A Comparative Study of Royal Writings of King Chulalongkorn’s “Away from Home” and King Bhumibol’s “When I Departed from Siam to Switzerland”

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to make a comparative study of the royal writings of King Chulalongkorn’s ‘Away from Home’ and King Bhumibol’s ‘When I departed from Siam to Switzerland’ on format, content and concept, language and literary art. Research was conducted by analysis and synthesis of data. Data were analyzed by descriptive method. The results of the research finding showed that two Royal works have similarity and differences in the followings: 1.Similarity: two writings have 3 common characteristics in 1) format which was in the form of daily record; 2) use the language which included imagery and simile, creation and choice of words including structure and figure of speech to convey emotions and ideas to reader; 3) contents which included knowledge, idea and attitude about social and cultural conditions of visiting country to connect to context of Thailand. Differences: two writings have 3 different characteristics in detail of 1) length of content which depended on period to travel; 2) the twist stories which were approaches to offer different of stories. Style of King Chulalongkorn’s ‘Away from Home’ was to use words to describe clearly, while style of King Bhumibol’s ‘When I Departed from Siam to Switzerland’ was to leave message to think about; 3) Different eras were one among the point. King Chulalongkorn’s ‘Away from Home’ was authored in 1907 and King Bhumibol’s ‘When I Departed from Siam to Switzerland’ was authored in 1946, in which the socio-cultural context would affect differences in stories caused by different time. In addition, as for age while writing, King Rama V aged 54 and King Rama IX aged 19. Difference of kings’ age affected reflection worldview in different royal writings.