Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry Southeast Asian Verse
Javanese poetry was originally meant to be sung for an audience, not read in private. The poetry was written with religious and political themes. Early in the 9st century, many of the meters used were borrowed from the Sanskrit Indian meters although some Javanese meters developed on their own. Each meter had it own musical tune and a long epic could be written in as many as 81 meters.
Kakawin is 9th thru 16th century Javanese court poetry in stanzaic form. It was written in Old Javanese, a dead language which at least by the