Sempulapeyaneerar

Sempulapeyaneerar (Tamil: செம்புலப் பெயனீரார், literally "he of water that has rained on red fields") was a poet of the Sangam period, to whom a sole verse of the Sangam literature has been attributed. Sempulapeyaneerar is said to have hailed from a geographic region with an abundance of red clay. With the Tamil literary tradition's practice of identifying a poet by a phrase or word from his or her poem, Sempulapeyaneerar came to be known so owing to his usage of the imagery "red earth and pouring rain" to denote the union of loving couples in his Sangam verse. Sempulapeyaneerar wrote a sole Sangam verse, verse 40 of the Kurunthogai, and also compiled the Kurunthogai anthology. It is arguably one of the most renowned and oft-quoted of the Sangam anthology. It speaks about two lovers uniting, with the man reassuring his ladylove of his love.