Literary Techniques in Old Tamil Caṅkam Poetry: The KuruntokaiThe present study is a step towards an historical and philologicaldescription of the founding literary tradition of Southern India. This so-called Cankam literature was composed around the beginning of the common era in a language today known as "Classical Tamil". Ten anthologies of its poetry have survived. Its literary techniques and their presuppositions are presented here in detail on the basis of an analysis of one of these anthologies, the Kur-untokai, which is a collection of 401 short love poems. While the introduction and the last chapter, on poetic style, are also meant for the general student of literature, the second and third chapters will be of interest mainly to specialists. These deal with syntax (especially particle syntax) and with the poetological background of the poetry. The formal features described include the use of formulae; the organisation of a poetic universe in terms of themes, topoi and motifs; syntactic types, such as circular construction; rhetorical fi gures, such as metaphors, similes and insets; poetic ambiguity achieved through the use of a symbolic code; puns; and intertextual allusions. |
Contents
Studies of Syntax | 49 |
Sentencecoordinating um | 119 |
Studies of the Poetological and the Poetical Tradition | 127 |
Studies of Poetic Style | 255 |
The Coordination of Figurative and Emotive Level | 292 |
Ambiguity | 316 |
Intertextual Relations | 347 |
The Tension between Convention and Individuality | 371 |
IndoAryan Words | 377 |
417 | |
Appendix to the Bibliography | 424 |
Glossary of Technical Terms | 442 |
Common terms and phrases
adverb Akam allusion already ambiguous amma analysis anteposition anthologies attribute avar basic Caminataiyar Cankam clause commentary comparison confidante connected DEDR direct object elements emotive example finite verb flowers formulaic frequent function hand heart heron inset interpretation jasmine kaļavu kāma kāmam karpu kilavi-s kind kollō Kuruntokai land-he least listener lover main sentence manra marked marru marutam means metonymy metrical metrical foot morphological motifs mountain Murukan namely nāṭan participial noun particle perfective aspect phrasal phrases poetic universe poetological possible postpositioned predicate noun problem pronoun question rain poems reason reference relation Sanskrit seems semantic sense simile situation speaker structure suffix sūtra symbolic syntactical syntax Tamil term texts thematic theme tiņai Tolkāppiyam topoi topos tradition translation understand usually vāli tōli varaivu verbal verbum dicendi village vocative woman yānē Zvelebil