Laos - Glawn or gaun

[Tinker]

Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry
Southeast Asian Verse

Laos: is a landlocked country surrounded by China, Burma, Viet Nam, Cambodia and Thailand and the literature of the country understandably has been influenced by its neighbors. Buddhism dominated the early writings of Laos and like many of the Southeast Asian cultures, Laoasian poetry was to be performed rather than read.

• Glawn or gaun (Thai) is a common Lao song and verse form. There is a set tonal pattern in this verse which is impossible to duplicate in English. This form was found at Kaleidoscope.com.
  The elements of the Glawn are:
  1. stanzaic, usually written in quatrains.
  2. syllabic, line of 7 syllables each, however because this is sung, it often allows some additional unstressed syllables in the line.
  3. rhymed, although a specific rhyme scheme is not mentioned and I could find no example.
  4. tonal, impossible to duplicate in English.
  5. memorized and performed, not read.