Abstract:
he Sri Lankan traditional society was subjected to a
substantial transformation as it succumbed to Western
invasions. Sri Lanka’s surrender to the British dominance
respectively following the Portuguese and Dutch invasions
was a turning point of this transformation. In 1829 William
Colebrook and C.H. Cameron altered the rule, economy
and the education of the country. Cameron prepared what
is known as the Corporate Revision Report while other
reports were presented by Colebrook. The implementation
of those reforms as recommended by the commission was
the leading cause which directed the entire history of Sri
Lanka in a new path to be characterized by a rapid change
in 19th century. This transformation was seen in a number
of sectors which are, economic, political, cultural, religious
and literary. In the British era, with the expansion of the
printing technology Sinhala literature saw a conspicuous
change. The impact of the Western literature along with
the emanation of diversity in the traditional literary
tradition was seen. Special attention should be drawn to
the transformation that took place in 19th century in terms
of the traditional poetic literature, in the presence of the
printing technology. It was in this period that the foundation
to the origin of the modern poetic literature was created,
most of which are instrumental in identifying the thoughts
and perspectives of the people who lives in that particular
period. The purpose of this research article is to address
the social perspective of the common poets as it is brought
out by the poetic creations that took its origin in the 19th
century.
