • • • • • • • Gold-Trlrmued Horizons - Pre.kin Chumse.i. • •-• 33 I Have JU.st Realized This _:. Pralcin Chumsai. • • • •• •. • ·· •• 35 (Sakawa) Cold Wims - lhikrit. w Pra.mot. • • • · • • • • • • • • 39 _D9ks9i) o •• • • •• • Oil Ref'ineriesl ( - Khltkrit Premot. •- 41 - V. Fem;- of Corruption - Khiikri.t Pramot • • • •• ••o .• -• • • • 43 FOOI1NOI'ES • o o • • � • • • • • • • • • • • · o • - o • • • • • • • o • o - · 47 APPENDIX At Bibliography of Materials on Thai• Literature in Western o • • • ., · • • • • • o • o •- • • • o ·• •• • • • • o Languages • 4h, INTRODUCTION Contemporary Thai poetry is almost totalJ y,unknown iri too·_ -west; there · is no_ t-reatment of the.subject in ,.8Jl3"-·Western· langaage� - This situat·ion. is. highly regrettable in vi� of the active rol-e · -played by· poetry in Thai ··arts·- and cultural life. Serious literature in Thailand ·1s -almost -exelus1:ve·ly' equat·ed · with poetry-, an:!- even at the popular level p·oetry enjoys a warmer reception than is the oase in most Western countries. ·rt-·is -also· probablycf trne that Thailari.d possesses a richer and more �-ensive h·eritage of-: poeti literatUN than does any other South-east Asian cormtryo And judging f-rom ·l'lhat little is known about p6etr.r the pre-sent literary situation in South-east ,As-ia, Thai contetl¥)orary· ap­ pears to be a more active enterprise tban--elsewhere in South-e�st Asia, with the possible exception of Indonesia, and the Philippines.o The present monograph is an extension arid revi·sion o.f an earlier invi-• tational paI)er which appeared originally in Unif;ed Asia· (Volwn.e 12i -Noo 2,. · 1960,. This -earli-er paper has been -greatly· -amplifi-ed, --:aew transl-ation.fi rave been added, ,and··whe:r-e the original ,,article c·ontained onlyo··exeerpt,s., ·the· ·pr\!sent monograph off-ers the compl-ete ·poem. In view of the importanee of sound -effectis in tlie. esthet.ics· _of Thai verse, a section has. been added' on prosody and structure, for it is through prosodic. t·echni-ques ·that. these. ·peetic... 'Sound :eff.eets ·are ·created. ·An understanding of contemporary· Thai peet� -:requires :some modicum of background in cla-ssieal Thai literatureo The situ-ationo-he·re as regards materials in -Western languages is only slightly ··obetter than that fo r con.temporary· litera­ ture. Appendix A p-:re-sents -a bibliography on tae s:ab-ject � comprellensive in the -sense that it contains all significant material·s· I •ha-.e ·b>een -a:bl-e· to locate, but totally jnadequate m terms of the q111Jity and completeness of the material; listedo The system of tran-slite1,a.tion -employed is the - it.General Sy--stemtt· recom­ mend�d by the Royu Institute of Siam and -described in the Journal of" the ..Thai R�search Society (now call.ad the Journal of tk-e Siam-·socie�z) ·of. Lreli 1941.c The only modification is that the open .2, is represented by ·i--in the -present worko This system is used throughouto--,exeept: for �rso:nal names ::wnere the individual's'· own -method of transliteration is knewn., ,and for Thai words ·-@neountered in citing -- · the title of a book or article written by other writers. ·In personal nameso., the portions underlined represent titles. In preparing the translations for Part III, I·have tried to steer a con­ serv-ative course between the literal- and tlae literary�- v�ring closer to the former than th-e latt;er. In no s·ens-e-are the tr.ansl.tions intended to· be ttliterary, 11 nor are they designed to be of the analytic scholarly vari.ety. The translations are not word-for-word, but they are line-by-line. It goes without saying that this monograph has entirely too many- ·foot­ notes for a worlc of such modest purposeso But since it is the first of its kind, it seemed advisable to give the reader as much background and additional detail as possible.