ABSTRACT
Most traditional Thai songs, both folk and classical, make use of the klkkn poetic form, in which rhyming is the most significant feature. This poetic form had been used amongst commoners [in songs] for centuries before it became part of court literature at the end of the Ayutthajaa period; prior to that court literature only made use of the râaj, kàab, khlooz, and chfn poetic forms (Iiawshiwoz 1995:32-3). The present-day forms of klkkn can therefore be said to be adaptations of the forms of klkkn used in regional songs acquired by the court poets. It is true to say that flexibility was an important feature of this genre, i.e. the number of syllables in each line and the rhyming positions were variable. The poetic forms of these songs gave birth to a new and more popular type, known later as klkkn pyud, which had a more rigid rhyme pattern and a less flexible number of syllables. This kind of klkkn is known by many other names, e.g. klkkn sùphâab (‘polite’ klkkn), klkkn sgephaa (klkkn for sgephaa), klkkn lamnam (klkkn for songs) etc. Iiawshiwoz (ibid:33) claims that before klkkn developed and was informally categorised, the commoners’ repertoire had been known simply as phleez which means ‘songs’, examples of which were phleez klom dèg (lullaby songs), phleez ryya (boat songs) and phleez sùu khwfn (songs used to call back a wandering spirit).
