The Influence of Folk Poems on the Works of Amarasekara and Sekara

Abstract

Gunadasa Amarasekara and Mahagama Sekara were powerful poets during the decades of 1956 and 1960. Both these Sinhala poets have been influenced by various poetic traditions. Among these influences, folk songs hold a very special place in their poetry. “Amalbiso” is a text where Amarasekara was strongly influenced from the tradition of folk songs, while Sekara’s “Sakvalihini” reflects how far the poet was influenced by folk poetry. In this paper, I analyse “Amalbiso” and “Kinduru Kumarige Kathawa,” two poems that deal with the subject matter of a prince’s emotions, and show the impact of folk poetry on the two poets. Both these creations depict various poetic forms, character portrayals, and visions of life. Although both Amarasekara and Sekara were influenced by folk poems, the poetic concepts that they worked out were completely different from those of the folk poems. These poets draw on premodern socio-cultural backgrounds when writing these poems. Therefore, it is important to ascertain how Amarasekara and Sekara were influenced by folk poetry.