{"history":[],"article":{"id":"5e0c5e0f-baed-4072-8197-cd04fda17c78","title":"Vietnamese poetry","slug":"vietnamese-poetry","content":":::summary\n:::\n\n# \n**Vietnamese [poetry](https://bliptext.com/articles/poetry)** originated in the form of folk [poetry](https://bliptext.com/articles/poetry) and [proverbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/proverb).\n[Vietnamese](https://bliptext.com/articles/vietnamese-language) poetic structures include [Lục bát](https://bliptext.com/articles/l-c-b-t), [Song thất lục bát](https://bliptext.com/articles/song-th-t-l-c-b-t), and various styles shared with [Classical Chinese poetry forms](https://bliptext.com/articles/classical-chinese-poetry-forms), such as are found in [Tang poetry](https://bliptext.com/articles/tang-poetry); examples include verse forms with \"seven syllables each line for eight lines,\" \"seven syllables each line for four lines\" (a type of [quatrain](https://bliptext.com/articles/quatrain)), and \"five syllables each line for eight lines.\"\nMore recently there have been new poetry and free poetry.\nWith the exception of free poetry, a form with no distinct structure, other forms all have a certain structure.\nThe tightest and most rigid structure was that of the [Tang dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/tang-dynasty) poetry, in which structures of content, number of syllables per line, lines per poem, rhythm rule determined the form of the poem.\nThis stringent structure restricted Tang poetry to the middle and upper classes and academia.\n\n# History\n\n## Beginnings\nThe first indication of Vietnamese literary activity dates back around 500 BCE during the [Đông Sơn](https://bliptext.com/articles/ng-s-n-culture) [Bronze-age](https://bliptext.com/articles/bronze-age) civilization.\nPoetic scenes of [sun worship](https://bliptext.com/articles/sun-worship) and musical festivity appeared on the famous eponymous drums of the period.\nSince music and poetry are often inextricable in the Vietnamese tradition, one could safely assume the Đông Sơn drums to be the earliest extant mark of poetry.\nIn 987 CE, Đỗ Pháp Thuần co-authored with Li Chueh, a [Chinese ambassador](https://bliptext.com/articles/foreign-relations-of-imperial-china) in Vietnam by matching the latter's spontaneous oration in a four-verse poem called \"Two Wild Geese\".\nPoetry of the period proudly exhibited its Chinese legacy and achieved many benchmarks of classical Chinese literature.\nFor this, China bestowed the title of Văn Hiến Chi Bang (\"the Cultured State\") on Vietnam.\nAll the earliest literature from Vietnam is necessarily written in [chữ Hán](https://bliptext.com/articles/ch-h-n) (though read in the [Sino-Vietnamese](https://bliptext.com/articles/sino-vietnamese-vocabulary). ) No writing system for vernacular Vietnamese existed until the thirteenth century, when [chữ Nôm](https://bliptext.com/articles/ch-n-m) (\"Southern writing\", often referred to simply as [Nôm](https://bliptext.com/articles/n-m)) — Vietnamese written using [chữ Hán](https://bliptext.com/articles/ch-h-n) — was formalized.\nWhile Chinese remained the official written language for centuries, poets could now choose to write in the language of their choice.\nFolk poetry presumably flourished alongside classical poetry, and reflected the common man's life with its levity, humor and irony.\nSince popular poetry was mostly anonymously composed, it was more difficult to date and trace the thematic development of the genre.\nHigh-culture poetry in each period mirrored various sensibilities of the age.\nThe poems of [Lý dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/l-dynasty) (1010-1125) distinctively and predominantly feature Buddhist themes.\nPoetry then became progressively less religiously oriented in the following dynasty, the [Trần dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/tr-n-dynasty) (1125-1400), as Confucian scholars replaced Buddhist priest as the Emperors' political advisers.\nThree successive victorious defense against the [Kublai Khan](https://bliptext.com/articles/kublai-khan)'s Mongolian armies further emboldened Vietnamese literary endeavors, infusing poetry with celebratory patriotism.\n# [The first 6 lines of The Tale of Kiều by Nguyễn Du, exemplifying the chữ Nôm script, in use from around the thirteenth through early twentieth centuries | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Truyenkieu2.png]\n\n## Later Lê dynasty (1427-1788)\nLiterature in Chữ Nôm flourished in the fifteenth century during the [Later Lê dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/later-l-dynasty).\nUnder the reign of Emperor [Lê Thánh Tông](https://bliptext.com/articles/l-th-nh-t-ng) (1460-1497), chữ Nôm enjoyed official endorsement and became the primary language of poetry.\nBy this century, the creation of chữ Nôm symbolized the happy marriage between chữ Hán and vernacular elements and contributed to the blurring of the literary distinction between \"high\" and \"low\" cultures.\nDue to the civil strife between Trịnh and Nguyễn lords and other reasons, poetic innovation continued, though at a slower pace from the late fifteenth century to the eighteenth century.\nThe earliest chữ Nôm in phú, or rhymed verse, appeared in the sixteenth century.\nAlso in the same period, the famous \"seven-seven-six-eight\" verse form was also invented.\nVerse novels (truyện) also became a major genre.\nIt was around the fifteenth century that people started linking the traditional \"six-eight\" iambic couplet verses of folk poetry together, playing on the internal rhyming between the sixth syllable of the eight line and the last syllable of the six line, so that end rhyme mutates every two lines.\nOrally narrated verse novels using this verse pattern received immense popular support in a largely illiterate society.\nIn the 17th century, Francisco de Pina arrived in Vietnam ([Đàng Trong](https://bliptext.com/articles/ng-trong)) and was credited with the creation of the [Vietnamese alphabet](https://bliptext.com/articles/vietnamese-alphabet).\nIn 1651, [Alexandre de Rhodes](https://bliptext.com/articles/alexandre-de-rhodes), a [Portuguese](https://bliptext.com/articles/portuguese-language) missionary and disciple of [Francisco de Pina](https://bliptext.com/articles/francisco-de-pina), published the first trilingual [Vietnamese](https://bliptext.com/articles/vietnamese-language)-[Portuguese](https://bliptext.com/articles/portuguese-language)-[Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/latin) [dictionary](https://bliptext.com/articles/dictionary) (Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et [Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/latin)um), which helped furthered the development of the [Vietnamese](https://bliptext.com/articles/vietnamese-language) alphabet, however, did not gain wide currency until the twentieth century.\n\n## Tây Sơn and Independent Nguyễn dynasty (1788-1862)\nItinerant performers recite these epic poems, the most famous of which is the Tale of Kiều by [Nguyễn Du](https://bliptext.com/articles/nguy-n-du), often said to be the national poem of Vietnam.\nA contemporary of Nguyễn Du was [Hồ Xuân Hương](https://bliptext.com/articles/h-xu-n-h-ng), a female author of masterful and boldly venereal verses.\n# [Hồ Xuân Hương, a witty and ribald poet | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Ho///Xuan///Huong.png]\n\n## French colonial period (1862-1945)\nStarting from the 1930s, [Vietnamese alphabet](https://bliptext.com/articles/vietnamese-alphabet) poems abounded, often referred to as [Thơ mới](https://bliptext.com/articles/th-m-i) (\"New Poetry\"), which borrowed from Western traditions in both its free verse form as well as modern existential themes.\n\n## Contemporary (1945-present)\nThe Second World War curbed some of this literary flourishing, though Vietnamese poetry would undergo a new period of development during the French resistance and the Vietnam War.\n\n# Prosody\nAs in most metrical systems, Vietnamese meter is structured both by the count and the character of syllables.\nWhereas in English verse syllables are categorized by relative stress, and in classical Greek and Latin verse they are categorized by length, in Vietnamese verse (as in Chinese) syllables are categorized by tone.\nFor metrical purposes, the 6 distinct phonemic tones that occur in Vietnamese are all considered as either \"flat\" or \"sharp\".\nThus a line of metrical verse consists of a specific number of syllables, some of which must be flat, some of which must be sharp, and some of which may be either.\nLike verse in Chinese and most European languages, traditional Vietnamese verse is rhymed.\nThe combination of meter and rhyme scheme defines the verse form in which a poem is written.\nTraditionally in Vietnamese 1 word = 1 character = 1 syllable.\nThus discussions of poetry may refer, for example, to a seven-word line of verse, or to the tone of a word.\nIn this discussion, syllable is taken to be the least-ambiguous term for the foundational prosodic unit.\n\n## Vowels and tones\nVowels can be simple (à, ca, cha, đá, lá, ta) or compound (biên, chiêm, chuyên, xuyên), and one of six tones is applied to every vowel.\n!Tone Class!!Tone!!Diacritic!!Listen\n(bằng)||level||a (no diacritic)||\n(trắc)||tumbling||ã||\nIn order to correspond more closely with Chinese rules of versification, older analyses sometimes consider Vietnamese to have eight tones rather than six.\nThis is due to the Chinese classification of tones which Vietnamese no longer uses due to the switch from [chữ Nôm](https://bliptext.com/articles/ch-n-m) to the [Vietnamese alphabet](https://bliptext.com/articles/vietnamese-alphabet).\nHowever, the additional two tones are not phonemic in Vietnamese and in any case roll up to the same sharp tone class as they do in a six-tone analysis.\n\n## Rhyme\nUse of rhyme in Vietnamese poetry is largely analogous to its use in English and other European languages; two important differences are the salience of tone class in the acceptability of rhymed syllables, and the prominence of structural back rhyme (rhyming a syllable at the end of one line with a syllable in the middle of the next).\nRhyme connects lines in a poem together, almost always occurring on the final syllable of a line, and sometimes including syllables within the line.\nIn principle, Vietnamese rhymes exhibit the same features as English rhymes: Given that every syllable consists of ****C**V**C**** — an optional initial consonant or consonant cluster + a vowel (simple or compound) + an optional final consonant or consonant cluster — a \"true\" rhyme comprises syllables with different initial **C** and identical V**C**.\nHowever additional features are salient in Vietnamese verse.\nRhyming syllables do not require identical tones, but must be of the same tone class: either all flat (e.g. dâu, màu, sầu), or all sharp (e.g. đấy, cấy).\nFlat rhymes tend to create a feeling of gentleness and smoothness, whereas sharp rhymes create a feeling of roughness, motion, wakefulness.\nRhyme can be further classified as \"rich\" or \"poor\".\nRich rhyme (not to be confused with [Rime riche](https://bliptext.com/articles/rime-riche)) has the same tone class, and the same vowel sound: flat (Phương, sương, cường, trường) or sharp (Thánh, cảnh, lãnh, ánh).\n\nLầu Tần chiều nhạt vẻ thu\nGối loan tuyết đóng, chăn cù giá đông\nPoor rhyme has the same tone class, but slightly different vowel sounds: flat (Minh, khanh, huỳnh, hoành) or sharp (Mến, lẽn, quyện, hển)\n\nNgười lên ngựa kẻ chia bào\nRừng phong thu đã nhuộm màu quan san\nFinally, poets may sometimes use a \"slant rhyme\":\n\nNgười về chiếc bóng năm canh\nKẻ đi muôn dặm một mình xa xôi\n\n# Verse form\n\n## Regulated verse\nThe earliest extant poems by Vietnamese poets are in fact written in the Chinese language, in Chinese characters, and in Chinese verse forms — specifically the [regulated verse](https://bliptext.com/articles/regulated-verse) ([luật thi](https://bliptext.com/articles/l-shi-poetry)) of the [Tang dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/tang-dynasty).\nThese strict forms were favored by the intelligentsia, and competence in composition was required for civil service examinations.\nRegulated verse — later written in Vietnamese as well as Chinese — has continued to exert an influence on Vietnamese poetry throughout its history.\nAt the heart of this family of forms are four related verse types: two with five syllables per line, and two with seven syllables per line; eight lines constituting a complete poem in each.\nNot only are syllables and lines regulated, so are rhymes, Level and Deflected tones (corresponding closely to the Vietnamese flat and sharp), and a variety of \"faults\" which are to be avoided.\nWhile Chinese poets favored the 5-syllable forms, Vietnamese poets favored the 7-syllable forms, so the first of these seven-syllable forms is represented here in its standard Tang form:\nThe other seven-syllable form is identical, but with (for the most part) opposite assignments of Level and Deflected syllables.\n5-syllable forms are similarly structured, but with 2+3 syllable lines, rather than 2+2+3.\nAll forms might optionally omit the rhyme at the end of the first line, necessitating tone alterations in the final three syllables.\nAn additional stricture was that the two central couplets should be antithetical.\nTang poetics allowed additional variations: The central 2 couplets could form a complete four-line poem ([tuyệt câu](https://bliptext.com/articles/jueju)), or their structure could be repeated to form a poem of indefinite length ([bài luật](https://bliptext.com/articles/pail)).\nWhile Vietnamese poets have embraced regulated verse, they have at times loosened restrictions, even taking frankly experimental approaches such as composing in six-syllable lines.\nThough less prestigious (in part because it was not an element of official examinations), they have also written in the similar but freer Chinese \"old style\" ([cổ thi](https://bliptext.com/articles/gushi-poetry)).\n\n## Lục bát\nIn contrast to the learned, official, and foreign nature of regulated verse, Vietnam also has a rich tradition of native, demotic, and vernacular verse.\nWhile lines with an odd number of syllables were favored by Chinese aesthetics, lines with an even number of syllables were favored in Vietnamese folk verse.\n[Lục bát](https://bliptext.com/articles/l-c-b-t) (\"six-eight\") has been embraced as the verse form par excellence of Vietnam.\nCurrently, the oldest [Lục bát](https://bliptext.com/articles/l-c-b-t) with a clear date that has been preserved until now is Nguyen Hy Quang's \"Cảm tác\" composed in 1674.\nThe name denotes the number of syllables in each of the two lines of the couplet.\nLike regulated verse, lục bát relies on syllable count, tone class, and rhyme for its structure; however, it is much less minutely regulated, and incorporates an interlocking rhyme scheme which links chains of couplets:\nThe verse also tends toward an iambic rhythm (one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable), so that the even syllables (those mandatorily sharp or flat) also tend to be stressed.\nWhile sharp tones provide variety within lines, flat tones dominate, and only flat tones are used in rhymes.\nCoupled with a predominantly steady iambic rhythm, the form may suggest a steady flow, which has recommended itself to narrative.\nPoets occasionally vary the form; for example, the typically flat second syllable of a \"six\" line may be replaced with a sharp for variety.\n[Lục bát](https://bliptext.com/articles/l-c-b-t) poems may be of any length: they may consist of just one couplet — as for example a proverb, riddle, or epigram — or they may consist of any number of linked couplets ranging from a brief lyric to an epic poem.\nA formal paraphrase of the first six lines of [The Tale of Kiều](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-tale-of-ki-u) suggests the effect of syllable count, iambic tendency, and interlocking rhyme (English has no analogue for tone):\n\n## Song thất lục bát\nVietnam's second great native verse form intricately counterpoises several opposing poetic tendencies.\n[Song thất lục bát](https://bliptext.com/articles/song-th-t-l-c-b-t) (\"double-seven six-eight\") refers to an initial doublet — two lines of seven syllables each — linked by rhyme to a following lục bát couplet:\nIn contrast to the lục bát couplet, the song thất doublet exactly balances the number of required flat and sharp syllables, but emphasises the sharp with two rhymes.\nIt bucks the tendency of even-syllabled lines in Vietnamese folk verse, calling to mind the scholarly poetic tradition of China.\nIt necessitates the incorporation of anapestic rhythms (unstressed-unstressed-stressed) which are present but comparatively rare in the lục bát alone.\nOverall, the quatrain suggests tension, followed by resolution.\nIt has been used in many genres, \"[b]ut its great strength is the rendering of feelings and emotions in all their complexity, in long lyrics. Its glory rests chiefly on three works ... '[A song of sorrow inside the royal harem](https://bliptext.com/articles/cung-o-n-ng-m-kh-c)' ... by [Nguyễn Gia Thiều](https://bliptext.com/articles/nguy-n-gia-thi-u), 'Calling all souls' ... by [Nguyễn Du](https://bliptext.com/articles/nguy-n-du), and '[The song of a soldier's wife](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinh-ph-ng-m)' ... [by] [Phan Huy Ích](https://bliptext.com/articles/phan-huy-ch)\".\nThe song thất doublet is rarely used on its own — it is almost always paired with a lục bát couplet.\nWhereas a series of linked song thất lục bát quatrains — or occasionally just a single quatrain — is the most usual form, other variations are possible.\nA sequence may begin with a lục bát couplet; in this case the sequence must still end with a lục bát.\nAlternatively, song thất doublets may be randomly interspersed within a long lục bát poem.\nPoets occasionally vary the form; for example, for variety the final syllable of an \"eight\" line may rhyme with the third — instead of the fifth — syllable of the initial \"seven\" line of the following quatrain.\n\n## Other verse forms\nStanzas defined only by end-rhyme include:\nA poem in serial rhyme exhibits the same rhyme at the end of each line for an indefinite number of lines, then switches to another rhyme for an indefinite period.\nWithin rhyming blocks, variety can be achieved by the use of both rich and poor rhyme.\n\n### Four syllable poetry\nIf second syllable is flat rhyme then the fourth syllable is sharp rhyme\n!Word number!!1!!2!!3!!4\n\nBão **đến** **ầm** **ầm**\nNhư **đoàn** tàu **hỏa**\nThe converse is true\n!Syllable number!!1!!2!!3!!4\n\nChim **ngoài** cửa **sổ**\nMổ **tiếng** võng **kêu**\nHowever a lot of poems do not conform to the above rule:\n\nBão đi thong thả\nNhư **con** bò gầy\n\n### Five-syllable poetry\nSimilar to four-syllable poetry, it also has its own exceptions.\n\nHôm **nay** đi **chùa** Hương\nHoa **cỏ** mờ **hơi** sương\nCùng **thầy** me **em** dậy\nEm **vấn** đầu **soi** gương\n\n### Six syllable poetry\nUsing the last syllable, với cách with rhyme rule like vần chéo or vần ôm:\n\nQuê hương là gì hở **mẹ**\nMà cô giáo dạy phải yêu\nQuê hương là gì hở **mẹ**\nAi đi xa cũng nhớ nhiều\n\nXuân hồng có chàng tới **hỏi**:\n-- Em thơ, chị đẹp em đâu ?\n-- Chị tôi tóc xõa ngang đầu\nĐi bắt bướm vàng ngoài **nội**\n\n### Seven syllable poetry\nThe influence of Seven syllable, four line in [Tang poetry](https://bliptext.com/articles/tang-dynasty) can still be seen in the rhyme rule of seven-syllable poetry.\n2 kinds of line:\n!Syllable number!!1!!2!!3!!4!!5!!6!!7\n\nQuanh **năm** buôn **bán** ở **mom sông**\nNuôi **đủ** năm **con** với **một chồng**\nLặn **lội** thân **cò** khi **quãng vắng**\nEo **sèo** mặt **nước** buổi **đò đông**\nOr more recently\n\nEm ở thành Sơn chạy giặc về Tôi từ chinh chiến cũng ra đi\nCách biệt bao ngày quê Bất Bạt\nChiều xanh không thấy bóng Ba Vì\n!Syllable number!!1!!2!!3!!4!!5!!6!!7\n\nLẳng **lặng** mà **nghe** nó **chúc nhau:**\nChúc **nhau** trăm **tuổi** bạc **đầu râu**\nPhen **này** ông **quyết** đi **buôn cối**\nThiên **hạ** bao **nhiêu** đứa **giã trầu**\nRecently this form has been modified to be:\n!Syllable number!!1!!2!!3!!4!!5!!6!!7\n\nTa về cúi mái đầu sương điểm\nNghe nặng từ tâm lượng đất trời\nCảm ơn hoa đã vì ta nở Thế giới vui từ mỗi lẻ loi\n\n### Eight-syllable poetry\nThis form of poetry has no specified rule, or free rhyme.\nUsually if:\n!Syllable number!!1!!2!!3!!4!!5!!6!!7!!8\n!Syllable number!!1!!2!!3!!4!!5!!6!!7!!8\nBut there are always exceptions.\n\n## Ca dao\nCa dao meaning folk songs, are poems which were derived from folk songs that were rewritten to be recited.\nBecause of this, refrains are never used in ca dao, even though they are used in the folk songs that ca dao poems derive from.\nCa dao is a Sino-Vietnamese term, 歌謠, the term is derived from the [Classic of Poetry](https://bliptext.com/articles/classic-of-poetry) (Kinh Thi).\nCa dao poems generally tell stories of everyday life.\nMost ca dao poems tend to be short, at most one couplet of fourteen syllables.\nBut ca dao poems longer than that do exist.\nCa dao can consist of four-syllable lines, five-syllable lines, six-eight or two seven six eight, can be sung wholecloth, without the need to insert fillers like when people recite the poetry.\nFor example, take the following four syllable verse:\nSome folk tales are also told through ca dao, ca dao often has analogies drawn between humans, animals, and plant life.\nBut the most common themes of ca dao are themes about the relationship between the opposite sex.\nThemes about lost love, husbands complaining about wives, wives complaining about husbands, etc.\nHere is an example about a monk and a nun:\nAnother example of a ca dao poem about the moon:\nExample about animals:\n\n## Free poetry movement\nThe Vietnamese \"free poetry\" movement may have started from the poems translated from [French](https://bliptext.com/articles/french-language) by Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh, such as La Cigale et la Fourmi (from the fables of [Jean de La Fontaine](https://bliptext.com/articles/jean-de-la-fontaine)) in Trung Bắc Tân văn (1928).\n\nVe sầu kêu ve ve Suốt mùa hè Đến kỳ gió bấc thổi\nNguồn cơn thật bối rối.\nPoetry with no prosody, no rule, no limits on the number of words in the line, no line limits, appears to have been more adapted to a mass audience.\nWith the free poetry using the \"dong gay\" technique, presenting long lines and short, to create a visual rhythm, when read aloud, not according to line but to sentence, with the aim to hear properly the sound of each word.\nVisual rhythm is the most important thing, because through it, the reader can follow the analytic process to figure out the meaning of the poem.\nThe word \"free\" can be understood as the escape from the restraint of poetry rules.\nThe poets want to chase after his inspirations and emotions, using words to describe inner feelings instead of being constrained by words, by rules.\nThey do not have to be constrained by criticism until they have to change the words, ideas until the poem becomes a monster child of their emotions.\nFor example, in [Lưu Trọng Lư](https://bliptext.com/articles/vi-l-u-tr-ng-l)'s Tiếng thu (1939)\n\nNăm vừa rồi\nChàng cùng tôi\nNơi vùng giác mộ Trong gian nhà cỏ\nTôi quay tơ Chàng ngâm thơ\nVườn sau oanh giục giã\nNhìn ra hoa đua nở\nDừng tay tôi kêu chàng...\nNày, này!\nBạn!\nXuân sang\nChàng nhìn xuân mặt hớn hở Tôi nhìn chàng, long vồn vã...\nRồi ngày lại ngày\nSắc màu: phai\nLá cành: rụng\nBa gian: trống\nXuân đi\nChàng cũng đi\nNăm nay xuân còn trở lại\nNgười xưa không thấy tới\nXuân về.\nwhich later becomes [Hữu Thỉnh](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined) trong bài [Thơ viết ở biển](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined):\n\nAnh xa em Trăng cũng lẻ Mặt trời cũng lẻ Biển vẫn cậy mình dài rộng thế\nVắng cánh buồm một chút\nGió không phải là roi mà vách núi phải mòn\nEm không phải là chiều mà nhuộm anh đến tím\nSông chẳng đi đến đâu\nDù sóng đã làm anh\n\n# Poetical devices\nThe musical nature of Vietnamese poetry manifests in the use of onomatopoeic words like \"ri rao\" (rustling), \"vi vut\" (whistling), \"am am\" (banging), \"lanh canh\" (tinkling), etc. [Word play](https://bliptext.com/articles/word-play) abounds in Vietnamese poetry.\n[Imagery](https://bliptext.com/articles/imagery), or the use of words to create images, is another fundamental aspect of Vietnamese poetry.\nAn example of imagery can be found in the [national epic](https://bliptext.com/articles/national-epic) poem, [The Tale of Kiều](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-tale-of-ki-u) by [Nguyễn Du](https://bliptext.com/articles/nguy-n-du) (1765–1820):\n\nCỏ non xanh tận chân trời\nCành lê trắng điểm một vài bông hoa\nDue to the influence of the concept of visual arts in the times of the poet, Nguyễn Du usually employs \"scenery description\" style in his poems.\nSimple scenery, accentuated at certain points, gently sketched but irresistible.\nAnother line by [Bà Huyện Thanh Quan](https://bliptext.com/articles/vi-ba-huyen-thanh-quan), uses Vietnamese [reduplication](https://bliptext.com/articles/reduplication) and word play to portray the scenes that [Bà Huyện Thanh Quan](https://bliptext.com/articles/vi-ba-huyen-thanh-quan) is trying to show,\n\nLom khom dưới núi tiều vài chú\nLác đác bên sông chợ mấy nhà\nOr [Nguyễn Khuyến](https://bliptext.com/articles/nguy-n-khuy-n):\n\nAo thu lạnh lẽo nước trong veo\nMột chiếc thuyền câu bé tẻo teo\nSóng biếc theo làn hơi gợn tí Lá vàng trước gió khẽ đưa vèo.\nOr most recently [Trần Đăng Khoa](https://bliptext.com/articles/vi-tr-n-ng-khoa) in Nghe thầy đọc thơ\n\nEm nghe thầy đọc bao ngày\nTiếng thơ đỏ nắng, xanh cây quanh nhà\nMái chèo nghiêng mặt sông xa Bâng khuâng nghe vọng tiếng bà năm xưa\nThese images are beautiful and tranquil, but they can also be non-static and lively.\nWhen objects are described in poetry, they are often [personified](https://bliptext.com/articles/personification).\nUsing verbs for inanimate, insentient objects is akin to breathing life into the objects, making it lively in the mind of the reader.\nFor instance, Trần Đăng Khoa wrote in \"Mặt bão\":\n\nBão đến ầm ầm\nNhư đoàn tàu hỏa\nBão đi thong thả\nNhư con bò gầy\nOr in Góc Hà Nội\n\nNắng tháng tư xỏa mặt\nChe vội vàng nỗi nhớ đã ra hoa\n... Thành phố ngủ trong rầm rì tiếng gió\nNhà ai quên khép cửa\nGiấc ngủ thôi miên cả bến tàu\nSuch lines contain [metaphors](https://bliptext.com/articles/metaphors) and [similes](https://bliptext.com/articles/similes).\nHumorous metaphors are commonly seen in poetry written for children.\nExamples are these lines that Khoa wrote at 9 years old in Buổi sáng nhà em:\n\nÔng trời nổi lửa đằng đông\nBà sân vấn chiếc khăn hồng đẹp thay\n... Chị tre chải tóc bên ao Nàng mây áo trắng ghé vào soi gương\nBác nồi đồng hát bùng boong\nBà chổi loẹt quẹt lom khom trong nhà\nHowever, these also appear in more mature poets’ work.\nFor example, [Nguyễn Mỹ](https://bliptext.com/articles/vi-nguy-n-m) in Con đường ấy:\n\nNắng bay từng giọt - nắng ngân vang\nỞ trong nắng có một ngàn cái chuông\nOr [Hàn Mặc Tử](https://bliptext.com/articles/h-n-m-c-t) in Một Nửa Trăng\n\nHôm nay chỉ có nửa trăng thôi\nMột nửa trăng ai cắn vỡ rồi\nParticularly, the metaphors in Hồ Xuân Hương poetry causes the half-real, half-unreal state, as if teasing the reader as in \"Chess\"\n\nQuân thiếp trắng, quân chàng đen,\nHai quân ấy chơi nhau đà đã lửa.\nThọat mới vào chàng liền nhảy ngựa,\nThiếp vội vàng vén phứa tịnh lên.\nHai xe hà, chàng gác hai bên,\nThiếp thấy bí, thiếp liền ghểnh sĩ.\nOr in Ốc nhồi\n\nBác mẹ sinh ra phận ốc nhồi,\nĐêm ngày lăn lóc đám cỏ hôi.\nQuân tử có thương thì bóc yếm,\nXin đừng ngó ngoáy lỗ trôn tôi.\nThe \"tứ\" (theme) of a poem is the central emotion or image the poem wants to communicate.\n\"Phong cách\" (style) is the choice of words, the method to express ideas.\nStructure of the poetry is the form and the ideas of the poems combined.\n\n## Điệu (rhythm)\nĐiệu (rhythm) is created by the sounds of selected words and cadence of the lines.\nMusic in the poetry is constituted by 3 elements: rhyme, cadence and syllabic sound.\n\"Six-eight\" folk song is a form of poetry rich in musical quality.\n\nDương gian (-) hé rạng (-) hình hài (--)\nTrời (-) se sẽ lạnh (-), đất ngai (--) ngái mùi(--)\n\nEm ngồi cành trúc (--) em tựa cành mai (--)\nĐông đào (-) tây liễu (-) biết ai (-) bạn cùng (--)\n\nTrời mưa (-) ướt bụi (-) ướt bờ (-)\nƯớt cây (-) ướt lá (--) ai ngờ (-) ướt em (--)\n\nYêu mình (--) chẳng lấy được mình (--)\nTựa mai (-) mai ngã (--) tựa đình (-) đình xiêu (--)\n\nĐố ai (-) quét sạch lá rừng (--)\nĐể ta khuyên gió (--) gió đừng rung cây (--)\n\nHỡi cô (-) tát nước bên đàng (--)\nSao cô (-) múc ánh trăng vàng (--) đổ đi (--)\n\nTrách người quân tử (-) bạc tình (--)\nChơi hoa (--) rồi lại bẻ cành (--) bán rao (--)\n\nĐạo vợ chồng (-) thăm thẳm (-) giếng sâu (--)\nNgày sau cũng gặp (--) mất đi đâu (-) mà phiền (--)\nThen when the words get pronounced, the sound produced will be pure, high and up.\nOn the other hand, words that have\nAnd \"down\" tone: hanging, tumbling and heavy tones then the word pronounced will be muddled and heavy\nThe purity of the words punctuate the line.\nRhyming syllables are most essential to the musical quality of the poem.\n\nHôm qua (-) tát nước đầu đình (--)\nBỏ quên cái áo (-) Trên cành hoa sen (--)\nEm được (--) thì cho anh xin (--)\nHay là (-) em để làm tin (-) trong nhà.\n(--)\nPunctuating words and rhyming words in these lines generate a certain kind of echo and create a bright melody, all to the effect of portraying the bright innocence of the subject of the verse.\n\nNụ tầm xuân (-) nở ra xanh biếc.\n(--) Em đã có chồng (--) anh tiếc (-) lắm thay.\n(--)\nSound \"iếc\" in the two words \"biếc\" và \"tiếc\" rhyming here has two \"up\" vowels (iê) together with up tone but rather truncated by the last consonant \"c\", are known as \"clogged sound\".\nThese sounds, when read out loud, are associated with sobbing, hiccup, the music is thus slow, and plaintive, sorrowful.\nHence, \"iec\" is particularly excellently rhymed, to express most precisely the heart-wrenching regret of the boy returning to his old place, meeting the old friends, having deep feelings for a very beautiful girl, but the girl was already married.\n\nYêu ai tha thiết, thiết tha\nÁo em hai vạt trải ra chàng ngồi.\nSometimes to preserve the musical quality of the folklore poem, the sounds of the compound words can have reversal of positions.\nLike the above folklore, the two sounds \"tha thiet\" are reversed to become \"thiet tha\", because the 6-8 form of the poem only allows for flat rhyme.\nPoetry or folksongs often have \"láy\" words, whereby due to the repetition of the whole word or an element of it, \"láy\" word, when pronounced, two enunciations of the two words will coincide (complete \"láy\") or come close (incomplete \"láy\") creating a series of harmony, rendering the musical quality of poetry both multi-colored and elegant.\n\n# Poetic riddles\n\n## Riddles\nLike Ca Dao, folk poetry riddles, or Đố were anonymously composed in ancient times and passed down as a regional heritage.\nLovers in courtship often used Đố as a challenge for each other or as a smart flirt to express their inner sentiments.\nPeasants in the Red River and Mekong Deltas used Đố as entertainment to disrupt the humdrum routine of rice planting or after a day's toil.\nĐố satisfies the peasants' intellectual needs and allows them to poke fun at the pedantic court scholars, stumped by these equivocating verses.\nThe speaker refers to herself as \"em,\" an affectionate, if not somewhat sexist, pronoun for a subordinate, often a female.\nCombined with the reference to the rice field, the verses suggest that the speaker is of a humble position, most likely a lowly peasant girl.\nPale skin is a mark of beauty, hence the speaker is also implying that she is a pretty girl.\nShe is speaking to a learned young man, a scholar, for whom she has feelings.\nThe answer to the riddle is that the \"I\" is a book.\nIn a few verses, the clever speaker coyly puts forth a metaphorical self-introduction and proposal: a peasant girl with both physical and inner beauty invites the gentleman-scholar's courtship.\n\n## Rhyming math puzzles\nWith just four rhyming verses, the riddle sets up two linear equations with two unknowns.\nThe answers are 30 lovers and 70 haters.\nThe numbers might seem irrelevant to the overall context of a flirty math puzzle, but one may see the proportions as a representation of the romantic dynamics of the couple, or the speaker himself or herself: 3 part love, 7 part despair.","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-26T12:14:33.583Z","updated_at":"2025-01-26T12:14:33.583Z","search_vector":"'poetri':2 'vietnames':1","search_content":" \n \n\n# \n**Vietnamese [poetry](https://bliptext.com/articles/poetry)** originated in the form of folk [poetry](https://bliptext.com/articles/poetry) and [proverbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/proverb).\n[Vietnamese](https://bliptext.com/articles/vietnamese-language) poetic structures include [Lục bát](https://bliptext.com/articles/l-c-b-t), [Song thất lục bát](https://bliptext.com/articles/song-th-t-l-c-b-t), and various styles shared with [Classical Chinese poetry forms](https://bliptext.com/articles/classical-chinese-poetry-forms), such as are found in [Tang poetry](https://bliptext.com/articles/tang-poetry); examples include verse forms with \"seven syllables each line for eight lines,\" \"seven syllables each line for four lines\" (a type of [quatrain](https://bliptext.com/articles/quatrain)), and \"five syllables each line for eight lines.\"\nMore recently there have been new poetry and free poetry.\nWith the exception of free poetry, a form with no distinct structure, other forms all have a certain structure.\nThe tightest and most rigid structure was that of the [Tang dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/tang-dynasty) poetry, in which structures of content, number of syllables per line, lines per poem, rhythm rule determined the form of the poem.\nThis stringent structure restricted Tang poetry to the middle and upper classes and academia.\n\n# History\n\n## Beginnings\nThe first indication of Vietnamese literary activity dates back around 500 BCE during the [Đông Sơn](https://bliptext.com/articles/ng-s-n-culture) [Bronze-age](https://bliptext.com/articles/bronze-age) civilization.\nPoetic scenes of [sun worship](https://bliptext.com/articles/sun-worship) and musical festivity appeared on the famous eponymous drums of the period.\nSince music and poetry are often inextricable in the Vietnamese tradition, one could safely assume the Đông Sơn drums to be the earliest extant mark of poetry.\nIn 987 CE, Đỗ Pháp Thuần co-authored with Li Chueh, a [Chinese ambassador](https://bliptext.com/articles/foreign-relations-of-imperial-china) in Vietnam by matching the latter's spontaneous oration in a four-verse poem called \"Two Wild Geese\".\nPoetry of the period proudly exhibited its Chinese legacy and achieved many benchmarks of classical Chinese literature.\nFor this, China bestowed the title of Văn Hiến Chi Bang (\"the Cultured State\") on Vietnam.\nAll the earliest literature from Vietnam is necessarily written in [chữ Hán](https://bliptext.com/articles/ch-h-n) (though read in the [Sino-Vietnamese](https://bliptext.com/articles/sino-vietnamese-vocabulary). ) No writing system for vernacular Vietnamese existed until the thirteenth century, when [chữ [Nôm](https://bliptext.com/articles/n-m)](https://bliptext.com/articles/ch-n-m) (\"Southern writing\", often referred to simply as [Nôm](https://bliptext.com/articles/n-m)) — Vietnamese written using [chữ Hán](https://bliptext.com/articles/ch-h-n) — was formalized.\nWhile Chinese remained the official written language for centuries, poets could now choose to write in the language of their choice.\nFolk poetry presumably flourished alongside classical poetry, and reflected the common man's life with its levity, humor and irony.\nSince popular poetry was mostly anonymously composed, it was more difficult to date and trace the thematic development of the genre.\nHigh-culture poetry in each period mirrored various sensibilities of the age.\nThe poems of [Lý dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/l-dynasty) (1010-1125) distinctively and predominantly feature Buddhist themes.\nPoetry then became progressively less religiously oriented in the following dynasty, the [Trần dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/tr-n-dynasty) (1125-1400), as Confucian scholars replaced Buddhist priest as the Emperors' political advisers.\nThree successive victorious defense against the [Kublai Khan](https://bliptext.com/articles/kublai-khan)'s Mongolian armies further emboldened Vietnamese literary endeavors, infusing poetry with celebratory patriotism.\n# [The first 6 lines of The Tale of Kiều by Nguyễn Du, exemplifying the chữ Nôm script, in use from around the thirteenth through early twentieth centuries | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Truyenkieu2.png]\n\n## Later Lê dynasty (1427-1788)\nLiterature in Chữ Nôm flourished in the fifteenth century during the [Later Lê dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/later-l-dynasty).\nUnder the reign of Emperor [Lê Thánh Tông](https://bliptext.com/articles/l-th-nh-t-ng) (1460-1497), chữ Nôm enjoyed official endorsement and became the primary language of poetry.\nBy this century, the creation of chữ Nôm symbolized the happy marriage between chữ Hán and vernacular elements and contributed to the blurring of the literary distinction between \"high\" and \"low\" cultures.\nDue to the civil strife between Trịnh and Nguyễn lords and other reasons, poetic innovation continued, though at a slower pace from the late fifteenth century to the eighteenth century.\nThe earliest chữ Nôm in phú, or rhymed verse, appeared in the sixteenth century.\nAlso in the same period, the famous \"seven-seven-six-eight\" verse form was also invented.\nVerse novels (truyện) also became a major genre.\nIt was around the fifteenth century that people started linking the traditional \"six-eight\" iambic couplet verses of folk poetry together, playing on the internal rhyming between the sixth syllable of the eight line and the last syllable of the six line, so that end rhyme mutates every two lines.\nOrally narrated verse novels using this verse pattern received immense popular support in a largely illiterate society.\nIn the 17th century, Francisco de Pina arrived in Vietnam ([Đàng Trong](https://bliptext.com/articles/ng-trong)) and was credited with the creation of the [Vietnamese alphabet](https://bliptext.com/articles/vietnamese-alphabet).\nIn 1651, [Alexandre de Rhodes](https://bliptext.com/articles/alexandre-de-rhodes), a [Portuguese](https://bliptext.com/articles/portuguese-language) missionary and disciple of [Francisco de Pina](https://bliptext.com/articles/francisco-de-pina), published the first trilingual [Vietnamese](https://bliptext.com/articles/vietnamese-language)-[Portuguese](https://bliptext.com/articles/portuguese-language)-[Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/latin) [dictionary](https://bliptext.com/articles/dictionary) (Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et [Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/latin)um), which helped furthered the development of the [Vietnamese](https://bliptext.com/articles/vietnamese-language) alphabet, however, did not gain wide currency until the twentieth century.\n\n## Tây Sơn and Independent Nguyễn dynasty (1788-1862)\nItinerant performers recite these epic poems, the most famous of which is the Tale of Kiều by [Nguyễn Du](https://bliptext.com/articles/nguy-n-du), often said to be the national poem of Vietnam.\nA contemporary of Nguyễn Du was [Hồ Xuân Hương](https://bliptext.com/articles/h-xu-n-h-ng), a female author of masterful and boldly venereal verses.\n# [Hồ Xuân Hương, a witty and ribald poet | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Ho///Xuan///Huong.png]\n\n## French colonial period (1862-1945)\nStarting from the 1930s, [Vietnamese alphabet](https://bliptext.com/articles/vietnamese-alphabet) poems abounded, often referred to as [Thơ mới](https://bliptext.com/articles/th-m-i) (\"New Poetry\"), which borrowed from Western traditions in both its free verse form as well as modern existential themes.\n\n## Contemporary (1945-present)\nThe Second World War curbed some of this literary flourishing, though Vietnamese poetry would undergo a new period of development during the French resistance and the Vietnam War.\n\n# Prosody\nAs in most metrical systems, Vietnamese meter is structured both by the count and the character of syllables.\nWhereas in English verse syllables are categorized by relative stress, and in classical Greek and Latin verse they are categorized by length, in Vietnamese verse (as in Chinese) syllables are categorized by tone.\nFor metrical purposes, the 6 distinct phonemic tones that occur in Vietnamese are all considered as either \"flat\" or \"sharp\".\nThus a line of metrical verse consists of a specific number of syllables, some of which must be flat, some of which must be sharp, and some of which may be either.\nLike verse in Chinese and most European languages, traditional Vietnamese verse is rhymed.\nThe combination of meter and rhyme scheme defines the verse form in which a poem is written.\nTraditionally in Vietnamese 1 word = 1 character = 1 syllable.\nThus discussions of poetry may refer, for example, to a seven-word line of verse, or to the tone of a word.\nIn this discussion, syllable is taken to be the least-ambiguous term for the foundational prosodic unit.\n\n## Vowels and tones\nVowels can be simple (à, ca, cha, đá, lá, ta) or compound (biên, chiêm, chuyên, xuyên), and one of six tones is applied to every vowel.\n!Tone Class!!Tone!!Diacritic!!Listen\n(bằng)||level||a (no diacritic)||\n(trắc)||tumbling||ã||\nIn order to correspond more closely with Chinese rules of versification, older analyses sometimes consider Vietnamese to have eight tones rather than six.\nThis is due to the Chinese classification of tones which Vietnamese no longer uses due to the switch from [chữ Nôm](https://bliptext.com/articles/ch-n-m) to the [Vietnamese alphabet](https://bliptext.com/articles/vietnamese-alphabet).\nHowever, the additional two tones are not phonemic in Vietnamese and in any case roll up to the same sharp tone class as they do in a six-tone analysis.\n\n## Rhyme\nUse of rhyme in Vietnamese poetry is largely analogous to its use in English and other European languages; two important differences are the salience of tone class in the acceptability of rhymed syllables, and the prominence of structural back rhyme (rhyming a syllable at the end of one line with a syllable in the middle of the next).\nRhyme connects lines in a poem together, almost always occurring on the final syllable of a line, and sometimes including syllables within the line.\nIn principle, Vietnamese rhymes exhibit the same features as English rhymes: Given that every syllable consists of ****C**V**C**** — an optional initial consonant or consonant cluster + a vowel (simple or compound) + an optional final consonant or consonant cluster — a \"true\" rhyme comprises syllables with different initial **C** and identical V**C**.\nHowever additional features are salient in Vietnamese verse.\nRhyming syllables do not require identical tones, but must be of the same tone class: either all flat (e.g. dâu, màu, sầu), or all sharp (e.g. đấy, cấy).\nFlat rhymes tend to create a feeling of gentleness and smoothness, whereas sharp rhymes create a feeling of roughness, motion, wakefulness.\nRhyme can be further classified as \"rich\" or \"poor\".\nRich rhyme (not to be confused with [Rime riche](https://bliptext.com/articles/rime-riche)) has the same tone class, and the same vowel sound: flat (Phương, sương, cường, trường) or sharp (Thánh, cảnh, lãnh, ánh).\n \nLầu Tần chiều nhạt vẻ thu\nGối loan tuyết đóng, chăn cù giá đông\nPoor rhyme has the same tone class, but slightly different vowel sounds: flat (Minh, khanh, huỳnh, hoành) or sharp (Mến, lẽn, quyện, hển)\n \nNgười lên ngựa kẻ chia bào\nRừng phong thu đã nhuộm màu quan san\nFinally, poets may sometimes use a \"slant rhyme\":\n \nNgười về chiếc bóng năm canh\nKẻ đi muôn dặm một mình xa xôi\n\n# Verse form\n\n## Regulated verse\nThe earliest extant poems by Vietnamese poets are in fact written in the Chinese language, in Chinese characters, and in Chinese verse forms — specifically the [regulated verse](https://bliptext.com/articles/regulated-verse) ([luật thi](https://bliptext.com/articles/l-shi-poetry)) of the [Tang dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/tang-dynasty).\nThese strict forms were favored by the intelligentsia, and competence in composition was required for civil service examinations.\nRegulated verse — later written in Vietnamese as well as Chinese — has continued to exert an influence on Vietnamese poetry throughout its history.\nAt the heart of this family of forms are four related verse types: two with five syllables per line, and two with seven syllables per line; eight lines constituting a complete poem in each.\nNot only are syllables and lines regulated, so are rhymes, Level and Deflected tones (corresponding closely to the Vietnamese flat and sharp), and a variety of \"faults\" which are to be avoided.\nWhile Chinese poets favored the 5-syllable forms, Vietnamese poets favored the 7-syllable forms, so the first of these seven-syllable forms is represented here in its standard Tang form:\nThe other seven-syllable form is identical, but with (for the most part) opposite assignments of Level and Deflected syllables.\n5-syllable forms are similarly structured, but with 2+3 syllable lines, rather than 2+2+3.\nAll forms might optionally omit the rhyme at the end of the first line, necessitating tone alterations in the final three syllables.\nAn additional stricture was that the two central couplets should be antithetical.\nTang poetics allowed additional variations: The central 2 couplets could form a complete four-line poem ([tuyệt câu](https://bliptext.com/articles/jueju)), or their structure could be repeated to form a poem of indefinite length ([bài luật](https://bliptext.com/articles/pail)).\nWhile Vietnamese poets have embraced regulated verse, they have at times loosened restrictions, even taking frankly experimental approaches such as composing in six-syllable lines.\nThough less prestigious (in part because it was not an element of official examinations), they have also written in the similar but freer Chinese \"old style\" ([cổ thi](https://bliptext.com/articles/gushi-poetry)).\n\n## Lục bát\nIn contrast to the learned, official, and foreign nature of regulated verse, Vietnam also has a rich tradition of native, demotic, and vernacular verse.\nWhile lines with an odd number of syllables were favored by Chinese aesthetics, lines with an even number of syllables were favored in Vietnamese folk verse.\n[Lục bát](https://bliptext.com/articles/l-c-b-t) (\"six-eight\") has been embraced as the verse form par excellence of Vietnam.\nCurrently, the oldest [Lục bát](https://bliptext.com/articles/l-c-b-t) with a clear date that has been preserved until now is Nguyen Hy Quang's \"Cảm tác\" composed in 1674.\nThe name denotes the number of syllables in each of the two lines of the couplet.\nLike regulated verse, lục bát relies on syllable count, tone class, and rhyme for its structure; however, it is much less minutely regulated, and incorporates an interlocking rhyme scheme which links chains of couplets:\nThe verse also tends toward an iambic rhythm (one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable), so that the even syllables (those mandatorily sharp or flat) also tend to be stressed.\nWhile sharp tones provide variety within lines, flat tones dominate, and only flat tones are used in rhymes.\nCoupled with a predominantly steady iambic rhythm, the form may suggest a steady flow, which has recommended itself to narrative.\nPoets occasionally vary the form; for example, the typically flat second syllable of a \"six\" line may be replaced with a sharp for variety.\n[Lục bát](https://bliptext.com/articles/l-c-b-t) poems may be of any length: they may consist of just one couplet — as for example a proverb, riddle, or epigram — or they may consist of any number of linked couplets ranging from a brief lyric to an epic poem.\nA formal paraphrase of the first six lines of [The Tale of Kiều](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-tale-of-ki-u) suggests the effect of syllable count, iambic tendency, and interlocking rhyme (English has no analogue for tone):\n\n## Song thất lục bát\nVietnam's second great native verse form intricately counterpoises several opposing poetic tendencies.\n[Song thất lục bát](https://bliptext.com/articles/song-th-t-l-c-b-t) (\"double-seven six-eight\") refers to an initial doublet — two lines of seven syllables each — linked by rhyme to a following lục bát couplet:\nIn contrast to the lục bát couplet, the song thất doublet exactly balances the number of required flat and sharp syllables, but emphasises the sharp with two rhymes.\nIt bucks the tendency of even-syllabled lines in Vietnamese folk verse, calling to mind the scholarly poetic tradition of China.\nIt necessitates the incorporation of anapestic rhythms (unstressed-unstressed-stressed) which are present but comparatively rare in the lục bát alone.\nOverall, the quatrain suggests tension, followed by resolution.\nIt has been used in many genres, \"[b]ut its great strength is the rendering of feelings and emotions in all their complexity, in long lyrics. Its glory rests chiefly on three works ... '[A song of sorrow inside the royal harem](https://bliptext.com/articles/cung-o-n-ng-m-kh-c)' ... by [Nguyễn Gia Thiều](https://bliptext.com/articles/nguy-n-gia-thi-u), 'Calling all souls' ... by [Nguyễn Du](https://bliptext.com/articles/nguy-n-du), and '[The song of a soldier's wife](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinh-ph-ng-m)' ... [by] [Phan Huy Ích](https://bliptext.com/articles/phan-huy-ch)\".\nThe song thất doublet is rarely used on its own — it is almost always paired with a lục bát couplet.\nWhereas a series of linked song thất lục bát quatrains — or occasionally just a single quatrain — is the most usual form, other variations are possible.\nA sequence may begin with a lục bát couplet; in this case the sequence must still end with a lục bát.\nAlternatively, song thất doublets may be randomly interspersed within a long lục bát poem.\nPoets occasionally vary the form; for example, for variety the final syllable of an \"eight\" line may rhyme with the third — instead of the fifth — syllable of the initial \"seven\" line of the following quatrain.\n\n## Other verse forms\nStanzas defined only by end-rhyme include:\nA poem in serial rhyme exhibits the same rhyme at the end of each line for an indefinite number of lines, then switches to another rhyme for an indefinite period.\nWithin rhyming blocks, variety can be achieved by the use of both rich and poor rhyme.\n\n### Four syllable poetry\nIf second syllable is flat rhyme then the fourth syllable is sharp rhyme\n!Word number!!1!!2!!3!!4\n \nBão **đến** **ầm** **ầm**\nNhư **đoàn** tàu **hỏa**\nThe converse is true\n!Syllable number!!1!!2!!3!!4\n \nChim **ngoài** cửa **sổ**\nMổ **tiếng** võng **kêu**\nHowever a lot of poems do not conform to the above rule:\n \nBão đi thong thả\nNhư **con** bò gầy\n\n### Five-syllable poetry\nSimilar to four-syllable poetry, it also has its own exceptions.\n \nHôm **nay** đi **chùa** Hương\nHoa **cỏ** mờ **hơi** sương\nCùng **thầy** me **em** dậy\nEm **vấn** đầu **soi** gương\n\n### Six syllable poetry\nUsing the last syllable, với cách with rhyme rule like vần chéo or vần ôm:\n \nQuê hương là gì hở **mẹ**\nMà cô giáo dạy phải yêu\nQuê hương là gì hở **mẹ**\nAi đi xa cũng nhớ nhiều\n \nXuân hồng có chàng tới **hỏi**:\n-- Em thơ, chị đẹp em đâu ?\n-- Chị tôi tóc xõa ngang đầu\nĐi bắt bướm vàng ngoài **nội**\n\n### Seven syllable poetry\nThe influence of Seven syllable, four line in [Tang poetry](https://bliptext.com/articles/tang-dynasty) can still be seen in the rhyme rule of seven-syllable poetry.\n2 kinds of line:\n!Syllable number!!1!!2!!3!!4!!5!!6!!7\n \nQuanh **năm** buôn **bán** ở **mom sông**\nNuôi **đủ** năm **con** với **một chồng**\nLặn **lội** thân **cò** khi **quãng vắng**\nEo **sèo** mặt **nước** buổi **đò đông**\nOr more recently\n \nEm ở thành Sơn chạy giặc về Tôi từ chinh chiến cũng ra đi\nCách biệt bao ngày quê Bất Bạt\nChiều xanh không thấy bóng Ba Vì\n!Syllable number!!1!!2!!3!!4!!5!!6!!7\n \nLẳng **lặng** mà **nghe** nó **chúc nhau:**\nChúc **nhau** trăm **tuổi** bạc **đầu râu**\nPhen **này** ông **quyết** đi **buôn cối**\nThiên **hạ** bao **nhiêu** đứa **giã trầu**\nRecently this form has been modified to be:\n!Syllable number!!1!!2!!3!!4!!5!!6!!7\n \nTa về cúi mái đầu sương điểm\nNghe nặng từ tâm lượng đất trời\nCảm ơn hoa đã vì ta nở Thế giới vui từ mỗi lẻ loi\n\n### Eight-syllable poetry\nThis form of poetry has no specified rule, or free rhyme.\nUsually if:\n!Syllable number!!1!!2!!3!!4!!5!!6!!7!!8\n!Syllable number!!1!!2!!3!!4!!5!!6!!7!!8\nBut there are always exceptions.\n\n## Ca dao\nCa dao meaning folk songs, are poems which were derived from folk songs that were rewritten to be recited.\nBecause of this, refrains are never used in ca dao, even though they are used in the folk songs that ca dao poems derive from.\nCa dao is a Sino-Vietnamese term, 歌謠, the term is derived from the [Classic of Poetry](https://bliptext.com/articles/classic-of-poetry) (Kinh Thi).\nCa dao poems generally tell stories of everyday life.\nMost ca dao poems tend to be short, at most one couplet of fourteen syllables.\nBut ca dao poems longer than that do exist.\nCa dao can consist of four-syllable lines, five-syllable lines, six-eight or two seven six eight, can be sung wholecloth, without the need to insert fillers like when people recite the poetry.\nFor example, take the following four syllable verse:\nSome folk tales are also told through ca dao, ca dao often has analogies drawn between humans, animals, and plant life.\nBut the most common themes of ca dao are themes about the relationship between the opposite sex.\nThemes about lost love, husbands complaining about wives, wives complaining about husbands, etc.\nHere is an example about a monk and a nun:\nAnother example of a ca dao poem about the moon:\nExample about animals:\n\n## Free poetry movement\nThe Vietnamese \"free poetry\" movement may have started from the poems translated from [French](https://bliptext.com/articles/french-language) by Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh, such as La Cigale et la Fourmi (from the fables of [Jean de La Fontaine](https://bliptext.com/articles/jean-de-la-fontaine)) in Trung Bắc Tân văn (1928).\n \nVe sầu kêu ve ve Suốt mùa hè Đến kỳ gió bấc thổi\nNguồn cơn thật bối rối.\nPoetry with no prosody, no rule, no limits on the number of words in the line, no line limits, appears to have been more adapted to a mass audience.\nWith the free poetry using the \"dong gay\" technique, presenting long lines and short, to create a visual rhythm, when read aloud, not according to line but to sentence, with the aim to hear properly the sound of each word.\nVisual rhythm is the most important thing, because through it, the reader can follow the analytic process to figure out the meaning of the poem.\nThe word \"free\" can be understood as the escape from the restraint of poetry rules.\nThe poets want to chase after his inspirations and emotions, using words to describe inner feelings instead of being constrained by words, by rules.\nThey do not have to be constrained by criticism until they have to change the words, ideas until the poem becomes a monster child of their emotions.\nFor example, in [Lưu Trọng Lư](https://bliptext.com/articles/vi-l-u-tr-ng-l)'s Tiếng thu (1939)\n \nNăm vừa rồi\nChàng cùng tôi\nNơi vùng giác mộ Trong gian nhà cỏ\nTôi quay tơ Chàng ngâm thơ\nVườn sau oanh giục giã\nNhìn ra hoa đua nở\nDừng tay tôi kêu chàng...\nNày, này!\nBạn!\nXuân sang\nChàng nhìn xuân mặt hớn hở Tôi nhìn chàng, long vồn vã...\nRồi ngày lại ngày\nSắc màu: phai\nLá cành: rụng\nBa gian: trống\nXuân đi\nChàng cũng đi\nNăm nay xuân còn trở lại\nNgười xưa không thấy tới\nXuân về.\nwhich later becomes [Hữu Thỉnh](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined) trong bài [Thơ viết ở biển](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined):\n \nAnh xa em Trăng cũng lẻ Mặt trời cũng lẻ Biển vẫn cậy mình dài rộng thế\nVắng cánh buồm một chút\nGió không phải là roi mà vách núi phải mòn\nEm không phải là chiều mà nhuộm anh đến tím\nSông chẳng đi đến đâu\nDù sóng đã làm anh\n\n# Poetical devices\nThe musical nature of Vietnamese poetry manifests in the use of onomatopoeic words like \"ri rao\" (rustling), \"vi vut\" (whistling), \"am am\" (banging), \"lanh canh\" (tinkling), etc. [Word play](https://bliptext.com/articles/word-play) abounds in Vietnamese poetry.\n[Imagery](https://bliptext.com/articles/imagery), or the use of words to create images, is another fundamental aspect of Vietnamese poetry.\nAn example of imagery can be found in the [national epic](https://bliptext.com/articles/national-epic) poem, [The Tale of Kiều](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-tale-of-ki-u) by [Nguyễn Du](https://bliptext.com/articles/nguy-n-du) (1765–1820):\n \nCỏ non xanh tận chân trời\nCành lê trắng điểm một vài bông hoa\nDue to the influence of the concept of visual arts in the times of the poet, Nguyễn Du usually employs \"scenery description\" style in his poems.\nSimple scenery, accentuated at certain points, gently sketched but irresistible.\nAnother line by [[Bà Huyện Thanh Quan](https://bliptext.com/articles/vi-ba-huyen-thanh-quan)](https://bliptext.com/articles/vi-ba-huyen-thanh-quan), uses Vietnamese [reduplication](https://bliptext.com/articles/reduplication) and word play to portray the scenes that [[Bà Huyện Thanh Quan](https://bliptext.com/articles/vi-ba-huyen-thanh-quan)](https://bliptext.com/articles/vi-ba-huyen-thanh-quan) is trying to show,\n \nLom khom dưới núi tiều vài chú\nLác đác bên sông chợ mấy nhà\nOr [Nguyễn Khuyến](https://bliptext.com/articles/nguy-n-khuy-n):\n \nAo thu lạnh lẽo nước trong veo\nMột chiếc thuyền câu bé tẻo teo\nSóng biếc theo làn hơi gợn tí Lá vàng trước gió khẽ đưa vèo.\nOr most recently [Trần Đăng Khoa](https://bliptext.com/articles/vi-tr-n-ng-khoa) in Nghe thầy đọc thơ\n \nEm nghe thầy đọc bao ngày\nTiếng thơ đỏ nắng, xanh cây quanh nhà\nMái chèo nghiêng mặt sông xa Bâng khuâng nghe vọng tiếng bà năm xưa\nThese images are beautiful and tranquil, but they can also be non-static and lively.\nWhen objects are described in poetry, they are often [personified](https://bliptext.com/articles/personification).\nUsing verbs for inanimate, insentient objects is akin to breathing life into the objects, making it lively in the mind of the reader.\nFor instance, Trần Đăng Khoa wrote in \"Mặt bão\":\n \nBão đến ầm ầm\nNhư đoàn tàu hỏa\nBão đi thong thả\nNhư con bò gầy\nOr in Góc Hà Nội\n \nNắng tháng tư xỏa mặt\nChe vội vàng nỗi nhớ đã ra hoa\n... Thành phố ngủ trong rầm rì tiếng gió\nNhà ai quên khép cửa\nGiấc ngủ thôi miên cả bến tàu\nSuch lines contain [metaphors](https://bliptext.com/articles/metaphors) and [similes](https://bliptext.com/articles/similes).\nHumorous metaphors are commonly seen in poetry written for children.\nExamples are these lines that Khoa wrote at 9 years old in Buổi sáng nhà em:\n \nÔng trời nổi lửa đằng đông\nBà sân vấn chiếc khăn hồng đẹp thay\n... Chị tre chải tóc bên ao Nàng mây áo trắng ghé vào soi gương\nBác nồi đồng hát bùng boong\nBà chổi loẹt quẹt lom khom trong nhà\nHowever, these also appear in more mature poets’ work.\nFor example, [Nguyễn Mỹ](https://bliptext.com/articles/vi-nguy-n-m) in Con đường ấy:\n \nNắng bay từng giọt - nắng ngân vang\nỞ trong nắng có một ngàn cái chuông\nOr [Hàn Mặc Tử](https://bliptext.com/articles/h-n-m-c-t) in Một Nửa Trăng\n \nHôm nay chỉ có nửa trăng thôi\nMột nửa trăng ai cắn vỡ rồi\nParticularly, the metaphors in Hồ Xuân Hương poetry causes the half-real, half-unreal state, as if teasing the reader as in \"Chess\"\n \nQuân thiếp trắng, quân chàng đen,\nHai quân ấy chơi nhau đà đã lửa.\nThọat mới vào chàng liền nhảy ngựa,\nThiếp vội vàng vén phứa tịnh lên.\nHai xe hà, chàng gác hai bên,\nThiếp thấy bí, thiếp liền ghểnh sĩ.\nOr in Ốc nhồi\n \nBác mẹ sinh ra phận ốc nhồi,\nĐêm ngày lăn lóc đám cỏ hôi.\nQuân tử có thương thì bóc yếm,\nXin đừng ngó ngoáy lỗ trôn tôi.\nThe \"tứ\" (theme) of a poem is the central emotion or image the poem wants to communicate.\n\"Phong cách\" (style) is the choice of words, the method to express ideas.\nStructure of the poetry is the form and the ideas of the poems combined.\n\n## Điệu (rhythm)\nĐiệu (rhythm) is created by the sounds of selected words and cadence of the lines.\nMusic in the poetry is constituted by 3 elements: rhyme, cadence and syllabic sound.\n\"Six-eight\" folk song is a form of poetry rich in musical quality.\n \nDương gian (-) hé rạng (-) hình hài (--)\nTrời (-) se sẽ lạnh (-), đất ngai (--) ngái mùi(--)\n \nEm ngồi cành trúc (--) em tựa cành mai (--)\nĐông đào (-) tây liễu (-) biết ai (-) bạn cùng (--)\n \nTrời mưa (-) ướt bụi (-) ướt bờ (-)\nƯớt cây (-) ướt lá (--) ai ngờ (-) ướt em (--)\n \nYêu mình (--) chẳng lấy được mình (--)\nTựa mai (-) mai ngã (--) tựa đình (-) đình xiêu (--)\n \nĐố ai (-) quét sạch lá rừng (--)\nĐể ta khuyên gió (--) gió đừng rung cây (--)\n \nHỡi cô (-) tát nước bên đàng (--)\nSao cô (-) múc ánh trăng vàng (--) đổ đi (--)\n \nTrách người quân tử (-) bạc tình (--)\nChơi hoa (--) rồi lại bẻ cành (--) bán rao (--)\n \nĐạo vợ chồng (-) thăm thẳm (-) giếng sâu (--)\nNgày sau cũng gặp (--) mất đi đâu (-) mà phiền (--)\nThen when the words get pronounced, the sound produced will be pure, high and up.\nOn the other hand, words that have\nAnd \"down\" tone: hanging, tumbling and heavy tones then the word pronounced will be muddled and heavy\nThe purity of the words punctuate the line.\nRhyming syllables are most essential to the musical quality of the poem.\n \nHôm qua (-) tát nước đầu đình (--)\nBỏ quên cái áo (-) Trên cành hoa sen (--)\nEm được (--) thì cho anh xin (--)\nHay là (-) em để làm tin (-) trong nhà.\n(--)\nPunctuating words and rhyming words in these lines generate a certain kind of echo and create a bright melody, all to the effect of portraying the bright innocence of the subject of the verse.\n \nNụ tầm xuân (-) nở ra xanh biếc.\n(--) Em đã có chồng (--) anh tiếc (-) lắm thay.\n(--)\nSound \"iếc\" in the two words \"biếc\" và \"tiếc\" rhyming here has two \"up\" vowels (iê) together with up tone but rather truncated by the last consonant \"c\", are known as \"clogged sound\".\nThese sounds, when read out loud, are associated with sobbing, hiccup, the music is thus slow, and plaintive, sorrowful.\nHence, \"iec\" is particularly excellently rhymed, to express most precisely the heart-wrenching regret of the boy returning to his old place, meeting the old friends, having deep feelings for a very beautiful girl, but the girl was already married.\n \nYêu ai tha thiết, thiết tha\nÁo em hai vạt trải ra chàng ngồi.\nSometimes to preserve the musical quality of the folklore poem, the sounds of the compound words can have reversal of positions.\nLike the above folklore, the two sounds \"tha thiet\" are reversed to become \"thiet tha\", because the 6-8 form of the poem only allows for flat rhyme.\nPoetry or folksongs often have \"láy\" words, whereby due to the repetition of the whole word or an element of it, \"láy\" word, when pronounced, two enunciations of the two words will coincide (complete \"láy\") or come close (incomplete \"láy\") creating a series of harmony, rendering the musical quality of poetry both multi-colored and elegant.\n\n# Poetic riddles\n\n## Riddles\nLike Ca Dao, folk poetry riddles, or Đố were anonymously composed in ancient times and passed down as a regional heritage.\nLovers in courtship often used Đố as a challenge for each other or as a smart flirt to express their inner sentiments.\nPeasants in the Red River and Mekong Deltas used Đố as entertainment to disrupt the humdrum routine of rice planting or after a day's toil.\nĐố satisfies the peasants' intellectual needs and allows them to poke fun at the pedantic court scholars, stumped by these equivocating verses.\nThe speaker refers to herself as \"em,\" an affectionate, if not somewhat sexist, pronoun for a subordinate, often a female.\nCombined with the reference to the rice field, the verses suggest that the speaker is of a humble position, most likely a lowly peasant girl.\nPale skin is a mark of beauty, hence the speaker is also implying that she is a pretty girl.\nShe is speaking to a learned young man, a scholar, for whom she has feelings.\nThe answer to the riddle is that the \"I\" is a book.\nIn a few verses, the clever speaker coyly puts forth a metaphorical self-introduction and proposal: a peasant girl with both physical and inner beauty invites the gentleman-scholar's courtship.\n\n## Rhyming math puzzles\nWith just four rhyming verses, the riddle sets up two linear equations with two unknowns.\nThe answers are 30 lovers and 70 haters.\nThe numbers might seem irrelevant to the overall context of a flirty math puzzle, but one may see the proportions as a representation of the romantic dynamics of the couple, or the speaker himself or herself: 3 part love, 7 part despair.","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}