Thai poetry, blogs, and books.

[StChris]

Hi

I have couple of random things I need some help with:

1. Thai Poetry

Does anyone know any good websites for learning Thai poetry? I'm currently in China studying Chinese and have already studied quiet a few Tang poems, and find it's a fun way of learning. It's nice to take a break from learning the more mundane day-to-day language every now and again. They are only around 10 lines each, so not difficult to memorise. I want to find a similar set of short peoms in THai - can anybody point me in the right direction?

2. BlogsI

Can anyone recommend any interesting Thai blogs about everyday life? I'm looking for a nice balance between too mundane (just listing what they've eaten that day) and too heavy (politics etc).

Thanks

[klons]

For blogs maybe pantip

http://pantip.com

http://www.bloggang.com/event/popularaward8/

[HeavyDrinker]

"Poetry" as we may understand it in the West doesn't really apply to Thailand.

Academics have applied the term 'poetry' to the verse prose of Thailand to keep matters simple for us however it's just not that easy.

Most Thai 'Poetry' takes different forms due to syllabic structure, which in turn gives the rhythm to the form.

I have had far too many tonight to even start on this but I will come back on Monday to elaborate due to football and wedding anniversary commitments.

[klons]

For blogs maybe pantip

http://pantip.com

http://www.bloggang.com/event/popularaward8/

For example at pantip they have stuff like this.

http://pantip.com/topic/31006121

กู้เงินซื้อบ้านมือสอง 2.8ล้าน ผ่อน 30ปี เป็นเงินทั้งสิ้น 8 ล้าน!!!

A guy writing about dealing with the bank to borrow money

to buy a second hand house. I didn’t read the whole thing

cuz I gotta go mow the lawn. But the 2.8 million loan will

cost 8 million over 30 years. That’s real life.

[StChris]

Thanks for the blog tips Klons, that's the kind of thing I'm looking for.

Hey HeavyDrinker, if you've had time to sober up, I'd appreciate your help on this.

Regarding the poetry, if you took Byron for example, I'm looking more for works such as She Walks in Beauty, rather than Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, as I don't have time to go through anything too long. The wikipage on this is quite interesting (should have been my first port of call in retrospect) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_poetry

They have a few short poems here to illustrate the different trpes of poetry. This one's from the 15th-16th century, and it's surpisingly easy to understand (I don't know if the language has been altered for a modern audience):

เสียงฦๅเสียงเล่าอ้าง อันใด พี่เอย เสียงย่อมยอยศใคร ทั่วหล้า สองเขือพี่หลับใหล ลืมตื่น ฤๅพี่ สองพี่คิดเองอ้า อย่าได้ถามเผือ

—Unknown, Lilit Phra Lo (ลิลิตพระลอ), c 15th–16th centuries

What tales, what rumours, you ask?
Of whom is this praise being spread throughout the world?
Have you two been asleep, having forgotten to wake up?
You both can think of it yourselves; do not ask me.

These are the kind of short poems that I'm looking for.

This is a link to the Thammasat Audio Centre. It has some poems with audio (click on the links at the bottom of the page)

http://thaiarc.tu.ac.th/poetry/raay/raaye.html

If anyone knows of any more sites like this (with peoms and audio) please let me know.