WORLD ATLAS OF POETIC TRADITIONS

Map About us What is poetry? Poetic meter Rhyme, alliteration, parallelism Catalogue of devices List of languages and poems

List of languages


BUGIS

Excerpt of the I La Galigo epic: The hero's mother forbids incest, the hero responds

Excerpt of the Toloqna Musuq Boné, Daéng ri Aja, 1860: Boné and the Dutch go to war

An élong totoq: Six-line poem on the sorrows of being an orphan

Excerpt of a heroic toloq: In 1812, the English replaced the Dutch

First élong maliung bettuanna: Riddling poem on whether a clever lover is better than a beautiful one

Second and third élong maliung bettuanna: Two riddling poems, one confessing love and the other rejecting


K'ICHE'

Introduction to the Popol Wuj: The poem is being written because the original codex is no longer safe under Spanish rule, gods enumerated

Excerpts of the Rabinal Achi: The hero's last bravado and dance before being sacrificed to his enemies' gods


KPWE

"Dirge No. 13": Kpwe funeral dirge. "That name has been struck off... From the list of friends"

"Dirge No. 10": Kpwe funeral dirge. "Do all you can on earth / Remember judgment awaits your souls"

"Dirge No. 3": Kpwe funeral dirge. "The one you loved so much / is the one we have brought to you"

"Dirge No. 1": Kpwe funeral dirge. "Persevere with your sorrow / Take heart / That's how the world is"

"Dirge No. 5": Kpwe funeral dirge. "You don’t know what will befall you / So let’s call on the Almighty"

"Dirge No. 11": Kpwe funeral dirge. "Mother respond"


MARINGARR

"Munimenhmi #1", Pius Luckan: Kiyirri mode song. "As daylight comes / birds / calling out at the swamp"

Adaptation of "Munimenhmi #1", Clement Tchinburrur: Titir kindjerryit mode song. "As daylight comes, daylight / birds call out / as daylight comes, daylight"

"Altjama #1", Claude Narjic: Tasri verri pitpit mode song. "Altjama, Altjama—billabong currents meandering / white-faced lilies spreading"

"Tjendji na Papa Ngala", Clement Tchinburur: Titir kindjerryit mode song. "Fire—fire walks, burns, blazes grass"


SAHO

"Three He sends down": A nazme, or religious poem, on the afterlife

Nazme, Soliiman Ismaaʿil Maxammad: First three stanzas of a religious poem

Ras Sibxat and the Saho: Excerpts from an ʿadar, or quote poem, on an 1890s conflict


SOQOTRI

"A Wondrous Palm": About a wondrous palm

"Ḥimbóbe": A goat curses those humans who might have harmed her kid

"What a good day it was": A grandfather's joy at his grandson understanding poetry

"Used all my strength on the day of pollination": A man prays to God for a son in veiled language

"Why are you looking at mosḥit grass": A coast-dwelling man is warned in veiled language


TOCHARIAN

"Poem from H.149.26/30": The repentance of a sinner

"Poem from G-Su-1": "How do you sleep without a care?"

"Poem from B-496": Only secular Tocharian poem

"Poem from B-298", Dharmacandra: A sinner's poem to death

"Poem from A-1a2/4": Poem on strength

"Poem from B-41a3": "Wherever the body—exhalation there on earth"



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