The classical Tamil poetry is pre-Hindu and pre-Sanskrit literature with sophisticated methods to represent human experience. It is called cankam poetry, meaning “poetry of the academy.” It is categorized as akam poetry and puran poetry. Akam literally means “interior,” and this genre deals with individuals and their emotions. Love is its frequent theme. There are five types of “interior landscapes,” which express different “phases of love.” “Lovers’ unions” often take place on hillsides at night, “anxious waiting and secret meetings” often take place by the seashore at nightfall, “separation and hardship” often take place at a journey in wilderness under the sun, “patient waiting and happiness in marriage” often take place on the edge of the forest in the evening, and “unfaithfulness after marriage” often takes place on the agricultural lowland in the morning.

This landscape symbolism is applied to the collective Akam poems, “Five Interior Landscapes” For instance, the poetry, under the group of “The Hills” is about lovers’ union. The poetry group under “Seashore” is about anxious love and secret meetings. The poetry, under the group of “Wasteland” is about the young couple, suffering from being separated. The poetry group under “ Forest” is about lovers’ domestic happiness. Finally, the poetry, under the group of “Lowland” is about lovers’ domestic happiness and the anguish, coming from marital infidelity. In other words, this sophisticated landscape symbolism enhanced Tamil love poetry’s capacity to express emotions and experiences.

Note: Since there is no other post about this reading so far, I will respond to the posts about another reading by the next class.