Methods of Thinking and Metaphors of Women in Khrao Sor Poems

Abstract

The objective of this qualitative research was to study the thinking and comparative methodology regarding women in the Khrao, Sor through the work of traditional local poets and the that of the 1995 Thai national performance artist (traditional fiddle) Kampai Nuping. This was accomplished through the extraction of elements of the poetry and the lyrics accompanying the Nan/Lanna Sor, including both the Khrao and the Nan Sor. 

          The result of this research found that: The poet’s comparisons were a product of the Lanna values and ideology of the time in viewing women whom they loved. The poets compared the women to nature, beliefs, religion, and all things and relations in society. They constructed images of women and their fragile nurtured beauty and proposed to compare them to various things in order to show their greatest beauty in accordance with the ideology and values of Lanna. The poets spoke of women through comparison to things around them to reflect the deepest comparisons to nature and their exquisite physical nature, including skin, hair, eyes, arms, and their shape. Taken together, this was beauty in terms of the Buddhist religion, for example, Ms. Visaka is considered a model of such beauty, called benjakaliyani. The people of Lanna value young women in their conformity to Ms. Visaka and her accompanying beauty, both internal and external. The lifestyle which still relates to the materials knitted together to reflect beauty indicate the status and role of women in society, both as mothers and young ladies. Thus, the comparisons of poets continue to show the beauty of women that not only reflects their external beauty, but also the treasures of motherhood and the goodness exemplified by Ms. Kaew or Queen Matree.