Padamu Jua
poem
"Padamoe Djoea" (Republican Spelling: "Padamu Djua"; Perfected Spelling: "Padamu Jua"; Indonesian for "To You Alone") is a 28-line poem by Amir Hamzah which was included in his 1937 collection Nyanyi Sunyi. Hamzah's best-praised work, readings have generally focused on religious themes – mainly from an Islamic perspective, although Christian influences have been suggested.
Writing
"Padamu Jua" was written by Amir Hamzah, a Langkat-born Malay writer who studied in Dutch schools. The poem is not dated (indeed, none of Hamzah's works are) Poet Laurens Koster Bohang considers "Padamu Jua" to have been written between 1933 and 1937, while Dutch scholar of Indonesian literature A. Teeuw dates it to 1936/1937. The time was one of great emotional turmoil for Hamzah, who was required to marry the daughter of the Sultan of Langkat, who had funded his studies in Java. At the time Hamzah had reportedly fallen in love with a Javanese woman while studying, and was forced to leave her.
Structure
The 28-line poem consists of 84 words. It is dominated by the vowels a and u, which are often repeated either as the diphthong au or the hiatus ua; such combinations occur in 35 per cent of the words and 64 per cent of the lines. Consonants are often repeated, emphasising the interconnection between different words in a line.
Analysis
Indonesian literary critic Zuber Usman writes that the poem describes a meeting between Amir Hamzah and God, depicted either as a meeting between lovers or between a servant and his Lord.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Padamu Jua” as poem. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as poem. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 9, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q14950394. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1937, 1933 and 1936.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Padamu Jua”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Padamu Jua primary sources, Padamu Jua archive and Padamu research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Padamu Jua”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Padamu Jua” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.