Chinese And Thai Poetry Musical Contrast

The objective of this thesis is to study musical elements of Chinese traditional poetry and Thai traditional poetry. This paper focuses on similarities and differences of musical elements between these two types of arts. Among all different types of Chinese poetry, "Jintishi", especially during the Tang Dynasty is considerately respected as the most standard form. In Thai history of poetry, "8 Gluan" is the most well-known and is considered the standard form. Due to cultural habits and acquaintance, characteristics of the two languages are also expressed in their traditional poetry styles. This research primary shows the musical elements of "Jintishi"and "8 Glaun". In "Jintishi", one character represents one syllable. Therefore, "Jintishi" uses their 4 tones as their primary musical element. But in "8 Glaun", primary musical elements are rhymes and positions of stressed syllables. The Thai 8 Gluan focuses on both outer and inner rhymes, as they are the most important musical elements within this form of poetry. "Jintishi" also uses rhymes at the end of each line, which is the prime position to display musical nature of the sound. This research is conducted in order to show the contrast of musical elements between Chinese Jintishi and Thai 8 Glaun.The paper is divided into four chapters:the first Chapter a literature review of previous studies about musical elements of both languages. The second chapter is on the musical elements of Thai poetry, including the history of Thai poetry, conversational habits, and the versification of Thai poetry in details. The third chapter is a comparison of the musical elements between Chinese Jintishi and Thai 8 Glaun, including conversational musical elements, tones, meters, and rhymes. The fourth chapter is a summary and thoughts on related subjects.