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CONTEMPORARY VIETNAMESE POETRY: ON THE PATH OF TRANSFORMATION
(A PORTRAIT OF VIETNAMESE LITERATURE
Translated by J. Do Vinh
“Poetry as a Window on History and Change in Southeast Asia” is the main topic of a Panel
at the 56th Conference of the Association for Asian Studies -- Sponsored by Council of Teachers of Southeast Asian
Languages, to be held in San Diego on March 4, 2004. In many respects, poetry is indeed linked to history and change.
History here must be understood in the broader context of linguistic, literary and political developments. These are the
primary elements that make up culture. When we speak of Vietnamese poetry, we are speaking of the larger category of
Vietnamese literature as well, since up until the invention of the Quoc Ngu (Romanized National Script), Vietnamese
literature was primarily poetic, absent of novels and essays. Short stories only began to emerge with the popular use
of Quoc Ngu. The earliest were translations of Chinese and French stories that began to appear in the magazine Nam
Phong Tap Chi. Thus, the novel only came into existence after 1921 1; an example of such work was To Tam, a
romantic novel written by Hoang Ngoc Phach. Novels written after that period followed the structure and expressions of
plot and character development of foreign literature, merged with the rhetoric techniques of classical poetry. Changes in
Vietnamese literature always begin with changes to poetry, since poetry is at the heart of Vietnamese literature. But
poetry as a mechanism for change historically has been subjected to the whims of political power, tracing back a
thousand years. Changes in government, the written script and other historical changes have also affected the evolution
of Vietnamese poetry. As such, we must study Vietnamese poetry from many different angles: the linguistic, historical
and cultural influences of foreign civilizations such as China and the West, in order to understand the change and
continuity in Vietnamese poetry typical of Vietnamese literature in general.
The Background
As to Vietnamese history, China 2 dominated Vietnam for nearly one thousand years (from 111
B.C.E to 938 C.E). In modern times, Vietnam endured eighty years of French Colonialism (from 1863 to 1949). Those years
of foreign domination instilled upon Vietnamese people foreign cultures that deeply affected their customs, daily lives
and literary traditions. The Chinese rulers brought to Vietnam their distinctive traditions such as marriage reforms,
education, agriculture, and many other aspects of civilization aimed at assimilating the Vietnamese. For instance, they
taught Chinese script for use in daily administrative offices because at that time, although the Vietnamese people had
their own verbal language, no writing system existed. After the great Ngo Quyen gained Vietnam’s independence from
China (939 - 965), the Dinh Dynasty 3 (968-960) took over and started to emulate the monarchist system from the Chinese
Dynasties and continued to use Chinese script in administrative offices and diplomatic exchanges with China. Vietnamese
poetry in Han Chinese script emerged under the Ly Dynasty (1009-1225), written mostly by Zen Buddhist monks because only
Buddhist monks had the privilege of the formal education provided by the monasteries; such writings were usually in the
form of Sayings (katha). 4 Buddhism arrived in Vietnam via two routes: by way of China and from India. Many of the Buddhist
texts were written in Han Script. Therefore, Vietnamese monks were quite fluent in Han Script, and Sinology became popular
with the spread of Buddhism.
As of the tenth century, most Vietnamese social, political, cultural, religious, artistic, and
literary traditions reflected Chinese influence. In the year 1075, the Vietnamese emperor Ly Nhan Ton established the
first mandarinate exams in Vietnam. The purpose of the exams was to recruit able civil servants into the emperor’s courts.
Despite its political independence, Vietnam still relied on Chinese script and general culture until the reign of Tran
Nhan Ton (1279 - 1298). Han Thuyen 5 used Nom script, which was the unofficial Vietnamese script graphotype
using Chinese characters, to write his famous poem “Van Te Ca Sau” (Ode to the Crocodile). Nom script was transcribed
phonetically from Vietnamese pronunciations. Like Han script, it proved very difficult to write. Only civil servants,
scholars and students could write in Nom, since it was not popular with the common people. Nobody knew exactly how the
Nom script originated. Nom script may have developed from the need to describe daily activities and objects more clearly
than in Han script. This Nom script was not conventionalized. Every user adapted it according to the needs at hand. The
reader had to rely on guesswork to comprehend the text.
In the sixteenth century, during the Trinh-Nguyen Lords -- demarcation period, foreign merchants
and missionaries began to arrive in Vietnam. Since Nom script was difficult to learn, the missionaries devised an
alphabet writing system based on Vietnamese pronunciation to facilitate the teaching of the Bible and to spread the
Christian religion. This was called Quoc Ngu (national script), and it combined the work of many Italian, French and
Portuguese priests. In 1651, a Jesuit Priest named Alexandre de Rhodes (1591-1660) published the first Quoc
Ngu-Portuguese-Latin dictionary in Rome, marking the beginning of modern day use of the Vietnamese National Script, Quoc
Ngu. In 1863, the French invaded Southern Vietnam 6 and by 1884 had conquered the entire country, making the
South its colony and the North and Central areas its protectorates. During the early years of French colonialism, the
French had to quell many rebellions, including the Can Vuong 7 (King Restoration) Movement. The French were not able to
abolish the entire mandarinate exam system in the North until 1915 and in Hue (in the Central area) around 1919.
Afterwards the French opened their own schools to train a new generation of colonists to work for them. They also
established the Khai Tri Tien Duc Association (Progressively Open-Minded Association) to advance French culture and Quoc
Ngu script.
Around the same time, in 1906, the Vietnamese revolutionary Phan Boi Chau organized the Phong
Trao Dong Du 8 (Go East Movement) to send Vietnamese students to Japan to acquire advanced education. He
recognized how strong and prosperous Japan had become by modernizing itself. In early 1907, a number of young patriotic
Vietnamese scholars with mixed Confucian and Western backgrounds, including Luong Van Can, Nguyen Quyen, Hoang Tang Bi,
and Duong Ba Trac, opened the Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc (Free School of the Eastern Capital). 9 These scholars
favored the use of Quoc Ngu over the archaic Nom and advocated Vietnamese nationalism, modernization, and mass education
while resisting foreign cultural assimilation. At the end of 1907, the French closed down the Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc by
negotiating a treaty with Japan discontinuing the harboring of Vietnamese students. With the failure of the Phong Trao
Dong Du and the Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc, many Vietnamese scholars were disappointed and disheartened. They returned to
working under French administrators, serving as researchers and analysts to reconcile differences between the French
and the Vietnamese.
As part of its propaganda, the French authority assisted Nguyen Van Vinh in publishing Dong
Duong Tap Chi 10 (Indochinese Review, 1913-1915) which specialized in the translation of Chinese and French
literature
into Quoc Ngu. Another publication, Nam Phong Tap Chi 11 (Southern Wind Review, 1917-1932) edited by Pham Quynh,
appeared in 1917 in three languages: Vietnamese (written in Quoc Ngu), French and Chinese. Articles chosen for publication
were on revolutionary thoughts and academic research and were educational in nature. “Nam Phong Tap Chi” published widely
in order to attract a large audience, from the Confucian educated to the western educated, in order to spread both ancient
and modern studies. In 1928, Nguyen Van Ngoc published his modern collection of Vietnamese “folk and custom”
verses 12 of some eight thousand verses following such ideals. This collection laid the basis for harmony
between Tho cu (old poetry) with Tho moi (new poetry). Here we can recognize the importance of the written word.
Alphabet writing was easier to learn and write, similar to English or French. It helped to change the influence on
Vietnamese culture from the Chinese to the West.
By 1932, a new generation of writers had emerged. Those new writers no longer subscribed to
the East-West reconciliation views of the Nam Phong Tap Chi and Dong Duong Tap Chi generation. They revolted against
the old, and promoted the new. The first of this new generation was author Nhat Linh, who published Phong Hoa
magazine 12 (Customs and Morals) and founded Tu Luc Van Doan (the Self-Reliant Literary Group) in 1933 that
included Khai Hung (1896-1947), Thach Lam (1910-1942), Hoang Dao (1907), Tu Mo, Nguyen Gia Tri (1908-1993) and The
Lu (1907-1989). These writers used Quoc Ngu to compose poems and novels. Many other writers later joined them,
including Xuan Dieu (1916-1985), Huy Can, Vu Hoang Chuong (1916-1975), and Dinh Hung (1920-1967). Together they started
an enlightening literary epoch called Tho van Tien Chien 14 (pre-war literature). These writers shared a
Confucian scholar background, with a penchant for Western education. Combining traditional Tang poetry with popular
oral traditions, they composed a particular Vietnamese-style poetry. Up until this time, all literature was reserved
for city-dwellers who were educated since the majority of the common population was still illiterate. It was this
period that marked the departure of Vietnamese literature from its heavily Chinese-influenced traditions.
Prior to this, Vietnamese traditions were ingrained in an authoritarian monarchist system
modeled after China’s. This system, based on Confucianism as its basic social-political-cultural philosophy, aimed
only at controlling the populace. Confucianism became prevalent under the rule of the Confucian mandarins. Confucianism
dictated loyalty above all else. The King had complete authority over his subjects just as a father has complete
authority over his household. This authority over life and death matters was total and was not to be questioned. The
King relied on his mandarins to control his subjects, while the mandarins were bestowed power and privileges in return.
In order to attain the status of a mandarin, candidates were qualified through mandarinate exams. 15 During
these exams, candidates composed poetry and written texts in accordance with set rules of composition based on
difficult formal and complicated Chinese literature. Should candidates fail to comply with these strict regulations or
corrupt the process in any way due to their ineptitude, they would face imprisonment.
Thus, Confucianism became a competition-examination system. From the King to the mandarins,
all were career poets who specialized in the flowery style. After some 2000 years of Chinese influence, most Han poets
were mandarins (in nature); however, they had weaker poetic standards than the poets of the Tang period. From the
beginning, poetry was a means to gain power, and then it became power itself. Once a Confucian poet became a mandarin,
he became a ruler; his poetry became sacred, respected, no longer an artistic creation. Han Chinese writing was
considered the language of the Sages, not to be used lightly or for entertainment. Once Han Thuyen used Nom script to
write his poem (Ode to the Crocodile), more people composed poetry using Nom script to avoid the (said) rules and
customs of the mandarin courts. Poetry written in Nom borrowed the Chinese forms initially, but gradually changed to
using the traditional forms of Vietnamese folk poetry, which have the six-eight or double-seven and six-eight patterns
(A Vietnamese word usually has a single syllable. Six-Eight refers to the count of a line of poetry: first a line of
six words; then a line of eight words). At first, poets entertained themselves by using Nom as a new medium for writing
poetry, but later some talented poets found that using Nom could relieve them from the usual constructs, enabling free
expression, surpassing the eloquence of Tang poetry. Over time, the elite mandarin self inside the poets slowly took
over the artist self, making Nom poetry more difficult to comprehend with many historical references. It had taken over
the position of Han poetry and became Vietnamese classical poetry.
If Han poetry were an amalgamation of political power and literature, Nom poetry was now a separate literary movement that counter-balanced political power. This new kind of poet was obsessed with the power of opposites, that of illusion and politics, that of mandarin and artist. The great poet Nguyen Du, for example, was a high-ranking mandarin of the Nguyen Dynasty who was disillusioned with the royal court. He could only pour his feelings out into poetry in order to escape reality. Yet Nom poetry like Han poetry had its roots in a monarchist court culture that was heavily influenced by mandarin overtones of dictatorship and arrogance and lost appeal because it was reserved exclusively for elites who proclaimed themselves as venerable sages, oânoble gentlemen.oï Naturally, the common people had no role in that kind of poetry. And because the French government was busy quelling the masses, they ignored writing groups. Vietnamese literature began to shed political obsessions.
Before the development of Quoc Ngu, common people knew neither Han Script nor Nom Script.
Although considered outsiders of the literary groups, the common people, whose spirituality was closely knitted with
nature, had learned to express their emotions through traditional folk songs developed over thousands of years. Ca dao
(folk songs) were sporadic creations of the rural masses that developed into metered poems of the six-eight (words per
line) form or sometimes two lines of seven words each followed by a line of six words and a line of eight words. One
can find a trove of anecdotes and tales in poetry and song that passed culture and customs down through the generations.
These folk songs were filled with images of daily hardships such as farming, irrigation, or rice pounding. These people
relieved the pressures of a life of hard labor by singing or reciting oral poems composed by unknown authors. Ca dao
was very short and simple. It had only two or four verses, with rhyme and rhythm that were easily sung or recited.
While Tang poetry’s structure was rigid with its set rules such as ngu ngon tu tuyet
(5-4 form: 5 words per line, 4 lines) or that ngon bat cu (7-8 form: 7 words per line, 8 lines). Pre-War poetry
borrowed from these forms and from the structure of Tang poetry with its 5 or 7 syllable (word) verse form, adding the
eight-word verse form and the six-eight-syllable verse form. The 5-4 and 7-8 forms mixed with the Ca dao form reflected
the natural sounds of Vietnamese spoken language. Lacking structure and eloquence, Ca dao never developed into a formal
aesthetic trend. Classical poetry and pre-war poetry stemmed from Ca dao. If classical poetry reflected a strange and
faraway China, the pre-war poetry reflected the common love and romance found in individualism, estranged from
traditional daily life. The general population never found a comfortable place in Vietnamese poetry because the
literates excluded them in one way or another.
It is worthy to note that Vietnam remained relatively peaceful from 1932 to 1945. In 1945,
at the end of World War II, the Nine-Year War with France began, ending with the Geneva Treaty 16 on July 20, 1954,
that divided Vietnam in half. The northern half rallied to communism. The southern half rallied to capitalism. Soon
after, another war broke out at the end of 1960, involving both halves of the country. It was during the 1960’s that
the Nhan Van Giai Pham 17 (Humanism Quarterly Magazine) was established in the North, and the Free Verse
Poetry Movement developed in the South. In both the North and the South, poets were trying to deviate from the
stagnant pre-World War II poetry. They experimented with more liberal forms of expression. By the end of the latest
war in 1975, Vietnamese poetry had undergone two decades of near paralysis. It was not until 2000 that a new and
more vibrant movement would emerge -- New Formalism. In this essay, we have used comparative studies to juxtapose
poetry with historical events within which these works came into being, taking into account the unique characteristics
of each of the periods, from the 1960s until the present day.
The continuity
During Chinese domination over Vietnam, poetry flourished, most notably in the Tang Dynasty
(618 to 906). Vietnamese poetry, although evolving linguistically and conceptually over time, continued to echo Tang
influence into the future. The following example is cited below to demonstrate this point.
The Chinese poet Jia Dao (779-843), as a youth on his way to take the national examination
in the Capital, happened to compose the following two verses:
Ma tuc tri trung thu
Tang thoi (xao) nguyet ha mon
The horse sleeps under a tree by the lake
The monk knocks (pushes) the temple gate under the moonlight.
Since he was not quite satisfied with the word “knocks”, he was deep in thought and did not
even notice a company of officials traveling by. The guards brought him to the State Minister Han Yu (768-824). (In the
old days, common people had to stop and yield until the officials passed by; otherwise the people would be arrested for
slighting the officials.) Upon discovering his endeavor, the State Minister suggested the word “pushes” instead of
“knocks”, which is more subtle, and pardoned his impropriety. The hidden meaning in these two versions is profound,
demanding its readers to have a repertoire of classical poetry and historical reference. Jia Dao used the Buddhist
perspective that human beings are tam vien y ma, meaning human beings’ hearts constantly change like a hyperactive
monkey while their minds are like a moving horse, never calm. The monk is in control of his mind, as the horse sleeps
under a tree. The moonlight reflects upon the lake, signifying life was illusive. Once the monk’s mind calms, he knocks
(pushes) the gate. His action was a willful act of seeking the inner meaning of Buddhism, of the sutras as a means to
an end, like the finger that points to the moon that is the truth. The monk is on his way to discover the ultimate truth,
nirvana. The images of the horse, the gate, and the moonlight represented the human mind, Buddhist teachings and sutras.
Han Yu suggested the word xao “pushes”, which was both gentle and implied that the ultimate truth was not far, but
within reach. In these two short verses, one finds idealism. This style of poetry utilizes an “idea-beyond-words”
technique. Later on, Jia Dao retired from his mandarin position. He became a monk and continued to write poetry. Once
he lamented:
Luong cu tam nien dac
Thi thanh song le thuy
(I) composed two verses in three years
Once written, both eyes filled with tears
This historical reference of Thoi Xao (Knock-Push) and the technique, idea-beyond-words,
influenced Vietnamese literature from Han script to Quoc Ngu, from Tang influenced-poetry through pre-War and Free
Verse poetry. As Tang poetry demonstrated, it was a high form of Art. It required the poet and his readers to possess
knowledge of the three great doctrines of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, not reflecting in reality but taking
refuge from it. Vietnamese classical poetry and pre-War poetry were rhetorical arts, carefully choosing words, like
Jia Dao. The only difference between them is that classical poetry heavily used literary references from (ancient)
Chinese literature while pre-War poetry relied on words to convey romantic feelings. During Vietnam's relatively
peaceful period prior to 1945, both classical and pre-War poetry used the right rhetorical techniques. After the 1960s,
both the North and South experienced social changes. Rhetorical usage was no longer suitable for such situations. Poets
found new ways to express their thoughts and feelings appropriate to their rapidly changing circumstances. However, the
communist government in the North forbade all forms of change (no free expression was allowed). Poets had to indulge
once again in rhetorical usage although they were not allowed to have their compositions published; they had to keep
their works to themselves. Their rhetorical technique took on ambiguous usage for even the most ordinary words. Their
methods disregarded the rules of grammar, eliminating the “idea-beyond-word” approach in which no meaning is real.
Meanwhile in the South, most of the literary elites were those who had immigrated from the
North in 1954. As strangers to this new environment who were withdrawing from the war around them, these writers tended
to go into self-imposed isolation within the city walls. Alienated from the masses, they turned to their own minds and
books, concentrating on words in order to reflect feelings instead of ideology. Thus, both the North and the South prior
to the unification in 1975, and out-of-mainstream free verse poetry after the unification, were absorbed in the quest to
find interesting words and imageries to paint surprising portraits that were quite removed from any realities.
Western influence on both the political and the literary culture began in earnest in the
1920’s and was filled with biases; however, the masses ability to grapple with the new concepts remained elementary.
Many western ideologies, such as Communism or Surrealism, were only beginning to be digested in Vietnam, even as some
of these same ideologies had been abandoned in the West. Over-enthusiasm for Western ideas had eclipsed the early
advances made by such writers as those in the Self-Reliant Literary Group. Thus began a period of literary confusion.
Hoang Dao with his Ten Meditations began something entirely new. Nhat Linh’s character Loan in Doan Tuyet took a knife
to her husband, intent on his murder. She was symbolic of fundamentalist tendencies. The satires of Ly Toet, Xa
Xe 18 ,
portrayed a backward society filled with the dumb and the blind. These views were slanted toward the negative bias
of Western perspectives. Unable to critically analyze and evaluate the impact of this negative trend, these latest
writers could not improve or expand upon the national traditions. This confusion gave rise to violent tendencies
that inspired a host of extremist activities to follow. This wholesale adaptation of western ideas, undigested and
unprocessed, fostered misconceptions and gave birth to a syntactically ill-developed body of work that is typical of
Vietnamese literature of the last half of the twentieth century. For several consecutive generations until now,
Vietnamese literature looked to the West as a perfect model. In such literature, the common people were viewed as
just as backward and stupid as Ly Toet and Xa Xe, the satirical characters of Tu Luc Van Doan fame. Vietnamese poetry
during this period was nothing more than word play and wordsmithery, devoid of any positive social implications.
From 1960 to 1975, and even after 1975, Vietnamese free verse existed side by side with more
structured and metered poetry. In the North, themes of revolution, of struggle, and of propaganda consistent with the
party line dominated, while in the South themes of love and romance dominated. In both cases, poetry was a means to
achieve an end, not an end in itself. Poetic traditions remained static. Thus, following the pre-World War II poetry,
Vietnamese literature diverged into two main paths. One continued along the lines of Tu Luc Van Doan (the Self-Reliant
Literary Group) with its emphasis on romantic portrayals, and the other was based on new usages of ambiguous rhetoric
that pretended to accommodate change. These tendencies have been locked in place to the present day. Since no new
aesthetics has emerged, and absent any new thoughts and techniques, Vietnamese literature has remained stagnant. We
find ourselves today in that dilemma.
Ancient Greek rhetoric was established during the fifth century B.C.E. It is the art or
study of using speech or written language effectively and persuasively, including techniques for the use of logic or
argument aimed at persuading the audience about certain ideals or concepts, and it makes use of grammatical principles.
Thus, logic has to be lucidly coherent, leading the audience to complete comprehension of an issue once it is presented.
As a custom and habit from old tradition, it must shed light on the truth, and the speaker or writer must be capable
of resolving difficult problems through clear and concise reasoning, with the logic flowing as in a story-telling. In
poetry, rhetorical figures do not change the meaning of words, but only add to their emphasis through repetition. In
short, rhetoric was the invention or discovery of ideas, the arrangement or organizing of ideas, and the style or way
of putting ideas into words, which offered practice in oral argumentation for the philosophers, lawyers and politicians.
In the Middle Ages, the study of the trivium -- grammar, rhetoric and dialectic -- emphasized
style and logic. During the Renaissance, with the invention of the printing press, the written word became increasingly
important. Over the course of many centuries, rhetoric went from a focus on the use of the spoken word to a focus on
the written word. And until now, it is a course of study within the English language and literature departments in
universities. Later, along came the New Rhetoric with its new viewpoint, one not only related to the content, structure
or written representational style, but also one that included many social and political issues concerning maintaining
harmonious relationships with each other. Because of our cultural diversity, in everyday conversation many situations
occur as a result of only a few misunderstood simple words. New Rhetoric broke away from studying texts for their
beauty or content, and began to use rhetoric as a tool to analyze information about society, becoming a vehicle for
mutual understanding among humans. Of course, sometimes the rhetoric could fall victim to negative terms, using
unnecessary amplification, sham or empty words. In general, according to Western belief, rhetoric was merely a method
for helping people open up to the world, while the Vietnamese interpretations kept the door closed to the outside, and
were adapted particularly to the country and its own historical situation at that time.
When these two notions about rhetoric are compared, it becomes clear as to why Vietnamese
poetry had to change. The idea was, if one line has one excellent word, it is an excellent line; if a poem has an
excellent line, it is an excellent poem. Written words remain in the readers’ mind throughout their education and
experience (for example, Sino-Vietnamese words). Words are signs with a signifier and an attached signified meaning.
When a literary work uses only words or lines to create impressions and feelings, it leads readers into a supernatural
or surreal world (in reality, a world that is nothing but words) containing only illusions unreflective of the real
world. The overuse of impractical literature is a bad influence, and language becomes poison, which deceives readers.
The language is no longer a means to transfer thoughts and information from one to another. The written word becomes a
privilege of a minor academic group. It is a private power that allows neither a way in, nor a way out of that secluded
domain, and the poet finds escape from reality. A text is good because of the feelings and illusions it creates with
words. However, it brings no ideological development to that kind of literature. Thus, we have two distinctively
different systems. On the one hand, we have a system based on Tang poetic traditions with its difficult word play. On
the other hand, we have a system aimed at exploring thoughts and concepts based on style and logic, ever evolving to
reflect social changes. These two systems are irreconcilable. Regardless of the superb translation work done between
languages, true understanding has not been attained.
Vietnamese poetry, in its natural course of development, did have some notable epochs. In
the 1940’s, during the anti-French resistance, rhymed and rhythmic poetry was no longer able to reflect the changes of
the times. Free verse only started to diverge from it with poets such as Nguyen Dinh Thi, Huu Loan, and Hoang Cam. Then,
the war ended, leaving the country divided. Because of its socialist ideologies, the North became isolated from the
Western world. All intellectual productions came under the direct control of the state. An important event that
happened during this time was the publication of Nhan Van Giai Pham (Humanism Quarterly Magazine). After a 20th Soviet
Party Plenum, on February 1955, Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) denounced the cult of personality constructed around
Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) in a “secret speech”. Also in June 1956, the Hundred Flowers campaign 19 began in China.
Mirroring this, in January 1956 Vietnamese Communist Party Chairman Truong Chinh gave the green light to a number
of artists and intellectuals, such as Tran Duc Thao, Phan Khoi, Tran Dan, Phung Quan and Le Dat, to publish the spring
issue of Nhan Van Giai Pham. In that magazine, they demanded greater artistic freedom and a separation between the
realms of art and politics.
Unfortunately, in the same year, the revolts in Poznan, Poland 20 and Budapest,
Hungary 21 led by revisionist communist cadres along the lines suggested by Khrushchev broke out. Fearing
fragmentation of the communist bloc, the Soviet Union ordered a massive crackdown. The Vietnamese Communist Party was
also afraid of a spreading revolt; they started to crack down and silence any outspoken artists and authors. In Nhan
Van Giai Pham, all the participating poets had produced only free verse poems, which had been banned since the
anti-French resistance period, mainly because of its name “free” verse (although it was not a true free verse
according to Western definitions). After the crackdown, most of the poets featured in Nhan Van Giai Pham went
underground, withdrew from normal life and the literary scene, or resigned themselves to rhetorical writing.
Meanwhile, during the 1960’s in the South of the country, Vietnamese poets came under
the influence of Western-style free verse poetry in a different context. The French had departed, ending a long
period of colonialism, but a new war had also begun. The Southern poets, influenced by French culture, turned away
from the pre-war poetry traditions, and advocated free verse poetry. Because of social, cultural and linguistic
differences, and because it only absorbed free verse on the surface, Vietnamese free verse poetry did not resemble
the Western free verse, but mutated into rhetoric and word play that was difficult to understand. Free verse poetry
was developed in polysyllabic languages (such as French or English). Its form is associated closely with reading. It
has the ability to create musical sounds, while a monosyllabic language may not have the same effects if it just
simply arranges words. Mainly, poetry is based on the art of communication with patterns of form and sound. According
to New Formalism, it is the form of the poem which gives rise to ideology. The failure of the 1960s free verse poetry
in the South of Vietnam brought forward the reaction that resulted in the comeback of the rhymed and rhythmic poetry
advocated by the Eastern Meditation in relation to the Buddhist movement active after the 1963 coup d’etat that
brought down President Ngo Dinh Diem. Those poets, Bui Giang, Nguyen Duc Son, and Pham Thien Thu, all wrote in the
rhetorical poetry style. Thus, both North (NhanVan Giai Pham) and South Viet Nam, though they had different
circumstances and political contexts, somehow fell under the same spell of rhetorically-structured poetry.
The historical events of April 30, 1975 22 (The Fall of Saigon) further isolated
Vietnam from the rest of the world. At the beginning, most Vietnamese refugees were preoccupied with loss and suffering,
with restarting their lives and resettling in foreign lands. Young poets, who had grown up during the closed-door
policy of the communist government, could not receive anything new so they looked back at the translated works and
novels that were produced in the South in the 1960s. Not only did young poets read this literature from the South, they
also lived in political atmospheres that were very similar to the Nhan Van Giai Pham period. Incidentally, they also
inherited the rhetorical style from the Nhan Van Giai Pham poets and other poets in the same era from the North, as
well as creativity from the South. They came to reconcile both poetry movements and revived them. The poetry of those
young poets embraced rhetoric, rebelliousness and escaping from reality, much like the writings of the 1960s in both
the North and the South. Regardless, their poetry had neither negative nor positive effects. However, when those young
poets’ reconciliation role was over, their so-called Young Poets movement was also finished. When they used the same
poetic methods that the older generation did, they could not go beyond the confines of their predecessors. They came
to be known as the Young Poets, and their poetry was stunted, never to grow beyond this stage or to see that its fate
was short lived.
In reality, the poets of Nhan Van Giai Pham and of the South in the 1960s, and the Young Poets
all wanted literary change. But they were unlike the artists in the West who, in reaction to the new dynamics of their
time and place, attempted to change the very essence of aesthetics. Free verse poetry in the west was a major revolution
in aesthetics that began at the start of the twentieth century, attempting to change the nature of expression, as a
reaction to the industrial revolution and the major ideological movement of the later parts of the century. It explored
new angles of aesthetics and created new perspectives on free verse poetry. In the second half of the twentieth century,
free verse poetry saw more pioneering movements, which came with new aesthetic concepts and perspectives. Throughout
the twentieth century, when imperialism (regardless of whether it was capitalist or communist) and nationalism were
promoted to unite the different races and form alliances, the artists fragmented their own works. For example, “The
Waste Land” of T.S. Eliot, Cubic works of Picasso, and the latest pioneering movement of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E Poetry in
the United States in the 1980s, which considered language to be a symbol of political power. Those artists fragmented
the syntax in favor of their own theory of aesthetics.
However, when the Cold War 23 was over, while races in the same country were
back to separation and their conflicts sparked several miserable civil wars, New Formalism returned to the whole syntax,
natural and perfect ideals which were represented by the poetic forms. They called for many things, a wish for a normal
life, an attempt to abolish differences between races, and compassion and greater understanding of common human
sufferings. The avant-garde artists in the West were able to break through due to the liberties that their societies
afforded them. Free to explore many different perspectives, they were able to find common ground and forge a new
aesthetic movement based on the great inheritance of historical aesthetics, which had been established much earlier.
These were the conditions that gave rise to their success. Whereas the out-of-the mainstream poetry of the Northern
part of Vietnam was self-contained with isolated individuals and the Southern part was somewhat freer, neither inherited
any traditions other than those of Tang poetry and Pre-War poetry. Thus, in both the North and South, poetry reflected
individual reactions to the circumstances -- socialism and politics on the one hand, and perpetual war on the other.
Although the poets failed to change the fundamental theories of aesthetics, they were successful in placing Vietnamese
rhetorical poetry at the top of its class; no one could surpass them. However, that forced younger generations of poets
into the inevitable position of having to find changes that they could make. This is obviously why the poet Thanh Tam
Tuyen (1936 - ) returned to rhymed and rhythmic methods in the collection Tho O Dau Xa (Poetry is Far Away), which he
produced much later in his life. The Young Poets (after 1975) turned to the poetry of the 1960s, and poet Le Dat played
a lonely poetic game with Bong Chu (The Shadow of Words). Each poet who travels under the umbrella of rhetoric forges a
narrow path like a lonely planet. That path will lead to a dead-end in a few years. Poetry cannot be a narrow path for
one; it should be a large thoroughfare for thousands and thousands of travelers, and it should even have room for more.
It should lead to infinity, not to a dead-end.
For the Doi Moi (Reformed Literature) movement in the 1980s, which took advantage of the
open-door policy of that time, some writers thought they were able to find some social consensus. The Young Poets at
that time could write what they wanted to, rather freely, to their heart’s content, even though literature was not much
under social influences and officially freedom of speech was not allowed. Eventually both the Doi Moi and the Young
Poets movements stopped in their tracks. One was a reaction to the social and political circumstances and had to be
quelled. The other was a reaction to the market economy. To change, one has to begin with methods of representation,
replacing the art of rhetoric with the art of syntax; it is the first fundamental step toward creating a new methodology
and developing literary works with deep ideology if one aspires to create works worthy of being considered world
literature.
Of course, talented Vietnamese poets have produced numerous quality works spanning several
centuries, with readers who know how to enjoy those works in its rhetorical system. Regrettably, the ensuing generations
have added nothing new besides repeating the same pattern of flowery words empty of meaning. Those recent works lack
analytical methods connecting ideas that would capture the reader’s attention. Half way through the work, the reader
becomes bored with the poem and never finishes reading it. For lack of knowledge of such aspects of the poetry as
the Sino-Vietnamese terms, for instance, readership continues to shrink. When there is no longer a proper balance
between readers and writers, literature reaches an impasse, and the writers themselves become the readers. Maybe the
Young Poets were the last generation that could continue with some of the traditions, but it was also with their
generation that the dominance of the rhetoric system ended.
The younger generations, who are or will become mature during the time of the open-door policy,
will no longer be able to enjoy many rhetorical works. In addition, these younger generations need some works that are
comprehensive, reflecting their own time and reality. As with many New Formalist poets now living abroad, the new
generations have more opportunities and abilities to see the world, to become more open-minded and to accept many
new methods of literary representation, which helps them to absorb knowledge that is more fundamental and to
understand more. From this, one can look back at many literary movements in Vietnamese literature. Most of the
strong movements that contributed to literature were outside of the political mainstream and always were suppressed
and/or prohibited; such movements include Nhan Van Giai Pham in the North, literature in the South part of Vietnam in
the 1960s, Doi Moi literature in the 1980s, and now the Young Poets and Vietnamese New Formalism. Such movements have
been characteristic of Vietnamese literature for more than half a century. They are also clear evidence that no one can
deny the value of Vietnamese literature (whether mainstream or not). Maybe that is why Vietnamese literature is
progressing more slowly than the literature of many countries. Maybe that is why Vietnamese cultural standards have
increasingly regressed, and the gap between readers and writers has increasingly widened. At times, it may seem that
these obstacles are difficult to overcome.
But Western poetry has had its setbacks also. Free verse in the West, especially that of
the avant-garde movements in the United States before the 1980s, has become out of touch with the times, pigeon-holed
into individualized self-expression, esoteric and fragmented to the point of having no relevance to the general
audience. Lacking the ability to create new developments from ordinary stories surrounding daily lives, poets became
self-serving, presenting their own emotions and feelings to satisfy their own egos. The result was that common readers
were intimidated by poetry. Writers did not read poems. Even poets did not read other poets’ works; they only read
their own and their friends’ works. Ordinary readers lost the enjoyment that poetry had brought them in the past. The
rhetorical system was an obstacle that blocked any contact with the outside world, while free verse was a product of
the twentieth century, with all of that century’s characteristics including social and political characteristics.; it
was not coincident with general trends now that attempt to reconcile the many differences so that everybody can create
a peaceful and happy life. There is a need for a reconciliation of all differences so people can live in peace with
each other. For Vietnam, that need is even more urgent because of the consequences of the civil war, which divided her
people further; Vietnam is in need of a healing remedy after so much misery.
The Effects of the Era and the Poet’s Role
In the second half of the last century, Vietnam, after emerging from colonialism, was plunged
into a twenty- year-long war, her most devastating war. During the cold war period, there were three countries
suffering from partition: Germany, Korea and Vietnam. In 1975, Vietnam was unified under socialism. In 1989, the
Soviet bloc in Eastern Europe fell apart, and East and West Germany were unified. Capitalism became dominant, the two
German political and economic systems merged under Capitalism, while the Koreas remain separate states. After the
collapse of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, numerous ethnic and religious conflicts broke out in Yugoslavia (1991),
Rwanda (1994), Sri Lanka, East and West Timor. Following that was terrorism, fanned, in part, by the differences
between the Muslim world and the West. This terrorism reached a high point when the World Trade Center was destroyed
on 9-11-2001 in New York City.
The need for reconciliation between different peoples who have their own political ideologies,
religion and cultures has to be addressed so everyone can live together in peace. All humanist cultural arts that
relate closely to human life and the mind must be changed in means of representations, to conform to the current
trends of the era. Thus, Vietnam, Germany and Korea are three models from which we can learn more about reconciliation:
Germany -- capitalist; Vietnam -- part capitalist (with a market economy) part communist; Korea -- the North is communist,
the South is capitalist. Looking back upon Vietnamese history, it shows that after Ngo Quyen gained independence for
Vietnam from the Chinese in 938, to avoid future invasions, Vietnam continued to pay tribute to China yearly. This
proves that the Vietnamese are pacifists in nature and are adaptive to new conditions. Yet, Vietnamese history is also
filled with several demarcations. The first was the Trinh -- Nguyen Lords (or the North -- South reigns from 1543 to
1788). The second was when the French colonized Vietnam; France took advantage of Vietnam’s geographical coastal
S-shape (along the Pacific Ocean), backward and difficult transportation (either by land or by sea, with horses and
boats) to use a partitioning policy to control Vietnam. In effect, it also created a lasting North -- South bias among
Vietnamese people. The last partition was in 1954. Thus, the role of literature must be a methodical reception of
cultural elements, a reconciliation of people’s differences in order to develop itself further in the right direction.
After World War II, world events had a significant impact on Vietnam. In the spring of 1940,
Germany was victorious over France and established the puppet government of Marshal Henri-Phillipe Petain (1856-1951).
In the same year, Japan allied itself with Italy and Germany to form an “axis of power.” Prior to that, Japan had
attacked China in 1937, and invaded Vietnam in September of 1940, taking advantage of a treaty between Germany and
France. France could not reinforce French Indochina. Japan also suggested that they both co-govern Vietnam. In reality,
Japan controlled Vietnam totally, while France was allowed to hold only an administrative role. The United States
stayed out of this world event until Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Japan continued to expand its
military reach into the Pacific, Southeast Asia and the Malaysian islands in search of oil, rubber and extensive food.
On the day after the Pearl Harbor attack, the United States declared war on Japan. Four days later, the “axis of power”
declared war on the United States. On D-Day, June 6 1944, the Allied Forces crossed the English Channel to Northern
France and successfully liberated Paris on August 25, 1944. World War II ended with the unconditional surrender of
Germany on May 8, 1945.
England, France and China called on Japan to surrender, but received no response. At the same
time that France was liberated 24 by the Allied Forces, Japan subverted 25 the French
administration in Vietnam because Japan feared that France would counter attack to take control of Vietnam. However,
only a few months 26 later, on August 14, 1945, Japan surrendered unconditionally after the United States
dropped two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There was a power vacuum in Vietnam at this time. The Viet Minh,
under the name of the Vietnamese Communist Party, took advantage of the situation, seized power, and declared Vietnam’s
independence on August 19, 1945. Bao Dai (1913-1997), the last emperor of Vietnam, abdicated. 27 The allied
forces assigned Chiang Kai Shek of China with his two generals Lu Han and Xiao Wan, the responsibility for disarming
the Japanese troops from the 16th parallel of latitude up through the North of Vietnam. The British and French were to
disarm the Japanese troops from 16th parallel of latitude down through the South of Vietnam. Only 21 days after Viet
Minh had declared Vietnam’s independence, the French replaced the British in Saigon and established a provisional
government 28 for all of Vietnam (the North, South and Central regions). At this time, the Viet Minh were
militarily deficient so it signed a compromise Convention 29 with France, temporarily making peace with her
in order to regroup and ally with other nationalist parties. On December 19, 1946, the Viet Minh mobilized its force
for a national resistance to French Occupation. From 1947 to 1949, the governing of Vietnam remained in French hands
until the Treaty of Elysee on March 8, 1949; France restored independence to a so-called Vietnam nation, not to the
Viet Minh but to Emperor Bao Dai as Head of State. The war between the Communists and the Nationalists started at this
point.
It was a most chaotic time for Vietnam. People were divided. Society was changing rapidly. Poets
were no different than the common people; their minds were occupied with the surrounding chaotic social problems. Poets
did not have the frame of mind to think of developing new methods of writing poems. Therefore, most poems during this
time used either pre-war methods or the “break-through” method from poet Phan Khoi’s time. In those creative works,
only the contents were different; there was more about patriotism, soldiers’ missing home, and hopes for peace, and
there was no place for romantic love. Vietnamese poetry took another step in the direction of daily life because poets
had to keep pace with the common people by engaging in their ideal war, sharing their dreams and hardships. A particular
trait of that time was that poets no longer differentiated themselves -- either from the romantic or the realist school.
It seemed that they grouped themselves under a romantic realist banner and concentrated on true human feelings. In this
societal context, the French partitioning policy eventually became neutralized. However, it was not until the 1954
treaty dividing Vietnam into the communist North and the democratic South and the mass migration of one million
northerners to the South of Vietnam that people of Vietnam (in the South) had the opportunity to face its differentiated
friction head on and finally completed their reconciliation.
However, both North and South Vietnamese enjoyed relative peace for a short period, from 1954
to 1960. On December 20, 1960, the National Liberation Front was formed in the South, and this event helped to jump
start the civil war between the North and the South. Once again, the demarcation became a bloody wound because of the
involvement of world powers. One was the communist ideology of the Socialists; the other was the free ideology of the
Capitalists. In 1976, the country was unified under Socialism, and Vietnam established diplomatic relations only with
the Soviet Union and other communist countries. The Vietnamese people, who had suffered hardships, confusion and hatred
under several different policies over the course of decades, now had to conquer their own biases amongst themselves
in order to survive and to heal their psychological wounds.
More than a decade later, in 1978, Deng Xiao Ping (1904-1998) came to power in China. Deng
continued the Four Modernizations begun by Chou En Lai (1898-1976): to modernize industry, agriculture, national
security and science. In the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev (1931- ) initiated Perestroika in 1986. In that same year,
Vietnam followed the Soviet Union’s lead and implemented reforms, lifting restrictions on artists. The Doi Moi
(Reformed Literature) movement emerged. However, in 1989, the collapse of the Berlin wall initiated a series of Eastern
Europe Communist Bloc collapses, and Vietnam clamped down on artistic freedom for fear of a similar collapse. In 1991,
Boris Yeltsin (1931-) came to power in Russia, dismantling its Communist Party. Vietnam lost its main aid, which was
from Russia and totaled three billion US. dollars from 1976-1980. Vietnam could not turn to China for aid because of
the border conflict that flared up between the two countries in 1979. 30
In 1992, Vietnam had no choice and turned to foreign investment resources from the free world
to solve its economic problems, but it was determined to hold onto its political institutions, socialist viewpoints and
economic direction. This change from the Vietnamese communist government also pushed a majority of its people, after
many war- created hardships, to want more than ever to have a comfortable life. The Vietnamese government focused solely
on anti-government or hidden political messages in creative works so that a pure literary movement such as the Young
Poets had an opportunity to emerge. In fact, the acceptance of new literary movements from the communist government
only added more to its credibility as an open society in the eyes of the international community. We have learned from
chaos theory that a small change in the input can cause a huge change in the output, exhibiting sensitive dependence on
initial conditions. Thus, a small change toward a free market economy will naturally lead to other major changes, and
no one can predict the outcome.
One year after Doi Moi, in 1987, the William Joiner Center in Boston began exchanges in
literary studies with Vietnam. Poetry served as a catalyst for reconciliation between former enemies, with the hope
that poetry could bridge ideological and political differences. Of course, many of the American veterans may be
unconcerned about the literary value of Vietnamese creative works. For some, their primary motivation may be to study
what is being written about them. Another purpose may be to reconcile with Vietnam and to prepare for normalization of
political and economic relations. That direction is correct, because poetry is the most powerful art form for creating
understanding and reconciliation among different people. Cynthia Cohen,31 quoting the French philosopher Gaston
Bachelard, believes that:
“... to understand a poem we must attend not only to the words and sounds of the poem, but
how those words and sounds reverberate within us. Our attention shimmers he says, between the poetic image and our
own response. The poem, therefore, invites us to experience something previously unknown about ourselves; and conversely,
it is only by attending to that which is evoked within us that we are able to understand the poem. Bachelard refers
to this kind of understand — the simultaneously deepening understanding of self and others through each other — as
trans-subjectivity.” (2000, p. 2)
Cynthia Cohen refers to a “feelingful awareness”, equivalent of the notion of compassion and
wisdom prevalent in Buddhism. Recall that Vietnamese culture was immersed in Buddhist philosophy from at least the
beginning of the eleventh century with the Ly Dynasty, which produced poetry with Buddhist themes, by monks. Compassion
is sympathy with others and sharing other people’s sufferings, while wisdom is recognizing the truth of life and human
beings. Of course, in real life application, these notions no longer carried purely religious implications, but took on
a different meaning as described by Cynthia Cohen. Through poetry, people can relate to each other, to themselves, and
see the truth that allows them to recognize both positive and negative aspects in life.
Because Vietnamese literature remained confined within the realm of a rhetorical system prior
to 1990, and because of economic changes, many creative works were translated into English and French by 1992. These
works did not make a significant impression in the West, and they have since been forgotten. The main difference
between the two literary traditions of the West and Vietnam was in their different creative methods. On the one hand,
the Vietnamese have a rhetorical tradition, whereas the Western approach is to use methodology and syntax to convey
thoughts. Thus, translations of Vietnamese works into French or English were either difficult to understand or appeared
to be lacking in ideas.
As for poetry, it was even more difficult to translate. In translation, verses became banal
prose, tasteless or with dissenting syntax. Further complicating the matter is the control exerted by the state upon
the selection of particular works, which mostly are from the mainstream. The state’s main purpose is to keep as the
status quo the Vietnamese poetry that came into existence half a century ago. As a result, those selected translations,
with their out-of-date representations, do not reflect present-day Vietnamese society. Here, we can see that, in the
West, from the Renaissance onward, with its industrial revolutions, its societies are always changing, and its
literature and arts are constantly undergoing change as well making many discoveries or establishing new trends. Unlike
the West, Vietnamese society is an agricultural one. It has little demand for change in most aspects of life. As its
agricultural society, Vietnamese literature, from pre-war to free verse poetry, has undergone some change in
representative methods, but its essential elements are still based on rhetorical art. On top of everything else is the
state control, which always interferes with the right to create. All attempts at renewal are either suppressed or
occur only with extreme difficulty.
If literature reflects social and political realities, then, through the study of social and
political realities, one should be able to gain understanding of that literature. Throughout its history, Vietnam has
held agriculture in high regard. The social hierarchy ranks agriculture just behind the ruling class, above the
industrial and economic sectors of society. Vietnamese nature is peaceful; its people prefer to live in peace without
conflict and competition. Wars only arise out of uncontrollable circumstances, out of conservatism. Characteristically,
the people are more passionate than science oriented, more emotive than rational, in favor of an unpractical literature
rather than a thought-dominated one. In classical poetry, Nguyen Du combined Six-Eight meter with Chinese
quintessential culture inspired literary traditions in the Truyen Kieu 32 (Tale of Kieu), a combination of
historical reference and the folk art of oral tradition. Then verses in the Double-Seven-Six-Eight pattern were used
by On Nhu Hau to write Cung Oan Ngam Khuc 33 (Sorrows of An Abandoned Queen). Doan Thi Diem also used the
Double-Seven-Six-Eight form to translate into Nom -- Chinh Phu Ngam 34 (The Song of A Warrior’s wife), which
originally had been written by Dang Tran Con in Han script, in broken form with long-short verses. Even after the
invention of the Quoc Ngu (Romanized script), these classical styles were emulated by the pre-war poets, who returned
to using rhyme and forms of Tang poetry.
The transfer from classical poetry to pre-war poetry represented the transfer from mandarin
education to western education, from Nom to Quoc Ngu, from one generation to another generation. The aforementioned,
classical poetry (or Nom poetry) detached itself from the system of political power; Quoc Ngu poetry also was not
influenced by such a system, so their transfer had almost no contradictions. Because power was in the hands of French
colonialists, it made it more difficult to follow the classical traditions. Another reason is that the poet, Phan
Khoi (1887-1959), who started the new poetry with his poem “Tinh Gia” (Old Love) which appeared in 1932, was a
mandarin-educated scholar. However, Vu Dinh Lien (1913-1996), a Western-educated scholar, in his poem “Ong Do”
(The Old Calligrapher) in 1936, expressed nostalgic feelings for the loss of the tradition. Contemporaries, such as
Dong Ho (1906-1969), Quach Tan (1910-1992), and Ngan Giang, adhered to classical poetry and continued to write
poems in Tang traditions. Some poets, such as Vu Hoang Chuong, used both classical and modern styles.
In general, prior to 1945 Vietnamese poetry developed naturally under the monarchist and
colonialist administrations. Although the writing system changed (from Nom to Quoc Ngu script) and society was
somewhat pure and simple-minded, Vietnamese poetry remained deeply rooted in Tang poetry traditions. Buddhism, Taoism
and Confucianism are the dominant philosophies at the core of the Vietnamese psyche and culture. Both classical and
pre-war poetry reflect this spirit of Tang poetry. Poets who have freedom and detach themselves from systems of
political power are able to produce works of great worth. Somehow, these poets execute the role of poetry correctly as
reconciliation between the old and modern cultures, between the ruling class and the common people.
Pre-war poetry relied on Tang poetry and Ca Dao forms to create new feelings and content. It
associated the last draught at the end of a season of French romanticism with the dying embers of Tang poetry traditions,
relying on the foundation of existing classical poetry. Meanwhile free verse poetry in the West had departed from
tradition and had begun building a new aesthetic foundation. Thus, by the 1960s, the young poets in the South of Vietnam
had begun a new free verse movement that attempted to mirror developments in the West. Not much different from the
pre-war poets before them, they were not concerned with the literary studies and ideology that existed at the time of
the magazines Dong Duong and Nam Phong. They only received concepts not methods, and thus were unable to surpass
Western literary thought. The free verse movement, stuck with the use of technical terms, became a hybrid, born of the
rhetoric of Tang poetry and pre-war poetry, mixed with French surrealism of the 1930s, and outfitted by the unstructured
format of classical traditions. Like pre-war poetry, the poetry of the 1960s in the South of Vietnam was not subjected
to the whims of political power because both the government and the artists had the same interest in promoting freedom.
Controls were kept to a minimum, mostly just the censorship of newspapers to manipulate coverage of the war. However,
unlike the pre-war poets’ generation, these young poets were more like the poets who used Nom. They fell under the
spell of their own illusions about the power of words.
As for mainstream poetry in the North, although the leaders did not follow examination paths
to gain power, they viewed poetry as a means to control the entire body of literature. If in the past, under a
monarchist system, the king and his mandarins all wrote poems, then in a communist system all political leaders wrote
poems too. For example, Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969), Le Duc Tho (1911-1990), Truong Chinh (1907-1988), and To Huu (1920-2002)
all wrote poetry. Poems had to be simple and comprehensive so that political power could be spread widely by them; the
influence of poetic power must be accepted by all classes. A few of the poets were repressed and found expression not
in content but in words, another form of self-delusion. Although the North and the South were isolated from each other
and opposed politically, the Northern out-of-mainstream poetry and Southern poetry had the same trends: it represented
antagonism, obstructed politics and obstructed studies that created extreme literature and pushed the rhetorical system
to the point that it no longer made sense, that it no longer developed along set lines as had pre-war poetry. The notion
of idea-beyond-word became a habit, guiding all literary critique as well as political thought.
After 1975, the literary power of mainstream poetry was in the hands of the generation that
fought against America during the war. This is the official party line. The Young Poets, who grew up after 1975, have
been marginalized. Poets of this generation have no means to mass produce their work other than utilizing the global
internet or handing out poems to friends and acquaintances. While most of the Nhan Van Giai Pham writers who opposed
French colonialism were educated in French culture, the generation that fought the Americans was not that lucky. Most
of them had no knowledge about western culture. Their education was limited to literary studies of the former Soviet
Union. The reaction of the Young Poets to this trend was clear. The Young Poets turned to the styles used by writers
of the 1960s in the South. These styles were considered corrupt and reactionary by the communist government. Since these
writers only connected with words on the surface, the hypnotic power of these words made them fall victim to its
illusions. These poets lived in a delusional world, increasingly detached from the art of poetry and from daily life.
Thus, both the poets of the mainstream and the marginalized poets lacked the ability to change.
In fact, they did not desire change because that would mean giving up everything that they had; all would be lost. Poetry
was left without a readership. Mainstream poetry continued with the trend of the pre-war time of using rhymed structure
or broken forms, and it followed the politically-correct themes closely. Nobody could understand the marginalized poetry
either. That fact pleased the communist government well because it did not want to have any problems. Vietnamese poetry
lost its function of creating better understanding for people. It stayed away from social changes when it should have
reflected people’s craving for a better life, an ability to reconcile conflicts and the easing of all of the wounds
of war. The interference of politics in literature had created a dysfunctional literature, reflecting a dysfunctional
society. Of course, both poets and poetry were victims of outside pressures. They were powerless in the fate of
historical tragedies, whereas the cultural and literary spheres of free societies were independent of the political
sphere and could grow and prosper, evolving with life, in-step with the advance of civilization.
Absent such conditions, regardless of time, literature would remain the same. However, at the
end of the war, another mass migration happened. Millions fled the homeland. This time, it was more tragic than any
earlier migrations in Vietnam history. This migration resulted in many deaths in the high seas. At that time, some young
poets well-versed in the Vietnamese language came to free countries. They faced culture shock. Two decades later after
many difficulties, they recognized the weaknesses and the dead-end situation of Vietnamese poetry over more than half a
century. The Vietnamese New Formalism movement emerged at the beginning of the year 2000. Three years later, unlike the
transformation from Tang poetry to pre-war poetry, this movement brought on many intense debates. It was because
Vietnamese New Formalism attempted to liberate Vietnamese poetry from the shackles of the rhetorical system. However,
traditional writing methods and reading habits still embraced Vietnamese literature regardless of whether the writers
and readers lived in Vietnam or overseas. Conservative writers and readers feared that New Formalist poetry would eclipse
other traditional styles such as the rhymed or free verse styles. This fear is unfounded if one spends more time studying
Vietnamese New Formalist theory and discourse closely.
Vietnamese New Formalism is a technical term that was borrowed from American New Formalism,
but the two approaches are not entirely similar. In American New Formalism, the poet returns to traditional metered
verses and rhyme-schemes, introduces normal everyday language into poetry to create everyday poetics, and continues the
revolution that had begun a century before with the first phase of Romanticism and free-verse poetry, but which was
mitigated by avant-garde movements of the first half of the century. First of all, Vietnamese New Formalism had to
contend with the difficulties of introducing normal everyday language into poetry because of the molds that had formed
around the rhetoric of pre-war poetry and 1960s free-verse poetry. Secondly, it had to adapt New Formalism techniques
from a polysyllabic language (English) to a monosyllabic language (Vietnamese) with all the entailing structural
differences. Incidental to the process, Vietnamese New Formalism poets received Blank Verse from Western Poetry, and
discovered unrhymed meters in their poetry. They created verses of five, seven, eight or six-eight syllables/words, and
replaced the rhyme and meter of pre-war poetry with repetitions and enjambment. Not only did they adapt the principles
of Iambic meter from English traditional poetry, they also incorporated new effects such as the Butterfly Effect,
feedback and iteration, which is based upon naturally evolving sequences.
However, New Formalism does share some characteristics of classical, pre-war and folk poetry.
That is, it is endowed with the Vietnamese spirit and the ability to adapt and absorb. It is the natural transformation
of past traditions into something new and more vibrant. If the pre-war poetry keeps the rhyme of Tang poetry, Vietnamese
New Formalism abandons the rhyme, continuing to conciliate with Western culture. It could be said that Vietnamese New
Formalism is a new trend, which learns from both the pre-war and free verse to seek a new poetry, like the voice of all
Vietnamese people who endeavor earnestly as they change to beat the same rhythm with the larger world communities.
Through the use of the vernacular, New Formalism has the ability to relate to everyone regardless of status, power,
education, or background. It is a more democratic art form, better disposed to connect writers and readers, leading the
way for other fine arts to follow, that of the novel, the plastic arts, and the performance arts.
Conclusion
Once the Vietnamese accepted a market economy, they turned a new page in their history. For now,
their economy is still guided by socialist theories, but with time, Vietnam will change further to find its rightful
place in the world. Poetry and literature are the sight of and for an entire people. The Vietnamese must learn and adapt
new techniques that will allow their voices to be heard. But for communication to take place, they must also become
attuned to what is being said by others around the globe. Throughout its history, Vietnamese literature has been
repressed by political power or by illusive power. Political power creates a literate elite class or literary cadre
that compromises with the state in return for privileges. Illusive power causes literature to become impotent,
conservative, out-of-touch with reality. Literature has been parasitic on power for too long, having been subservient
to political power and psychologically dependent upon its whims. The debates of the past and the present have been
obsessed with the competition to get the influence of illusive power, not with engagement to change literature or how
to bring literature more in-line with real-life. The masses are marginalized, pushed out of the literary sphere. If
they are involved as a necessary evil, they are manipulated like puppets for the benefit of the powers-that-be.
Without a firm foundation in aesthetic theories and methodology as a guide, how can it even
be possible to develop literature? Thus, we are left in an enigmatic state of limbo. Either the political theory of
Marxist-Leninism or a consumer-oriented industrial approach is applied to interpret the literary productions of this
half agrarian and half communist society. This is proof that those engaged in literature lack the basic understanding
of the foundations of literature. Vietnamese literature had no role to play in the reconciliation and reconstruction
of Vietnam after a most destructive and divisive war, not even in the limited realms of art and culture. The poet
Frederick Turner35 in his speech delivered September 21, 2002 at The Philadelphia Society Cleveland Regional Meeting,
under the subject-title oâThe New Classicism and Cultureoï says:
“... but with the internet a significant new element has been introduced, and whereas it
took the Renaissance perhaps three hundred years to diffuse throughout Europe, and the Romantic movement a hundred
years to diffuse through the West, it need take only a decade or two for the whole world to wake up to the change that
is happening in the culture climate.”
But the above notions are not true with respect to Vietnam because the state maintains direct
control over every intellectual production and censors literature from abroad, presenting distribution within Vietnam.
The miniscule drip-drop of information that makes it past internet fire-walls simply cannot substitute for the
deficiencies of basic ideology and study. Such tidbits evoke more confusion than literary inspiration. But not everything
can be blamed on the state and the political regime. True literature should not be engaged in the building-up or
deconstruction of a government, but should be expressive of and reflective about the social life. The government of
Vietnam is utilizing the mainstream literature and mass media under its control to build-up the regime and to stabilize
its political structures; it is also coming under tremendous pressures from the international community, from
intellectuals and religious leaders calling for greater freedom, democracy and human rights. Furthermore, the state has
neither the will nor the way to control all the developments of marginalized literature or literature on the fringes
of society. Thus, Vietnam has a unique opportunity at this time to develop new aesthetic perspectives. The poet is
relatively free to create. Unfortunately, sometimes poets do not know what to do with this freedom. They are keeping
themselves in shackles, haunted by the specter of political control, and unwilling to break free from their chains,
detach themselves from the past and rise up to create a more vibrant literature.
Today, more than 50% of the Vietnamese population has come into existence since the end of
the war in 1975. They have no particular attachment to biases and backwardness of the generation that participated in
the war. Meanwhile, Vietnam is further benefited by the three million overseas ex-patriots who have acquired tremendous
scientific knowledge combined with broad cultural and intellectual knowledge of the many different societies of which
they are now a part. They have become acculturated and well educated in their newfound countries, and they can help
Vietnam reconcile with the international community in many ways undreamt of just a generation ago. This is a unique
opportunity that comes around only once every thousand years! Each of the periods of literature has its own historical
place, no one contests that. But being knowledgeable in the ways of the past does not mean we are condemned to repeat
it, forever haunted by its ghosts. Once we have identified the problems of the past, we have also discovered the path
to the future.
The author is certain that this essay will be received with debate and engulfed in
controversy once it is published. But he is willing to accept this risk and responsibility. His only intention is to
breathe new life into Vietnamese poetry so that it may gain strength and momentum to catch up with the rest of the
world of poetry. Having reviewed the evolution of Vietnamese poetry through historical developments, the changes and
continuity that it has undergone, we can conclude that Vietnamese poetry has much potential and aspires to the level o
f world-class literature. If only the Vietnamese poets would have the courage to accept the truth about Vietnamese
literature, with all its failures and shortcomings and accept new concepts and ideas in-step with the times. Given
the many opportunities afforded to us right now, we can make fundamental changes to Vietnamese literature in this
generation. Otherwise, the task will fall onto the following generation. Sooner or later, change will happen because
poetry will reach inside itself, seeking change.
I would like to thank Dr. Carol Compton, Do Vinh, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Nhung for helping me to
translate and edit this paper. My thanks also go to Nguyen Tien Van and Do Kh. for their comments.
References
Dao Duy Anh . Vietnam Van Hoa Su Cuong (Brief history of Vietnamese Culture). Hoi Nha Van, 2000.
Nguyen The Anh. Vietnam Duoi Thoi Phap Do Ho (Vietnam under the French colony). Lua Thieng, 1970.
Nghiem Toan. Vietnam Van Hoc Su Trich Yeu (Brief history of Vietnamese Literature). Song Moi, 1949.
Tran Van Giap. Luoc Truyen Cac Tac Gia Vietnam (Brief Story of Vietnamese Authors). Van Hoc, 1972.
The Ky 21 Magazine # 122, June 1999.
The Ky 21 Magazine # 159, July 2002.
Khe Iem. Tan Hinh Thuc, Tu Khuc va Cac Tieu Luan Khac (New Formalism, Four Quartets, and The Other Essays). Van Moi, 2003.
Edward Mc Nall Burns, Robert E. Lerner, Standish Meacham. Western Civilzations. Volume II. W. W. Norton & Company, New York London., 9th Edition.
Notes
1. According to Tran Van Giap, the first Vietnamese novels were Canh Le Tuyet Diem (1921), Cuoc Tang Thuong (1922) by Dang Tran Phat and To Tam (1925) by Hoang Ngoc Phach.
2. For over one thousand years, (from 111 B.C.E to 936 C.E), Vietnam was dominated by Han China Dynasties. During this period, there were two revolts led by Hai Ba Trung (40-43 C.E) and Ly Bi who declared themselves Queen and Emperor.
3. The dynasty established by Ngo Quyen lasted fewer than thirty years and was overthrown in 968 by twelve local rival chiefs. After that, the chiefs were defeated by Dinh Bo Linh who reigned under the name Dinh Tien Hoang. That was the Dinh Dynasty (968-980). After Dinh Tien Hoang died, Le Hoan, the commander-in-chief of Dinh Bo Linh's army, seized the throne, and called himself Le Dai Hanh. Ly Cong Uan, a former temple orphan who had risen to commander of the palace guard, succeeded Le Hoan in 1009, thereby founding the great Ly Dynasty that lasted from 1010 until 1225. The Tran family, which had effectively controlled the Vietnamese throne for many years, replaced the Ly Dynasty. In 1400 General Ho Quy-Ly seized the throne and proclaimed himself founder of the short-lived Ho Dynasty (1400-07). In 1414, China's Ming Dynasty intervened and took control. Le Loi, one of Vietnam's most celebrated heroes, was credited with rescuing the country from Ming Chinese domination in 1428. Le Loi then ascended the throne, taking the reign name Le Thai To and establishing the Le Dynasty (1428-1788). At the end of Le Dynasty, Mac Dang Dung, a scholar-official, seized the throne (1527-1592). Trinh Tung helped the Le king to restore the throne but took the power under the title of Chua (Lord). A descendant of the Nguyen family and former Le Dynasty general seized control of the southern part of the country, establishing himself as Chua Nguyen (Lord Nguyen), like the Trinh. The country was divided into two parts, North and South, the first time from 1543 to 1788. In 1792, The Tay Son Rebellion (1771-1802), which ended the Trinh and Nguyen Lords’ Dynasties, was led by three brothers from the village of Tay Son in Binh Dinh Province. Under the Tay Son, Vietnam was united after more than 200 years of civil strife and divisions under the Trinh and Nguyen Lords. Meanwhile, Nguyen Anh, a descendant of the Nguyen family, fled mainland Vietnam and took refuge on Phu Quoc Island. Soon thereafter, he met French missionary bishop Pigneau de Behaine and asked him to be his emissary in obtaining French support to defeat the Tay Son. Nguyen Anh's forces took Phu Xuan in June 1801 and Thang Long a year later. He came to rule under the reign name Gia Long. The Nguyen Dynasty lasted from 1802 to 1945.
4. “Katha” (Sayings) are short verses, easy to understand and remember, summarizing religious teachings. “Kinh” (Prayers) are essays to explain the teachings.
5. The date of the birth and death of Han Thuyen, whose true name was Nguyen Thuyen, is unclear. Under the reign of Tran Thai Tong, in 1282, there was a crocodile in the Lo River. The emperor asked Han Thuyen to make a funeral oration and throw it into the river to drive away the crocodile. The crocodile went away, and the emperor rewarded and renamed him Han Thuyen because his meritorious deeds were the same as Han Yu before him. Han Thuyen was a talented poet who wrote Nom poetry and was the first person to apply the techniques of Tang’s prosody to Nom which also came to be known as Han prosody. This is the poem of Han Thuyen:
ODE TO THE CROCODILE
O, Crocodile don’t you know,
The Eastern bountiful sea is here.
Phu Luong is sacred land,
Wherefore you wander lost there?
Have you forgotten the Viet of old?
Our seafarers most heroic,
Taught to tattoo by the Hung kings,
They frighten even the sea dragons.
Descendants of royals and saints,
From Hai Ap, took the place of the celestial throne.
Resounding in martial ars,
They pacify the rivers and the seas.
Tigers and lions know to stay away,
Our peasants and people live in peace.
In the name of our emperor do I speak,
Go forth to the Eastern Sea and roam free.
Phu Luong: Lo River.
Quoted from “Les chefs-d'oeuvres de la litterature vietnamiennes”, Duong Dinh Khue, Kim Lai An Quan, Saigon, 1966).
6. Because of a series of edicts forbidding the practice of Christianity, the French government intervened militarily and demanded the cession of three provinces: Bien Hoa, Ba Ria, and Vinh Long. On June 5, 1862, Emperor Tu Duc signed the Treaty of Saigon. After that, the French controlled North Vietnam with the intention of opening the Red River to commerce to Southern China. Finally, the Nguyen Dynasty had to accept the French protectorate over Central and Northern Vietnam under the terms of the Patenote Treaty, which was established on June 6, 1884.
7. At the end of July 1884, the emperor Phuc Kien died; Nguyen Van Tuong and Ton That Thuyet, two high-ranking mandarins, endorsed Ham Nghi for the throne, resisted the Patenote Treaty and engaged the French militarily, but failed. They escaped with the Emperor Ham Nghi and issued orders to rebel against the French, which came to be known as the Can Vuong (Loyalty to the King — King Restoration) movement, attracting support from both scholars and peasants from throughout the country. Two famous leaders from this period are Nguyen Xuan On (1825-1889) and Phan Dinh Phung (1847-1895).
8. Phan Boi Chau (1867-1940) and his comrades, favored retaining the independent monarchy with the financial support of China and Japan. They endorsed Ky Ngoi Hau Cuong De, a direct descendant of Gia Long to fill this role as a leader of a nationalist movement. In 1905, they brought Cuong De to Japan and called upon Vietnamese Youth going to Tokyo for military and political training to drive out the French through armed resistance in order to restore Vietnamese independence.
9. Doubtful of assistance from Japan, (because Japan also wanted to dominate Southeast Asia), Phan Chu Trinh (1827-1926) and his comrades built up the Reformism movement, educating people and winning independence through non-violent means. Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc (Free School of the Eastern Capital) was founded in Ha Noi in 1907. Free classes were opened that taught the Vietnamese, Chinese and French languages, as well as basic educational and trade disciplines. Also during this time of political crisis, the French deposed and exiled Emperor Thanh Thai to Re-union Island. The movement then changed to instigating anti-tax demonstrations. The French reacted harshly, arresting and deporting to Con Dao famous scholars such as Phan Chu Trinh, Huynh Thuc Khang (1876-1947), and Ngo Duc Ke (1878-1929).
10. On May 15, 1913, Nguyen Van Vinh, with the financial support of the French, succeeded in publishing Dong Duong Tap Chi (Indochinese Review), in collaboration with Pham Quynh (1892-1945), Pham Duy Ton (1883-1924), Nguyen Van To (1889-1947), Phan Ke Binh (1875-1921), Nguyen Do Muc, and Duong Ba Trac (1884-1944). Later, some writers separated; Nguyen Van Vinh, Nguyen Do Muc, and Phan Ke Binh remained. Dong Duong Tap Chi was a weekly journal that specialized in literature and literary studies. Chinese scholars introduced Vietnamese and Chinese cultural classics and reformist French literature and academic writings.
11.Nam Phong Tap Chi (Southern Wind Review) was a monthly journal. The first issue appeared in July of 1917. Pham Quynh was the editor-in-chief of the Quoc Ngu section and Nguyen Ba Trac (-- 1945) of the Chinese character section, with the editorial assistance of Dong Chau Nguyen Huu Tien (1874-1944), So Cuong Le Du, Nguyen Don Phuc (-- 1945), Tran Trong Kim (1887-1953), and Nguyen Trieu Luat (-- 1946). Nam Phong was published on behalf of the Khai Tri Tien Duc association. (Progressively Open-minded Association). Pham Quynh was the general secretary overseeing operations.
12. Ca Dao (folk songs) are also called Phong Dao (customs songs) because they usually describe the habits and customs of the people through short songs, passing down as tradition of the masses. Often there are four words in a sentence; six-eight or double seven six-eight form is usually used. Proverbs are short and well known, supposedly wise sayings, usually in simple language.
13. Phong Hoa (Customs and morals) was a journal of Nhat Linh (1905-1963), who brought it from Pham Huu Ninh; the first issue was dated September 22, 1933. It was the voice of Tu Luc Van Doan (Self-help Literary Group). Phong Hoa was suspended in 1936 because Hoang Dao (1906-1948) wrote a satire of Hoang Trong Phu.
14. Pre-War literature from 1932 to 1945 was a peaceful period before 1945, preceding the Nine-Year War to drive out the French. This period had some trends, such as Romanticism and Realism, influenced by French literature. Also it was a period of development for Nom literature.
15. There were two examinations. “Huong” was the local examination for the baccalaureate held throughout the country. Those who passed the baccalaureate went to the Capital to take the “Hoi” examination for the doctoral and junior doctoral degrees. The Huong and Hoi examinations had a similar structure: the candidates were tested on “Kinh Nghia” (the meaning of classic works), “Van Sach” (dissertation), “Tho Phu” (poetics) and “Tu Luc” (coupled sentences). Kinh Nghia was in prose, declaiming a sentence that usually was comprised of excerpts from classical Chinese literary works. Van Sach was a dissertation, questioning and responding to something related to the present or ancient time. Poetry was both rhymed and symmetric; Tu Luc was parallel constructed sentences, without rhyme but with symmetry.
16. After being defeated at Dien Bien Phu, the French surrendered to Viet Minh forces on May 7, 1954. This defeat led to the Geneva Agreements on July 20, 1954. Vietnam became demarcated at the 17th parallel. About one million refugees escaped from the North to the South of Vietnam.
17. “Nhan Van Giai Pham” (Humanism Quarterly Magazine) first appeared in January of 1956 with the Spring issue, followed by the Fall and Winter issues, and contained the writings of the writers and poets who wanted to reform the literature such as Phan Khoi, Hoang Cam, Le Dat, Phung Quan, and Van Cao. Only a year later, their writings were suppressed and the writers forbidden to publish for the next 30 years.
18. Ly Toet and Xa Xe were the name of two cartoon characters appearing in Phong Hoa, a journal “to joke and change the customs and morals of the time”. Ly Toet, a village headman, had red and teary eyes. Xa Xe was an obese villager.
19. In 1956, in an attempt at reforming the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedong launched the “Hundred Flowers Movement”, which encouraged intellectuals and cultural leaders to speak their minds and to push the country forward through open debate. The campaign quoted from classical poetry, “Let one hundred flowers bloom and one hundred schools of thought contend...” Later, Mao turned on the critics, denouncing them as “bourgeois rightists” and “enemies of the people”. The purpose of the campaign was to purge opposition within the leadership. “The Great Leap Forward” (1958-1961) followed.
20. In response to Khrushchev’s “secret speech”, in Poznan, Poland, 15,000 workers revolted on June 15, 1956, giving reason for the Red Army to move into Polish cities. In an effort to subdue the riots, The Polish Communist Party reinstated Wladislaw Gomulka as Party Secretary, a man imprisoned by Stalin and seen as liberal to the people. The Red Army later withdrew, and the Soviet government loosened their control over Poland.
21. In 1956, the people of Hungary hoped that Khrushchev’s “secret speech” would bring an end to the cruel reign of Matyas Rakosi, a close and reliable cadre of the Soviet Union. The anti-Soviet sentiment among the population focused on Rakosi, culminating with the funeral of a moderate party member. Approximately 300,000 students and workers demonstrated on October 6,1956. The next day the Hungarian Politburo made Imre Nagy, a moderate, Party Secretary in order to quell the crowds, and the Hungarian Politburo also called for Soviet assistance. The Protests forced Nagy to bring non-Communists into the government and to order the Red Army away. On November 4, 1956, Soviet forces attacked Hungary. Nagy himself would seek asylum at the Yugoslav Embassy. Janos Kadar took power with Moscow’s backing. Over 20,000 Hungarians were killed and another 200,000 fled to the West. The short-lived revolution was completely crushed.
22. After the Paris Treaty, the United States withdrew its Army from South Vietnam. On April 30, 1975, Communist North Vietnam won the War and unified the country after twenty years of division.
23. The Cold War started with the Yalta Treaty, which was signed on February 11, 1945, between the United States of America, Great Britain and the Soviet Union, headed by Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Josef Stalin, respectively. They met in Lavidia Palace to determine how the war should be finished. The purpose of Yalta was the re-establishment of the nations conquered and destroyed by Germany, with an agreement to divide Germany into zones controlled by each of the three nations. Russia would take Berlin and the eastern half of Germany. Russia also let communism influence Eastern Europe, including Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. In exchange, Russia agreed to join the war against Japan. Eventually, Eastern Europe was to regain its independence and hold its own national elections to create independent governments. But Russia prevented popular elections by assigning permanent Communist governments while the United States, busy in its war against Japan, did nothing. The Cold War started in 1945 and ended in 1991, the year RussianOÁs communist government failed.
24. August 1944
25. March 1945.
26. From March 1945 onward.
27. On August 25, 1945.
28. Until January 1947.
29. On March 6, 1946.
30. The conflict between China and Vietnam lasted from February 17, 1979, to March 5, 1979, about 29 days. The incursion was a response to what China considered was Vietnam’s increasingly intimate relations with the Soviet Union and mistreatment of ethnic Chinese living in Vietnam. China also thought that Vietnam attempted to repatriate its ethnic Chinese residents, and pursued hegemony and “imperial dreams” in Southeast Asia.
31. Cynthia Cohen, “Peace and Aesthetic Experience: Coexistence, Reconciliation and the Arts”, translated by Nguyen Thi Ngoc Nhung.
32. The Tale of Kieu by Nguyen Du (1766-1820) is a story about Thuy Kieu and her fifteen years of hardship. She drifted from one tragic circumstance to another. Despondent in love, she was tricked by an unscrupulous womanizer, So Khanh, and sold to a brothel. Her true love was Kim Trong; tragedy struck, and she became married from Ma Giam Sinh to Tu Hai. She attempted to commit suicide to get out of this relationship, but survived and was rescued by Giac Duyen, a nun. She ended up in a nunnery. The author of this work, Nguyen Du, was a talented and erudite scholar, a high-ranking mandarin of both the Le and Nguyen Dynasties.
33. Cung Oan Ngam Khuc (Sorrows of an Abandoned Queen) of On Nhu Nguyen Gia Thieu (1744-1789) describes the trials and tragedy of a young girl who was chosen to go into the royal harem for her beauty and talent, which surpassed that of many other girls of her teen years. At first, she was dearly loved by the King, only to be abandoned later when her beauty and talent faded. She lived out the rest of her life moaning with grief and self-pity for a “woman’s unappreciated lot”.
34. Chinh Phu Ngam (The Song of a Warrior’s Wife) is a lamentation written by Dang Tran Con in Han characters and free verse, with long and short sentences, translated into Nom by Doan Thi Diem. Dang Tran Con, exact dates of birth and death unknown, was reputed to be liberal minded, to like wine, and to be a good poet. During his period, the Le emperor and Trinh Lord enforced strict rules regulating such things as no fire at night. To avoid punishment for breaking this regulation, Dang Tran Con dug a shelter in the ground and lit lamps to read books under cover of earth. When the Trinh Lords took power, they entrusted much power in eunuchs who abused their privilege and oppressed the people. Hostilities broke out throughout the country. The mandarins sent in soldiers to crush these rebellions. These soldiers had to renounce their homes, wives and children, and were often killed in battle. Dang Tran Con wrote these famous Chinh Phu Ngam epic poems, which have been handed down through many generations.
35. Frederick Turner, “The New Classicism and Culture”, translated by Nguyen Tien Van.
From www.thewriterspost.com
Translated by J. DO VINH
|
THƠ VIỆT TRÊN ĐƯỜNG BIẾN ĐỔI
(Hay Bức Tranh Văn Học)
Khế Iêm
Trong hội nghị hàng năm lần thứ 56 của Hiệp hội
Nghiên cứu Á châu (Association For Asian Studies) hợp tác cùng Hội đồng Giáo chức
Giảng dạy và Nghiên cứu Ngôn ngữ Vùng Đông Nam Á (Council of Teachers of Southern Asian
Languages), thơ là một phần của chương tŕnh. Chủ đề của
cuộc hội thảo (Panel Description): Thơ, cửa sổ qua lịch sử và biến
đổi ở vùng Đông nam Á (Poetry as a Window on History and Change in Southeast Asia). Hiểu
một cách nào đó, thơ gắn liền với lịch sử và biến đổi.
Lịch sử ở đây được hiểu theo nghĩa rộng, bao gồm cả
những biến đổi về ngôn ngữ, văn học và chính trị, v́ đó là
những yếu tố không thể nào tách rời của khu vực văn hóa. Đề
cập tới thơ, có nghĩa là đề cập tới toàn cảnh văn học
v́ trước thời kỳ chữ Quốc ngữ, Việt nam hầu như không có
văn xuôi. Cho đến khi chữ Quốc ngữ được dùng để dịch
những tác phẩm của Trung quốc và Pháp, và vào lúc Đông dương Tạp chí (
1913) ra đời, mới bắt đầu xuất hiện truyện ngắn. Như
vậy tiểu thuyết chỉ mới có từ khoảng đó trở về sau, tiêu
biểu là tác phẩm Tố Tâm (1925) 1 , một tiểu thuyết lăng mạn của
Hoàng
Ngọc Phách. Những tiểu thuyết sau đó dù lăng mạn hay hiện thực
đều sáng tác nương theo cách kết cấu và diễn đạt qua những
tác phẩm dịch ngoại quốc, ḥa nhập cùng phong cách của nghệ thuật tu
từ của thơ. Những biến động văn học, chủ yếu do thơ,
v́ thơ mới chính là linh hồn của mọi biến động trong văn học.
Nhưng thơ, xuyên suốt hơn 1000 năm, luôn luôn bị chi phối bởi quyền
lực chính trị, cùng với sự thay đổi chữ viết, v́ thế chúng ta
phải nh́n qua nhiều khía cạnh, nhiều lăng kính từ ngôn ngữ, những
biến cố lịch sử cùng ảnh hưởng văn hóa từ Trung hoa và
phương Tây để có thể hiểu rơ những khúc quanh chuyển đổi
của thơ nói riêng và văn học Việt nam nói chung.
Những thời điểm văn học
Trong lịch sử, Việt nam đă có khoảng 1000 năm lệ
thuộc Trung quốc 2 (từ năm 111 trước Công nguyên đến năm
938 sau Công nguyên) và 80 năm bị Pháp đô hộ (1883-1945). Những năm tháng mất
chủ quyền đă hằn lên dân tộc Việt những dấu ấn văn hóa, và
ảnh hưởng sâu đậm tới tâïp tục, đời sống và văn học.
Người Hán khi cai trị đă mang tới tập tục, đồng thời
dạy chữ viết để dùng trong công việc hành chính thông thường, bởi
v́ trước đó, người Việt có tiếng nói riêng nhưng không có chữ
viết. Sau khi Ngô Quyền (939-965) giành được độc lập, đến
đời nhà Đinh 3 (968-980) mới tổ chức theo chế độ
chuyên chế của Trung quốc, và tiếp tục dùng chữ Hán trong các công văn
giấy tờ và sự giao tiếp giữa hai nước. Thơ chữ Hán có lẽ
đă bắt đầu từ đời nhà Lư, do những nhà sư làm ra, thường
là các bài kệ 4 , v́ trước đó, việc học chỉ có ở trong các chùa
chiền. Phật giáo vào Việt nam qua hai đường Ấn độ và Trung hoa,
phần nhiều kinh điển dịch ra chữ Hán nên các nhà sư giỏi chữ Hán,
và Hán học nhờ Phật học mà truyền bá trong dân gian.
Đến thế kỷ thứ 10, hầu như mọi nghi lễ,
học thuật, văn tự, nghệ thuật, tôn giáo cho tới chế độ gia
tộc, chính trị, xă hội đều rập khuôn theo Trung quốc. Năm 1075, vua Lư
Nhân Tôn mở khoa thi đầu tiên, để tuyển chọn nhân tài ra làm quan. Do đó,
tuy thoát ra khỏi sự lệ thuộc về chính trị, nhưng vẫn lệ
thuộc vào chữ viết và văn hóa, cho đến đời vua Trần Nhân Tôn
(1279-1298), Hàn Thuyên 5 lấy chữ Nôm làm bài “Văn Tế Cá Sấu”, một
loại chiết tự theo chữ Hán, nay đă thất truyền. Chữ Nôm, chuyển âm
nói của tiếng Việt, cách viết cũng khó như chữ Hán, chỉ giới quan
lại và sĩ tử mới hiểu, nên không thông dụng trong dân chúng. Chữ Nôm có
từ bao giờ, không ai biết, nhưng có lẽ phát sinh từ nhu cầu của
đời sống xă hội, có những tên người, tên xứ, tên đồ
vật... không dùng chữ Hán để viết trong các công văn, giấy tờ, phải
ghép những chữ Hán, một phần hay toàn thể, để thành chữ mới,
viết tiếng Việt. Chữ Nôm có một số qui luật nhưng chưa
được điển chế đúng mức, mỗi người dựa theo ư riêng
mà đặt thành nên khi đọc phải đoán ư mà hiểu.
Vào thế kỷ 16, trong thời Trịnh Nguyễn phân tranh, những
nhà buôn và nhà truyền giáo phương Tây bắt đầu đặt chân tới
Việt nam. V́ chữ Nôm khó học, các giáo sĩ bèn dùng mẫu tự Latinh, ghi âm
tiếng Việt để dễ dàng truyền đạo, và dịch kinh Thánh. Chữ
Quốc ngữ là công sức của nhiều người, gồm các giáo sĩ Ư, Pháp,
Bồ Đài Nha... Đến năm 1651, Giáo sĩ Alexandre de Rhodes (1591-1660) soạn ra
cuốn tự điển Việt-Bồ-La và in tại Roma th́ chữ Quốc ngữ
được dùng từ đó. Khi người Pháp chiếm Nam kỳ 6 vào năm 1863,
chiếm toàn Việt nam 1884, đặt Nam kỳ làm thuộc địa (áp đặt
dùng chữ Quốc ngữ), Bắc và Trung kỳ thuộc chế độ bảo
hộ (chữ Quốc ngữ được dùng sau đó). Vào thời kỳ đầu,
phải lo b́nh định những phong trào Cần Vương 7 , đến năm 1915
mới băi bỏ chế độ khoa cử ở miền Bắc, và Huế vào năm
1919, mở trường đào tạo một thế hệ mới, để làm việc
cho Pháp. Song song, năm 1906 Phan Bội Châu tổ chức phong trào Đông du 8 , đưa
sinh viên Việt nam sang Nhật du học, v́ thấy Nhật Âu hóa mà trở nên hùng mạnh,
nâng cao tinh thần yêu nước của thanh niên. Đầu năm 1907, một số
nhà Nho yêu nước như Lương Văn Can, Nguyễn Quyền, Hoàng Tăng Bí,
Dương Bá Trạc... mở trường Đông kinh Nghĩa thục 9 ,
chủ trương bỏ chữ Nôm, dùng ngay chữ Quốc ngữ, đưa vào tinh
thần dân tộc, tiếp thu tư tưởng mới, nâng cao dân trí, chống lại
sự đồng hóa văn hóa.
Đến cuối năm 1907, Pháp đóng cửa Đông kinh Nghĩa
thục, kư kết với Nhật cấm du học sinh. Công cuộc tranh đấu
của phong trào Đông du và Đông kinh Nghĩa thục thất bại, một số
học giả quay về thỏa hiệp với Pháp, làm công việc nghiên cứu,
khảo luận, dung ḥa văn hóa Đông Tây. Nằm trong chiến dịch tuyên truyền
văn hóa, chính phủ thuộc địa Pháp tài trợ cho Đông Dương tạp
chí 10 (1913-1915) của Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh, chuyên dịch thuật những tác
phẩm từ Hán văn và Pháp văn ra Quốc ngữ, đặc biệt là Nam Phong
tạp chí 11 (1917-1932) của Phạm Quỳnh, bằng ba thứ tiếng, Việt
(Quốc ngữ), Pháp và Hán, lựa chọn những tác phẩm có giá trị tư
tưởng, biên khảo công phu, mang tính học thuật, phát hành rộng răi để
lôi kéo mọi thành phần người đọc, từ cựu đến tân học,
truyền đạt học thuật cổ kim và du nhập tư tưởng Đông Tây.
Cuốn “Tục ngữ Phong dao” (1928) của Nguyễn Văn Ngọc (1880-1942), sưu
tầm 8000 câu ca dao tục ngữ 12 , nằm trong chiều hướng đó,
bắc cầu cho sự ḥa điệu sau này giữa thơ cũ và mới. Ở
đây chúng ta thấy sự quan trọng của chữ viết, mẫu tự La tinh
dễ học, dễ viết, gần gũi với chữ viết của Anh, Pháp,
đă chuyển ảnh hưởng văn hóa từ Trung quốc qua phương Tây.
Từ 1932, một thế hệ mới trưởng thành, không c̣n theo
khuynh hướng dung ḥa văn hóa Đông Tây của thế hệ Đông dương và
Nam phong tạp chí, đả kích cái cũ, ca ngợi cái mới. Khởi đầu là nhà
văn Nhất Linh, xuất bản tờ Phong Hóa 13 , và thành lập Tự Lực Văn
Đoàn vào năm 1933, gồm Nhất Linh, Khái Hưng (1896-1947), Thạch Lam (1910-1942),
Hoàng Đạo, Tú Mỡ, Nguyễn Gia Trí (1908-1993) và Thế Lữ (1907-1989), dùng chữ
quốc ngữ để sáng tác thơ văn. Sau đó thêm Xuân Diệu (1916-1985). Nhiều
nhà thơ khác, Huy Cận (1919-), Vũ Hoàng Chương (1916-1976), Đinh Hùng (1920-1967)...
xuất thân từ ḍng dơi Nho học, có Tây học, kết hợp giữa thơ
Đường với ca dao, là một ḍng thơ dân gian, và văn thơ Pháp, để
làm thành loại thơ vần điệu đặc biệt Việt nam, gọi là
Thơ Mới 14 . Cho tới thời điểm này, mọi sinh hoạt chữ
nghĩa, văn thơ bằng chữ viết, đều hạn chế trong những
thành phần có học ở thành phố, v́ đa số người dân vẫn c̣n mù
chữ. Đến đây, văn học Việt nam chính thức bước hẳn qua
một thời kỳ khác, chấm dứt một thời gian dài ảnh hưởng
văn hóa Trung hoa.
Trước đó, Việt nam theo chế độ quân chủ chuyên
chế của Trung quốc, dựa vào cách tổ chức xă hội của Nho giáo
để cai trị dân. Nho giáo trở thành một học thuyết chính trị và nhà Nho
khi làm quan, trở thành những nhà chính trị, thi hành lư tưởng trị nước
an dân. Nho giáo chủ trương quân quyền và phụ quyền, vua là con trời, bắt
bầy tôi chết, bầy tôi phải chết. Cũng như trong chế độ gia
trưởng, quyền của người cha là tuyệt đối. Vua chúa dựa vào
giai cấp Nho sĩ để trị nước an dân, Nho sĩ dựa vào vua chúa
để hưởng đặc quyền đặc lợi. Để thi hành quan
điểm chính trị, nhà Nho nắm lấy chính quyền, ra làm quan, qua con
đường khoa cử. Trong các kỳ thi 15 , sĩ tử phải làm thơ văn
bằng chữ Hán, đúng vần và luật, rất phức tạp và khó khăn, và
nếu phạm những điều cấm kỵ, có thể bị tù tội. Nho
học biến thành lối học khoa cử, kết quả là từ vua tới quan
đều là những nhà thơ lành nghề trong các lối từ chương, tiểu
xảo, đẽo gọt câu chữ sao cho cầu kỳ bóng bảy. V́ vậy trải
qua gần hai ngàn năm ảnh hưởng Trung hoa, thơ chữ Hán chỉ là loại
thơ quan trường, ít có giá trị, nếu so sánh với những nhà thơ
đời Đường của Trung hoa. Thơ từ khởi đầu là một
phương tiện t́m kiếm quyền lực, rồi sau đó trở thành quyền
lực. Khi nhà Nho biến thành ông quan, những nhà cai trị, thơ mang ư nghĩa linh
thiêng, tôn kính, không c̣n là một nghệ thuật thông thường. Chữ Hán
được coi như chữ của Thánh hiền, không thể đem ra để
đùa cợt, giải khuây. Nhưng từ khi Hàn Thuyên dùng chữ Nôm, là chữ nôm na
của bọn dân quê chất phác, làm bài văn tế, th́ càng lúc càng có nhiều
người làm thơ chữ Nôm để làm dịu bớt những lễ nghi phép
tắc căng thẳng trong chốn quan trường. Thơ Nôm mượn những
thể thơ của Trung hoa, dần dần chuyển hẳn, dùng ngay thể thơ
dân gian là lục bát hay song thất lục bát. Như vậy, lúc đầu những nhà
thơ chỉ dùng chữ Nôm làm thơ để mua vui, sau đó một số nhà thơ
có tài, lại gặp được thứ chữ có thể tự do giải bày tâm
sự, đă đẩy thơ Nôm lên hàng nghệ thuật hơn cả thơ
Đường, làm thành ḍng thơ cổ điển, tiêu biểu là Nguyễn Trăi.
Con người quan cách lấn lướt con người mua vui, thơ Nôm trở
thành loại thơ cao cấp, đầy điển tích khó hiểu, thay thế thơ
chữ Hán.
Nếu trước kia thơ chữ Hán và quyền lực chính
trị nhập làm một th́ bây giờ, thơ chữ Nôm tách ra, đối kháng với
quyền lực chính trị. Trong con người nhà thơ, ẩn chứa hai thứ
quyền lực, vừa ảo tưởng vừa chính trị, vừa là nhà thơ
vừa là ông quan, như Nguyễn Du tuy làm quan với triều đ́nh nhà Nguyễn
nhưng luôn luôn bất măn, đành dùng thơ để gửi gấm tâm sự. Thơ
chữ Nôm cũng như chữ Hán là sản phẩm của nền văn hóa phong
kiến, thấm đẫm tính chất quan quyền, độc đoán, mất hẳn
sự cảm thông với đại chúng, chỉ dành riêng cho tầng lớp sĩ phu,
tự mệnh danh là “đại nhân, quân tử”. Người đọc và nhà phê b́nh,
dĩ nhiên, không có vị trí nào trong ḍng thơ đó. Khi người Pháp vào đô hộ,
chấm dứt khoa cử, đào tạo một thế hệ mới, v́ chỉ lo trị
an, ít quan tâm và can thiệp vào việc sáng tác, nên thơ văn mới rũ bỏ
được những ám ảnh quyền lực ảo tưởng và chính trị.
Người b́nh dân không biết chữ Hán, chữ Nôm, c̣n chữ
Quốc ngữ chưa phát triển, đứng ngoài thế giới văn học, có
đời sống tinh thần và t́nh cảm riêng biệt, gần gũi với thiên
nhiên, bộc lộ qua những câu ḥ giọng hát, từ hàng ngàn năm trước. Ca dao
là câu hát phổ thông trong dân gian, thường là theo thể lục bát hay song thất
lục bát, diễn tả những lề thói, phong tục, tính t́nh của b́nh dân
đại chúng. V́ trong sinh hoạt thường ngày, như đi cấy, tát nước,
giă gạo, ngay cả ru con, không có công việc nào mà người b́nh dân không kèm theo
những câu hát, để làm vơi đi những sự khó nhọc. Thật ra, ca dao
cũng do những người có học làm ra, để răn dạy đời, hay
phản ảnh tâm tư t́nh cảm, và là một nhu cầu trong sinh hoạt của xă
hội nông nghiệp. Ca dao v́ vậy rất ngắn gọn, 2 hay 4 câu, là một ngôn
ngữ có vần điệu, một ngữ điệu hát ḥ, là một loại văn
chương truyền khẩu hay văn chương b́nh dân.
Trong khi thơ Đường là một thơ thể luật,
rất khắt khe và g̣ bó, niêm luật từng câu ḍng, như ngũ ngôn tứ tuyệt
(một ḍng 5 chữ, 4 câu) hay thất ngôn bát cú (mỗi ḍng 7 chữ, 8 câu). Thơ Mới
mượn vần, các thể 5, 7 chữ của Đường thi, thêm vào thể 8
chữ và lục bát, nương theo ngữ điệu của ngôn ngữ. Nhưng ca
dao cũng chỉ dừng lại ở những câu ḥ hát, theo bản năng tự nhiên,
không thể tạo thành luật tắc và quan điểm mỹ học riêng. Những nhà
thơ cổ điển và Tiền chiến theo tiếng gọi của tiềm thức,
qua ca dao, t́m về bản sắc dân tộc, để h́nh thành ḍng thơ Việt,
nhưng đơn thuần chỉ nói lên tâm t́nh của một thiểu số có
địa vị trong xă hội. Nếu thơ cổ điển đầy những
điển tích và h́nh ảnh của một đất nước Trung hoa xa lạ th́
thơ Tiền chiến là những t́nh tự trai gái, lăng mạn và cá nhân chủ nghĩa,
lạc lơng trong đời sống xă hội truyền thống. Trong ḍng thơ Việt,
cho tới bây giờ chưa bao giờ có h́nh bóng của đám đông. Đám đông dân
chúng, thật ra là mọi thành phần ở ngoài giai cấp văn học, luôn luôn bị
nh́n như những kẻ thất học.
Điều đáng nói là từ năm 1932 đến 1945, đất
nước tương đối thanh b́nh, nhưng đến năm 1945, thế
chiến II chấm dứt, Việt nam rơi vào cuộc chiến 9 năm chống Pháp, và
kết quả là hiệp định Genève16, 20-7-1954, chia đôi đất nước:
Miền Bắc theo chế độ cộng sản, miền Nam theo chế độ
tư bản. Chẳng bao lâu sau, khoảng cuối năm 1960, một cuộc chiến
khác bùng nổ, và lần này là cuộc chiến giữa hai miền. Và cũng ở vào
thập niên này, miền Bắc có phong trào Nhân văn Giai phẩm 17 , và miền Nam với
phong trào thơ tự do, cả hai đều gồm những nhà thơ có khuynh
hướng thoát ra khỏi ḍng thơ Tiền chiến, sáng tác theo thể tự do hay
gần với thể thơ tự do. Năm 1975, chiến tranh chấm dứt, thơ
Việt rơi vào hai thập niên bất động, và tới đầu năm 2000
mới nổi lên phong trào thơ tân h́nh thức. Trong bài viết, chủ yếu chúng tôi
dùng phương pháp so sánh, và nương theo những biến cố lịch sử quan
trọng để làm bật lên đặc tính và sự chuyển hóa của thơ
Việt, từ thập niên 1960 tới nay.
Con đường chuyển hóa
Trong thời gian đô hộ Việt nam, Trung hoa có thời đại
nhà Đường (618-906), một thời kỳ cực thịnh về văn học,
đặc biệt là thơ với thơ Đường. Cách làm thơ Việt, dù có
thay đổi qua nhiều thời đại, nhiều thời kỳ thơ, và cả
khi thay đổi chữ viết, vẫn theo tinh thần và phong cách Đường thi.
Để hiểu rơ hơn tính cách này, chúng ta có thể dựa vào điển tích như
sau:
Nhà thơ Trung hoa, Giả Đảo (779-843), khi c̣n thanh niên, lên kinh
đô thi, có làm 2 câu thơ:
Mă túc tŕ trung thụ
Tăng thôi (xao) nguyệt hạ môn
Ngựa ngủ ở khóm cây bờ ao
Sư đẩy (gơ) cánh cổng dưới ánh trăng
Ông chưa ưng ư chữ “thôi” (đẩy), đang đi
đường suy nghĩ, không hay có quan Lệnh doăn (quan coi về kinh sư) là Hàn
Dũ (768-824) đi qua. Lính dẹp đường bắt, ông tŕnh bày lư do, Hàn Dũ
khuyên ông dùng chữ “xao” (gơ) thay v́ chữ “thôi” (đẩy), đắc địa hơn,
và tha cho. Ư của hai câu thơ vừa sâu sắc vừa đ̣i hỏi người
đọc phải có một sở học uyên thâm. Giả Đảo mượn quan
điểm của Phật giáo, coi trần tục là cơi “tâm viên ư mă”, có nghĩa là tâm
con người nhảy nhót như vượn, ư lồng lộn như ngựa, không
lúc nào yên. Nhà sư kiềm chế được cái tâm của ḿnh, như h́nh ảnh
con ngựa ngủ bên khóm cây, bóng soi dưới bờ nước, tượng trưng
cho cơi đời hư ảo. Nhưng khi an được cái tâm rồi, nhà sư
đẩy( gơ) cửa, để t́m ra chân lư, v́ phật pháp, kinh kệ chỉ là một
phương tiện, là ngón tay chỉ, và mặt trăng mới là chân lư. Nhà sư
đang trên hành tŕnh đi t́m giải thoát, t́m niết bàn. H́nh ảnh con ngựa, cánh
cửa, và ánh trăng tượng trưng cho cái tâm con người, phật pháp và chân lư.
Hàn Dũ khuyên dùng chữ “xao” có nghĩa là “gơ”, không những xảy ra trong tức khắc,
mà c̣n như ám chỉ, chân lư không ở đâu xa, chỉ trong gang tấc.
Với hai câu thơ thôi, mà đă mở ra cả một nhân sinh quan.
Đây là cách làm thơ “ư tại ngôn ngoại”, có nghĩa là ư ở ngoài lời. Sau này,
Giả Đảo làm quan, khi cáo lăo điền viên, trở thành nhà sư, vẫn tiếp
tục làm thơ, từng than:
Lưỡng cú tam niên đắc
Thi thành song lệ thùy
Ba năm làm được hai câu
Thơ xong, hai ḍng lệ ứa
Sự tích “Thôi Xao” (đẩy, gơ), và phương cách thể
hiện ư ở ngoài lời ảnh hưởng xuyên suốt đời sống văn
học Việt, từ chữ Hán qua Quốc ngữ, từ thơ Đường qua
Tiền chiến, và tự do. Thi pháp Đường thi là một nghệ thuật
cấp cao, đ̣i hỏi người làm thơ và đọc thơ phải tinh
tường ba nguồn tư tưởng Phật, Lăo và Nho giáo, không chủ trương
phản ảnh, mà là vượt thoát khỏi thế giới thực tại. Thơ
cổ điển và Tiền chiến l |