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.
