Memorial Day of the Great Poet of Thailand Sunton Pu (Thai). นนรรรมมม, 1786—1855) is held at Sunton Pu Memorial Park in Klaeng District, Rayong Province. And although this holiday is not a state holiday, it is considered an important date in the country.
More than two hundred years ago, on June 26, 1786, Sunton Pu was born in Bangkok. He was born during the reign of King Rama I. His father was from a small town in the Rainong region, but after his marriage the family moved to Bangkok. Soon after Poo was born, his parents divorced. His father returned to his town, and his mother remarried and later became a nurse at the royal palace.
Sunton Pu differed from other more noble poets in that he was a simple man. Like all young men of the time, he finished school at the temple, entered the service of the royal scribe and became famous at court for his literacy skills and his poetry. King Rama II respected him and consulted him on many occasions on the style and literacy of writing.
During the reign of King Rama IV, Pu was appointed head of the royal scribes. During these years he wrote many poems, including a lullaby for royal children.
For the first time, the poet introduced into high literature the octosyllabic clone size with which most of his works were written. Of the works of Sunton Pu, 8 nirats, 2 seps, 10 poems (lyrical, epic, historical, didactic and theatrical), pleng yao, lullabies and poetic aphorisms have been preserved. The most famous poems are «Laxanawong» (1821), «Singtripop» (1826), «Kobut» (1835).
The most famous poem by Sunton Pu «Pra Apaimani» in 30 thousand lines (completed in 1835), which is the first completely plot-independent work of Thai literature.
Many of his sayings have become catchphrases: «If you are in love, the soup with the most bitter vegetables seems sweet, but if love is gone — even sugar seems bitter».