The Collection of Malaysian Classics Poems
MALAY CLASSIC
PRESENTATION VIDEO
INTRODUCTION
“It is interesting to know how we live back in our childhood. We were born and live with the malay classic stories. Maybe teachers and parents are the one who always tell the stories. Some of them were shown on the television! How enjoyable and blessed for us to know them because our younger generations nowadays don’t really get this exposure. So we are making these poems to share the love and moral values to everyone! ”
Enjoy!
PRESENTING...
Why Malaysian Classics Stories ?
We want to share the reader that classic stories has an important role in human society serving as an ideal medium through which especially children can be taught valuable lessons about life which also captivate young children attention. It is for this reason that stories have been told for generation and continued to be used throughout the world today to teach moral values.
BAWANG PUTIH
What a quiet paddy field,
When the bird seems not to chirp,
The gloomy blue sky,
And so Putih's sorrowful life
Where she could feel the tender,
When both of pillar of her life gone,
Mak Kundur and Merah treat her like an option,
Continue Putih living with pain
Fishes were her friends,
Swings was her leisure,
Beautiful voice and golden luck,
Happiness awaits thy love
Sang Merah on the swings,
Upset voice,
offended people,
Sang Putih on the swings,
the world calm,
and the Sultan moved
Putih was happy to leave,
The devils left upside down,
Revenge was not her thing,
She let her pure heart forgave the mistakes
SUMMARY OF BAWANG PUTIH
The summary of Si bawang putih centers on about putih's life. She lives in a sad life because of her bad stepmother and Si merah mistreated her after her father and mother passed away. They don't get along together and always bullying Si Putih. One day, she found that a fish in the near pond can speak, and the fish tells her that it is her mother. She is very happy but unfortunately, her stepmother gets to know it very quick. the stepmother cruelly catches the fish and cooked it. With her bad intention, she asks Si Putih to eat the fish, her stepmother and stepsister reveal where they obtained the fish. Bawang Putih is very sad to know that her joy of life already dead. Bawang Putih gathers the fish bones and buries them in a small grave and the next day she is surprised to see that a beautiful swing has appeared. When Bawang Putih sits in the swing and sings an old lullaby, it magically swings back and forth. One day, while she is on the magic swing, a Prince who is hunting nearby hears her song. The prince tries to find her and eventually find the home of Bawang Putih and Bawang Merah. Bawang Merah's mother, seeing the opportunity, orders Bawang Putih to stay hidden and ask si merah to sing on the magic swing. however, she cannot song as beautifully as si putih. The Prince, now angry, orders Bawang Merah's mother to tell the truth. Bawang Merah's mother is forced to bring Si Putih back to the swing. the magic swing starts moving as soon as she begins singing. The Prince is overjoyed and asks Bawang Putih to marry him. She agrees and they live happily ever after.
ANALYSIS
Subject matter
The poem describes about a lovely kampung girl, Bawang Putih’s life. She lives in a sad and despair situation as the villain- her stepmother and Bawang Merah bullying and burdening her with a lot of work. But her life changed, after she met a Sultan, her charm of luck, after she singing a song on the magical tree.
Purpose (Theme)
The purpose of this poem is to show the reader this Malaysian classic story tells us that we will never live in a sad life forever. There must be a little spark and something that can make our life change and happy. Plus, we don’t seek revenge for people who treat us like we are not worth. The best thing to do is to apologise and karma will do their work!
Emotion (Mood)
The predominant mood in the poem is sad, empathy and sympathy but happy and gentle toward the end.
Movement
Slow rhythm, so the reader will feel what the poem tells about
Structure
This poem consists of five stanzas and each stanza have four lines, however there is one stanza which consists 6 lines
Language & Sound
Language
The language is appropriate to the subject and the theme. The readers can easily understand as it as simple as in classic storybook.
Sound
Onomatopeia! Which means the sound imitates the natural sound of thing as it can be more expressive and interesting
Imagery - Symbol & Personification
Symbols
The devils: Mak Kundur and Bawang Merah
Fishes and swing: Happiness
Personification
Beautiful voice and golden luck
BADANG
Come my fellow brethren,
Come and sit around me,
To hear the glorious tale,
Of Badang, the strong and mighty.
Started as a humble servant,
Of a rich man in his village home,
But did Badang knew
What fortune was to come.
He set traps in the river
To catch fish for dinner,
But he found it quite queer,
That his fishes seem to disappear.
One day he said to himself,
“Alright I’ll catch the thief”
So he concealed himself behind a bush
But what he saw puts him in disbelief.
A nasty figure walks toward the place,
Hairy, red-eyed creature
Ugly blisters spread upon his face,
Indeed it was a horrible feature.
It took out the fish from the cage,
And enjoyed eating them blissfully
Seeing this Badang was filled with rage,
To kill it, he was ready.
Badang jumped out from his hideout,
Caught it by its beard and greeted it with a shout,
“How dare you go out and about
And eating my fishes, you clout?”
It was surprised and begged for its life,
And swore never to eat them again
Badang was ready with a knife,
So it offered him a bargain.
“Oh good sir I beg you not to kill me,
In turn I have something to offer,
I can turn you strong and mighty,
With strength that rivals no other”.
Badang was doubtful at first,
There’s a chance it might be a lie
He thought “things couldn’t go any worse,
so I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try”.
Badang then released it
Threatened to kill it if it does any trickery,
It said that he must eat his vomit,
To become strong and mighty.
Next Badang proceeded to eat it,
But he did not feel the change anywhere
“If you don’t believe me you can its limit,
By pushing the trees over there”.
Badang was happy with new strength,
But he never felt boastful nor cocky,
He would still go to great lengths
To help the villagers with heavy work daily.
And that, my brethren,
Id the tale of Badang the strong,
Where he was loved by his fellow countrymen,
In the place where he belong.
SUMMARY OF BADANG
This poem is about a young man named Badang who was a humble servant of a rich man in his village. One day, he set traps in the river to catch fish to eat, but was surprised that there was only fish remains near his cage. He was determined to capture the thief. However, not only did he catch the thief, but also received great strength in return for letting the thief go. Although Badang gained new strength, he did not take advantage over those weaker than him, but helping them instead. Badang was loved by his fellow villagers and even the King loved him. The impact of the poem for me is that I’ve learned that I should not bully people weaker than me, instead, I should help them. This poem achieves the poet’s purpose as explained above.
ANALYSIS
SUBJECT (MATTER)
The poet describes the story of Badang, who starts as a normal villager and his encounter with the water jinn that leads to him gaining incredible strength.
PURPOSE (THEME)
The purpose of this poem is to make people aware and interested in Malaysian classics as well as bringing it to glory with a version that retells the story with the poet’s own words. The poet also intends to bring the message that we should not take other people’s belongings, or in other words, stealing, as seen in Stanza 3 to 7. Besides that, another message that can be taken from this poem is we should not be boastful about our abilities, but rather help people with those abilities, which can be seen in Stanza 13.
EMOTION (MOOD)
The predominant mood in this poem is exhilaration and curiosity (to finish the poem or to know the ending of the story). The mood changes at least according to the point of view of the characters; for example when Badang saw that his fish were being eaten, he felt angry and this is portrayed in the poem. The poet seeks to evoke these emotions and feelings to the reader.
CRAFTMANSHIP & STRUCTURE
The poet achieved his effects by using the rhyming technique.
LANGUAGE
The language is appropriate to the subject and theme. It is fairly simple, and, because it is about a classic subject, a few old words are used, such as “brethren”. The simple language helps the poem to achieve its purpose of making the readers interested. The poem has a bit of a fast-paced rhythm.
SOUND
The poet uses alliteration and assonance in the poem. For example, alliteration, ‘To hear the glorious tale’ (the repetition of consonant ‘t’)
STRUCTURE
The poem has stanzas with a fixed number of lines, that is four lines per stanza
MAT JENIN
Mat Jenin with his daydream,
Floats in clouds,
Fancy desire,
Full of hopes
On a tall coconut tree,
Reward Pak Mat his lamb,
A meat to offer,
Abundance of joy to Mat Jenin
On top of the tree,
Splendid village view,
Mat Jenin saw angelic kampung girl,
Beauty with graceful ease.
He lost in his little bubble,
Selling fresh coconuts,
To a famous butcher,
And women to mingle with
A wide smile on his face,
Heaped of gold and money,
And marrying his favourite kampung girl,
Lived Mat Jenin in a greatest life
"I am hella rich" he said,
Two hands raised in the air,
The end of his daydream,
And so, his meaningless life
He lost in his little bubble,
Selling fresh coconuts,
To a famous butcher,
And women to mingle with
A wide smile on his face,
Heaped of gold and money,
And marrying his favourite kampung girl,
Lived Mat Jenin in a greatest life
"I am hella rich" he said,
Two hands raised in the air,
The end of his daydream,
And so, his meaningless life
SUMMARY OF MAT JENIN
The summary of mat jenin is called as 'angan-angan Mat Jenin' which if it is translated into English it would mean Mat Jenin's imagination/dreams. Mat Jenin is a poor villager who loves to daydreaming, wandering, and imagine that he would live in a happy life. Mat Jenin earned a living as a coconut picker. Every day, Mat Jenin climbed up the coconut trees, chose the matured coconuts, and dropped them on the ground. But one day, when he was busy picking coconuts on the tall tree, he saw a beautiful kampung girl... and then he starts to imagine if he can sell the coconuts and get to buy cows and sell them, he would be the richest man in the village, and importantly, the beautiful kampung girl will marry him. he was too happy in his dream and screaming a big hooray! Unfortunately, he fell off the tree and end his life!
ANALYSIS
Subject Matter
The poem describes about a village man who loves to daydream. The situation that give in the poem is to tell the readers that Mat Jenin is a dreamer guy who love to live in a good life. However, his unchanged habit would not help him to reach his goals.
Purpose (Theme)
This poem tells us that to achieve one dream, we cannot just plan, action must be taken to make it realistic. Plan without action is just a wish. We must work hard to achieve our target.
Emotion (Mood)
The predominant mood in the poem is happy and cheerful but ironic and gloomy toward the end.
Structure
This poem consists of six stanzas and each stanza have four lines
Symbols & Personification
Symbols
Clouds – his dream
Bubble – his dream
Personification
Fancy desire
He lost in his
little bubble
Sound
Onomatopeia
SI TANGGANG
There was a family with three,
A mom, dad and a son,
Living happily,
Even the obstacles were bulky.
One unexpected day,
The ship's captain went down to the estuary,
His determination brought victory,
The countless jubilancy,
Accepted to be the crew,
The dream grew,
Looking for the luxurious view.
What's in his mind,
parents that once need but now thrown away,
parents that keep him,
parents that loved him,
were thrown away,
the promises that been throw away.
To reach the gold,
To deserve a good life,
He found a lucky charm,
When he met his wife,
No longer concern about the past.
Now comes the part where he wasn’t the same as before,
“My son, do you not remember us anymore?”
“My parents died a long time ago!”
She was breaking, little did he know,
The pain was immense and it’s breaking her heart,
All the words he threw, rip her apart.
The mother prayed to God,
The sky turned dark,
The wind blew strong,
Si Tanggang begged for help,
But it all seemed hopeless,
Then he turned into stone.
There was Si Tanggang,
Chesty,
But during a break,
He made a mistake,
What a terrible day for him.
SUMMARY OF SI TANGGANG
In a tiny village by the sea, there lived a very poor family: father, Si Talang, mother Si Deruma, and their son, Si Tanggang. Life was hard, and every day they struggled to make a living. However, despite living in struggles, Si Tanggang was a far-sighted boy as he had ambitions to be rich and to be a sailor. As he became an adult, he left his poor parents to make a fortune and promises to return for her. He worked hard and be a successful sailor. He also married with the daughter of the ship’s owner. He never thought of his parents anymore. He never went back to look for them like he said he would. One day, the ship that he used to work for stopped at a river mouth of a village and turned out the village is his hometown. His mother, Si Deruma was happy and excited to see Si tanggang, but by the time she met him, he refused to admit that the old woman was his mother. She was upset and then prayed to God to give Si Tanggang punishment as an ungrateful son. Si Tanggang and all the ship crew was cursed and turned into stone.
ANALYSIS
SUBJECT- MATTER
The poet wrote a story about Si Tanggang, who was a good son and lived with his two parents. He eventually was cursed into a stone after being rude to his mother.
PURPOSE (THEME)
We must be grateful and respect our parents. The purpose of this poem is to remind people to always be kind and treat our parents nicely. Being disloyalty towards parents will cause something bad to happen as a punisment.
EMOTION (MOOD)
The emotion that is described in the poem is changing according to the point of view of the character. Firstly, happy emotion as shown by Si Tanggang after he was accepted to be part of shipt crew. The second emotion in the poem is sad. The poet tried to share the emotion of Si Tanggang's mother being sad as Tanggang refused to admit that she is his mother, and because of that, she cursed Si Tanggang into a stone.
CRAFTMANSHIP & STRUCTURE
Structure: This poem consists of 5 stanzas, where each stanzas has regular number of lines.
SOUND
Alliteration:
the word “parents” in stanza3 Assonance:
crew, grew, view (stanza 2)
estuary, victory, jubilancy (stanza 2)
before, anymore (stanza 5) Consonance:
break, mistake (stanza 7)
heart, apart (stanza 5)
IMAGERY
Repetition: the repetition of word “thrown away” and word “parents” in stanza 3
HIKAYAT MERONG MAHAWANGSA
Oh, Merong Mahawangsa!
The myth unfolding the origins of Kedah,
A king whom was loved and favoured,
By the people of Langkasuka.
Oh, Merong Mahawangsa!
The chap who had the veins of steel,
Whom had the favour of the Rome king,
Sailed through the seven seas with his brawny lads,
Getting the blitz of the scorching fire of Phoenix.
Oh, Merong Mahawangsa!
Sought for a land of peace,
Later to find love and crowned as the king,
Having a kiddiewink with his beloved,
Went back to Rome after crowning his son as the king.
Oh, Merong Mahadipusat!
Ruler of the Kedah Zamin Turan,
Three youngs lads and a lass,
Crowned as the ruler for the roamed states.
Oh, Merong Mahadipusat!
Eldest as the Siamese King,
Second as the Perak King,
The lass as the Patani King,
And the youngest lad as his replacement.
Oh, Seri Mahawangsa!
The old king of Kedah,
Disappointment enfolding his heart,
Watching his only son ruling with cruelty,
Passing away and replaced,
By the cruel king known as Raja Bersiong.
Oh, Raja Bersiong!
Opposed by the Kedahans,
Ruling them with fear and force,
No longer had the power nor the ability,
Then replaced by his child,
Phra Ong Mahawangsa.
Oh, Phra Ong Mahawangsa!
The first king to embrace Islam,
Later changed his name and identity,
By the helps of a bright sheikh,
To Sultan Mudzafar Shah.
SUMMARY OF HIKAYAT MERONG MAHAWANGSA
Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa tells a story about the origins of modern day Kedah. Merong Mahawangsa is said to be the first king of Langkasuka (Kedah’s past name) and was a legendary warrior. Although he mostly stayed in Rome, he was a ruler of an unknown kingdom who was favoured by the Rome king and had close connections to the emperor of China. One day, he decided to travel to China with his strong army for some trading, but they were later on attacked by the phoenix bird known as Garuda. The attack was so strong that they crashed onto the shores nearby a peaceful village called Langkasuka. By showing off his strength and leadership, he was crowned as their king. He then later on found his true love and had a son named Merong Mahadipusat who was crowned as the king of Langkasuka. After that, it was said that Merong Mahawangsa was nowhere to be seen and his whereabouts were a mystery. Merong Mahadipusat changed the state’s name to Kedah Zamin Turan and had four children, three sons and a daughter. They were all crowned as the rulers of the roamed states. The eldest son as the Siamese King, second eldest as the Perak King, the daughter as the Pattani King Princess, and the youngest son as Merong Mahadipusat’s replacement. The youngest son, whose name was Seri Mahawangsa had a son whom he raised to grow as such a disappointment to him as his son ruled Kedah with cruelty and fear. Seri Mahawangsa passed away with disappointment and was replaced by his son who was soon known as Raja Bersiong. Because of the way of his ruling, the officials and people had no choice but to oppose him and rebel. After running away and hiding for a bit while, Raja Bersiong had a son named Phra Ong Mahadipusat far away from the palace. Not knowing about his bloodline, Phra Ong Mahadipusat was raised under his mother’s care until he was told about it and his identity was revealed in the palace. After that, Phra Ong Mahadipusat had a son named Phra Ong Mahawangsa who later changed his name to Sultan Mudzafar Shah and converted to Islam. He was the first king to ever embrace Islam by the helps of a bright sheikh.
ANALYSIS
Subject Matter
The poem describes the origins of the current Kedah which was known as Langkasuka and the myth about the Kedahans’ royal blood. It tells a story about a mighty and legendary king who was favoured by the Rome king and the people of Langkasuka. As the poem goes deeper, it tells the story of his heirs and their bloodline. The infamous Fanged King-- Raja Bersiong-- was rebelled by his own people because of his way his ruling and later on inherited by his grandson, who converted into Islam and had his name changed from Phra Ong Mahawangsa to Sultan Mudzafar Shah by the help of a bright sheikh.
Purpose (Theme)
A great historical descent government
Emotion
The prime emotion in this poem is the proud feeling as readers see the development of a myth about the origins of Kedah. This reminds the readers that their ancestors were legendary warriors and should be proud of their bloodline.
Structure
Consists of eight stanzas, stanza 1 and 2 have four lines meanwhile stanza 2,3 and 5 have five lines, whilst stanza 6,7 and 8 have six lines.
Sound and Languange
SOUND
1. Assonance : Mahawangsa, Kedah, Langkasuka (stanza 1)
2. Consonance : King (stanza 3)
LANGUAGE
The language is appropriate to the subject and theme. A few playful words were used such as “kiddiewink”, and a few classic words were also used such as “lads”. “Lass” and “blitz”. The language is moderate yet easy for the readers to process to be interested.
Imagery and Movement
IMAGERY
1. Symbols : “A land of peace” - stanza 3; line 11
2. Hyperbole : “The blitz of the scorching fire of Phoenix” - stanza 2; line 9
MOVEMENT
Slow rhythm, so that readers will be able to understand the real story of Merong Mahawangsa.
Moral Values!
What can we learn from all of these poem?
1. We need to be kind to others, it can be seen in Bawang Putih, eventhough her family treated her badly, she still forvige them in the of the story.
2. Having an advantage is a bonus and we must use it wisely, it can be seen in Badang because he is known as a strong man in his village, with this advantage, he help the villager to settle out heavy things and others.
3. A dream without action is a failure. This can be seen in Mat Jenin who loves to daydream about his success, but there is no progress!
4. We must never forget the one who raised us. This value can be seen in Tanggang who doesn't appreciate and repay his parents.
5. One country often ruled by following descendant, if the king leads the country in a good way,a great change can happen. This can be seen in Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa where at the end, the king converted to Islam and many new thins are welcomed.
