Tamil Poetry: An Amateur Analysis

Why are Tamil Lyrics so Awesome?

I notice that the standard of Tamil lyrics seems to be deceptively high (Hindi too, I guess). Perhaps because there are so many Tamil songs with great similes and alliteration and rhymes, I don’t feel as impressed with them as when I read some English poetry that has a little bit of a rhyme going.

For example, just look at Saarattu Vandiyil from Kaatru Veliyidai:

Muthalil Maala Maathungadi
Pirahu Paala Maathungadi
Kattil Vittu Kaalaiyila
Kasangi Vanthaa Saelai Maathungadi

That feels like effortless alliteration with the M’s and P’s and K’s (along with the rhymes for maalai, paalai, saelai). I didn’t even notice until I paid attention. It just flowed. This seems to be the standard for Indian lyrics.

Or my favourite example of alliteration (from Minsara Kanna, Padayappa):

Vaal Vizhiyaal Valai Virithaai
Vanjanai Vellaadhu
Valaikalile Meen Sikkalaam
Thanneer Endrum Sikkaadhu

So many vords vith V’s! I can’t readily think of English lyrics or poetry like that (though that could just be my ignorance).

Friend: The bigger difference IMO is that words in English end with half sounds while the Tamizh words used in poetry a lot of them are complete and end with a vowel. That provides for a much better flow of sound than it would ever be possible in English. And that’s why some consider “Telugu” to be the best language to compose songs in.

Agreed. That seems to be a big factor too.

Word order too doesn’t matter much in Tamil (haven’t thought about this for other Indian languages). I saw this relevant Quora answer:

In straight sentences, the meaning will remain intact even if we change the order of the words. Example: Raaman Raavananai Kondraan. It works even if we say it as Raavananai Kondraan Raaman. All combinations give us the same meaning. In English, Let us take the same sentence: Rama killed Ravana. If you change it to, say, Ravana killed Rama, the whole meaning goes for a toss!!

– Languages of India: What are some mind-blowing facts about Tamil?

I guess that makes it easier to arrange words to fit your rhyme scheme.

Poetic Languages?

Hypothesis (Better for poetry): My hypothesis is that Tamil and Hindi and other Indian languages were optimized for poetry (compared to English) since works had to be passed on and memorized orally, and songs are far easier to memorize than straight prose (I bet you still remember shlokas from childhood - even I do).

Friend: It’s an interesting hypothesis. How do you convert it into a falsifiable one though :D ? What would be an interesting comparison would be 2 languages of similar times. Like if Latin - Samskrutam - Tamizh or a contemporary language similar to English - and say Malayalam.

We need to operationalize the term “better for composing poetry” so that we can compare languages.

Hypothesis (Easier to remember): A poem is easier to remember when it has more of alliteration, similes, metaphors, repetition, and rhymes.

There are probably other factors too that aid memory, such as meter or verse form or metonymy, but we’ll stick to these for now (mainly because I’m not too familiar with those others :P).

So, if one language allows more of these than another, we will consider it better for composing poetry. Roughly, if it’s easier to compose poems that are easy to remember, then it’s a good language for composition.

(We’ve already seen some relevant factors like having words that end with vowels and allowing flexible word order, which should help in creating rhyming words.)

Note: Perhaps the factors mentioned above make a poem more enjoyable too. But right now, we’re focussing on memory, not pleasure.

Experiment: Compare two Songs

We can begin with a small, simple, crude test.

Taylor Swift: I Knew You Were Trouble

Let’s see how many of the above factors we can find in a Taylor Swift song (she’s held to be one of the best lyricists among current pop artists).

I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift

Once upon a time a few mistakes ago
I was in your sights, you got me alone
You found me, you found me, you found me

Repetition

I guess you didn't care, and I guess I liked that
And when I fell hard you took a step back
Without me, without me, without me

Repetition

And he's long gone when he's next to me
And I realize the blame is on me
'Cause I knew you were trouble when you walked in
So shame on me now
Flew me to places I'd never been

Bird metaphor; rhyme “in” with “been” (pronounced as “bin”).

'Til you put me down, oh
I knew you were trouble when you walked in
So shame on me now
Flew me to places I'd never been
Now I'm lying on the cold hard ground

Imagery

Rhyme: “down”, “now”, “ground”

Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble
Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble

Repetition

No apologies. He'll never see you cry,
Pretends he doesn't know that he's the reason why.
You're drowning, you're drowning, you're drowning.

Repetition

Metaphor

Rhyme: “cry”, “why”

Now I heard you moved on from whispers on the street
A new notch in your belt is all I'll ever be

Simile

Rhyme: “street”, “be” (?)

And now I see, now I see, now I see

Repetition

He was long gone when he met me
And I realize the joke is on me, yeah!
I knew you were trouble when you walked in
So shame on me now
Flew me to places I'd never been
'Til you put me down, oh
I knew you were trouble when you walked in
So shame on me now

Repetition (same line as before)

Flew me to places I'd never been
Now I'm lying on the cold hard ground
Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble
Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble

Repetition

And the saddest fear comes creeping in
That you never loved me or her, or anyone, or anything, yeah
I knew you were trouble when you walked in
So shame on me now
Flew me to places I'd never been
'Til you put me down, oh
I knew you were trouble when you walked in (you were right there, you were right there)
So shame on me now
Flew me to places I'd never been
Now I'm lying on the cold hard ground
Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble
Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble

Repetition

I knew you were trouble when you walked in
Trouble, trouble, trouble

Repetition

I knew you were trouble when you walked in
Trouble, trouble, trouble

Repetition

Songwriters: Taylor Swift / Max Martin Shellback / Johan Schuster

(Source: Google Search - lyrics feature)

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Similes and metaphors: 4

Rhymes: 4

Repetition: 10

(We can differ on the exact numbers, but they should be in the ballpark)

I couldn’t find a noticeable rhyme scheme. It felt like a story sung to a tune. Couldn’t find much alliteration either.

Note: Things like song structure and tunes also matter, but right now we’re talking about setting stories in rhythmic verse (like the Mahabharata), not necessarily making them into songs.

Taylor Swift - 22

Here’s another TS song. The previous one didn’t have much rhyme. It could be an aberration. So, to even things out:

22 by Taylor Swift

It feels like a perfect night to dress up like hipsters
And make fun of our exes, uh uh uh uh

repetition (uh uh)

It feels like a perfect night for breakfast at midnight
To fall in love with strangers uh uh uh uh

repetition ("It feels like a perfect night") + (uh uh)

Yeah
We're happy free confused and lonely at the same time
It's miserable and magical oh yeah

alliteration (miserable, magical)

Tonight's the night when we forget about the deadlines, it's time uh oh

rhyme (time, deadlines)

I don't know about you but I'm feeling 22

alliteration (22 - twenty two)

Everything will be alright, if you keep me next to you
You don't know about me, but I bet you want to

rhyme (you, to)

Everything will be alright, if we just keep dancing like we're 22, 22
It seems like one of those nights

repetition ("Everything will be alright")

This place is too crowded, too many cool kids uh uh, uh uh

repetition (uh uh)

It seems like one of those nights

repetition ("It seems like one of those nights")

We ditch the whole scene and end up dreaming instead of sleeping

rhyme (scene, dreaming, sleeping)

Yeah
We're happy free confused and lonely in the best way
It's miserable and magical oh yeah

repetition (chorus)

Tonight's the night, when we forget about the heartbreaks, it's time uh oh

rhyme (tonight, night)

I don't know about you but I'm feeling 22
Everything will be alright if you keep me next to you

rhyme (22, you)

You don't know about me, but I bet you want to

rhyme (you, to)

Everything will be alright if we just keep dancing like we're 22 uh uh ah ah ah 22 uh uh uh

repetition (chorus)

I don't know about you, 22 uh uh 22 uh uh
It feels like one of those nights
We ditch the whole scene
It feels like one of those nights
We won't be sleeping

rhyme (scene, sleeping)

It feels like one of those nights
You look like bad news I gotta have you, I gotta have you ohh, uh, yeah

rhyme (news, you)

I don't know about you but I'm feeling 22

rhyme (you, 22)

Everything will be alright if you keep me next to you
You don't know about me but I bet you want to
Everything will be alright if we just keep dancing like we're 22 uh uh, 22 uh uoh,
22 uh uh, yeah, 22 uh uhoo, yeah yeah
It feels like one of those nights uh uh
We ditch the whole scene
It feels like one of those nights uh uh
We won't be sleeping
It feels like one of those nights uh uh
You look like bad news I gotta have you, I gotta have you
Songwriters: Taylor Swift / Max Martin / Johan Shellback

repetition

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Similes and metaphors: 0 (Wow.)

Alliteration: 2

Rhymes: 9

Repetition: 9+ (I stopped counting cos she was just repeating the same lines)

Manjal Megam from Bairavaa

A Tamil song: Manjal Megam from Bairavaa - chosen arbitrarily from Lyrical Delights

I’ll look for alliteration in the Tamil verses and for similes and metaphors in the English translation. There are a lot of errors in the lyrics provided; I’ve quoted them as given.

manjaL maegam.. oru manjaL maegam..

repetition

Alliteration (manjal, maegam)

siRu peNNaaga munnae poagum..

padhaRum udalum en kadhaRum uyirum

rhyme (padharum, kadharum) + (udalum, uyirum)

avaL paer kaettu pinnae poagum..

alliteration (paer, pinnae, poagum)

rhyme (munnae, pinnae)

sella poovae, naan unnai kaNdaen..
chella chellach uyir sidhaRa kaNdaen..

repetition (chella, chella)

rhyme (sella, chella) + (kandaen, kandaen)

Yellow cloud.. A yellow cloud
Goes in front of me, as a young lass..

metaphor

My trembling body and screaming soul
Goes following her, asking for her name..

metaphor

My darling flower, I found you..
I find my life scattering into tiny pieces..

metaphors (flower; found you; shattering into tiny pieces)

nillaayoa.. nillaayoa.. un paer enna..
unnaalae maRandhdhaenae.. en paer enna.

repetition

rhyme (un, en) + (enna, enna)

Wont you stop? Wont you? What's your name?
Because of you, I forgot.. What's my name?

metaphor (he didn't really forget his name)

kanavaa kanavaa? naan kaaNpadhu kanavaa?

repetition

alliteration (kanavaa, kaanbadhu)

en kaN munnae kadavuL thugaLaa

alliteration (kan, kadavul)

kaatRil udalaa.
kampan kavidhai madalaa

alliteration (kaatril, kamban, kavidhai)

ivaL thennaattin naangaam kadalaa

rhyme (udalaa, madalaa, kadalaa)

silikkaan silaiyoa

alliteration (silicon, silaiyoa)

siRuvaay malaroa
veLLai nadhiyoa
veLiyoor nilavoa

alliteration (vellai, veliyoor) + (nadhiyoa, nilavoa)

rhyme (silaiyoa, malaroa, nadhiyoa, nilavoa)

Is this a dream? Is what I am seeing a dream?
In front of me, is this God Particle? Solid form of Wind?
Is she the bearer of Kamban's poetry?
Is she the fourth sea of South?

metaphors (God particle; solid form of wind; bearer of Kamban's poetry; fourth sea)

(Is she) Silicon statue?
(Is she) a flower with tiny petals?
(Is she) White river?
(Is she) Moon from another place?

metaphors (four of them)

sempon silaiyoa?

alliteration (sempon, silaiyoa)

ivaL aimpon azhagoa?

alliteration (aimpon, azhagoa)

piramman magaLoa?
ivaL peNpaal veyiloa?

rhyme (silaiyoa, azhagoa, magaloa, veyiloa)

naan unnai poandRa peNNai kaNda thillai
en uyiril paadhi yaarum kondRadhillai.

rhyme (kandathillai, kondradhillai)

alliteration (kandathillai, kondradhillai)

mun azhagaal muthi moatcham kodu

alliteration (mun, mutthi, moatcham)

illai pin mudiyaal ennai thookkilidu.

rhyme (mun, pin) + (azhagaal, mudiyaal) + (kodu, thookilidu)

(Is she) Statue made of fine gold?
(Is she) the beauty of five metals?
(Is she) daughter of Brahma?
(Is she) female form of Sun?

metaphors (four; this song is full of them)

I have not seen another woman like you,
(Hence) No one has ever killed half my life..

metaphor

Either embrace me and give me bliss,
Or hang me in noose with your hair..

metaphors (give me bliss; hang me)

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Similes and metaphors: 21

Alliteration: 11

Rhymes: 14 (I counted each set of rhyming words once)

Repetition: 3

Observation: This song scores lower on repetition, way higher on everything else.

Discussion

The fact that the Tamil song has a lot more similes and alliteration will seem irrelevant if you disagree with my ease of memorization hypothesis, because you will believe something else makes poems easier to remember.

Plus, the Taylor Swift song could, of course, be far more relatable to modern kids (and thus easier to remember). “No apologies. He’ll never see you cry, pretends he doesn’t know that he’s the reason why” needs no explanation. Whereas “ival thennaattin naangaam kadalaa” is a reference I didn’t catch - I don’t know what the three seas of the south are. Is he talking about the Arabian sea, Indian ocean, and the Bay of Bengal? Or a more obscure classical thing? I don’t know and, in any case, I still can’t see why calling her a sea makes sense (leave alone calling her a “God particle” - SMH). Basically, you can go afield with your metaphors.

So, treat the above as a simple set of observations (there are X similes and Y rhyming words in a particular TS song vs a typical Tamil song) and make your own inferences.

Any theory you come up with should explain why this particular Tamil song (and by extension most other Tamil songs) had way more similes and alliteration and rhyming words than this particular English song (and by extension most other English songs).

Also feel free to analyze the two songs for other factors (like meter or verse form or whatever).

Inferences and Hypotheses

Hypothesis: I think Tamil makes it easier for you to write poems with lots of alliterations and rhymes. Maybe it’s the flexible word order. Maybe it’s also that there exist a lot of words with the same beginnings so that you can get alliterations more easily. Or it’s just that Tamil poets are trying really hard to come up with alliterations and rhymes.

Also, maybe Tamil words have common endings that make them easier to rhyme. Hindi has this too. For example, the title song in “Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai” has a rhyme scheme full of words ending in “-aar”, such as “Dil mera har baar yeh, sunne ko bekaraar hai… Kaho naa pyaar hai.” There are a lot of Hindi words ending with “-aar”. (Here are all the -aar words in that song: “baar bekaraar ikraar intezaar izhaar pyaar yaadgaar yaar”)

Hmm… Tamil syllables seem to have basic consonants along with a few possible modifications. For example, with ‘m’, you could have maa, mee, mu, moo, etc. So, rhyming words becomes a matter of looking at words that have the same final syllable. (You could of course go for even two syllables or more.)

I’m guessing there are fewer possible final syllables in Tamil and thus a lot of possible words that end in the same syllable and thus rhyme together. We need to check if English has a lot more possible final syllables and thus fewer words that end in the same syllable.

Alliteration is just the inverse: group words that start with the same syllable (or syllables).

Test: Check with English rap songs. They need to rhyme a lot. How do they manage it? (I’m told that Eminem takes it as a personal challenge to be able to rhyme any word he comes across.)

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We can look at possible historical causes after we can find enough evidence to become confident that Tamil makes rhyming and alliteration easier than English. Perhaps any orally-designed language has a limited number of final syllables and thus a lot of rhyming words, and mixed-bag languages like English have a lot of final syllables (such as “-text”, “-tract”, “-dent”) and thus fewer rhyming words. (I could be completely wrong about this.)

And this isn’t an East vs West thing. I bet Greek is a good language for poetry too, given all the epics composed orally in it, like the Odyssey.

Metaphors

Question: What about the abnormally high number of metaphors, though? Why would one language support metaphors any more than another?

The syntax of a language and the available words might restrict or foster rhyme and alliteration. But metaphors are just metaphors, right? Why didn’t the English song have a lot of (or actually, any) metaphors?

Perhaps using metaphors was a classical habit that was lost by modern English lyricists. Later, we might look at English poems, such as those written by Percy Bysshe Shelley or William Wordsworth.

We could also test Hindi or Telugu songs to see if they contain a lot of metaphors and alliteration and rhyme too.

Notes

Thanks to my friend Sudharshan for the stimulating conversations on this topic.

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