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Prompt: Analyze Kiều's state of mind at Ngưng Bích Pavilion through 4 portraits: A melancholic gaze
Response:
Gazing sadly at the evening sea, Kiều pondered deeply.
The boat, with its faintly visible sail, drifted far away.
Sadness lingered as the new waves broke.
Gloomy, she watched the glistening water.
The drifting flowers ponder their unknown path.
Gazing sadly, the inner grass mourns.
Below the clouds, the earth wears a verdant hue.
Sadly watching, the wind whisks away the visage.
The waves murmured around the sitting bench.
Kieu was a beautiful, talented, and incredibly virtuous young woman. Born into a middle-class family in feudal society, Kieu lived in the warmth of her family with her parents and two siblings, cherished and happy in the noble family traditions. Then, society decayed, with the cruel influence of money destroying that familial warmth, shattered only by the lies of a 'silk merchant.' Out of filial piety, Kieu sacrificed herself to redeem her father, only to be deceived and fall into the arms of Tu Ba. Subsequently, she was imprisoned in the Ngung Bich tower, a desolate and terrifying place. Kieu's poignant loneliness during those solitary days and months here was depicted by Nguyen Du with a profound and touching pen.
The beginning of the quartet painting depicts a scene:
Sadly looking towards the broken door in the evening.
Whose boat's sail faintly in the distance?
It's a vast painting of the open sea, the 'gate of waves,' during the time of the 'evening,' evoking much sorrow for a young girl far from her homeland. Amidst that seascape stands a boat sailing towards an uncertain destination at the far end of the horizon. In terms of describing the scene, this is truly a beautiful painting in words, capturing the grandeur of nature with the sea surging and waves crashing. Yet behind it all, one can almost see Kieu gazing after the faintly distant sail. Where does the sail drift to? Perhaps towards a distant homeland. Let her convey some words of longing and remembrance, for 'one regrets like waiting at the door tomorrow...'. And so, the boat far beyond the gate of waves carries the weight of Kieu's love for her homeland. The lục bát verses, deeply imbued with Vietnamese essence through simple words like 'gate of waves,' 'faintly,' suddenly evoke the emotion of Tang poetry in the final line of Do Phu's poem 'Tuyet Cu': 'A thousand miles, the Wu boat at Ngô's gate waits eagerly.' When writing the poem 'Tuyet Cu,' Do Phu was exiled, longing for his homeland, and he had to send that longing along with the shadow of the boat as it departed.
If Kieu's initial gaze was towards the distant sea, with nostalgia for her homeland rising like waves, sending her love along with the faintly distant sail, then in the second painting, Nguyen Du has the character contemplate the scenery closer at hand:
Sadly looking at the newly spilled water.
The flowers drift, melancholy, knowing not where to return.
Kieu's sorrowful gaze noticed a few petals drifting aimlessly on the waves. The scene permeates the human psyche with sadness. With the gentle question, 'knowing not where to return?', we sense the anguish of one with a delicate disposition. Long ingrained in ancient literature, drifting petals have become a poignant symbol of the fate of women adrift, lost, and pitiable. Thus, the exterior painting becomes an internal scene, further adding to the poignant melancholy of the character.
Then, casting her gaze elsewhere, away from the sea, Kieu beheld an image:
Sadly looking at the wilting grass inside.
The ground beneath the clouds, all a verdant hue.
The melancholic lục bát verse, with its delicate use of words like 'wilting' and 'verdant,' both describes the scene and expresses the human heart. The 'wilting' shade of the grass evokes a sense of withering, of lifelessness, contrasting sharply with the 'fresh green grass to the horizon' that Kieu once admired in the clear, tranquil weather, during the peaceful days of her youth. It's also a symbol of her fate. The grass inside the courtyard of Ngung Bich tower today is a murky, verdant green, directionless, with no path to tread. It reflects Kieu's despondent and painful state of mind, contemplating her doomed fate, surely with more hardships awaiting ahead. Every aspect of anxiety and fear is vividly portrayed by the poet in every word, evoking even more sympathy and compassion for Kieu.
The fourth painting isn't described by Nguyen Du in terms of colors and imagery, but rather, the poet depicts the scenery through the menacing sound of wind and waves:
Sadly looking at the wind sweeping across the flattened face.
The sound of waves roaring around the seat.
The serene strokes, the poetic essence of the evening sea, the water - blossoms or the interior grass replaced by a different mood of the scenery. It's the wind from somewhere, sweeping fiercely across the flattened face. Perhaps as dusk descends, intensifying the wind and waves, the landscape becomes ominous, and the Ngung Bich tower, amidst that backdrop, only adds to the solitary girl's anxiety and fear. The term 'roaring' evokes the ferocious sounds of the wind and waves, no longer distant, but right around Kieu's seat. Perhaps it's not just the natural turbulence but also Kieu's intuition about the turbulent waves of life surrounding her, full of threats.
The quartet painting of scenery is actually a quartet painting of mood, vividly showcasing the genius of the great poet Nguyen Du. The art of describing emotional scenes has reached mastery in portraying the psychological aspects of characters. Every word, every image is both ancient, poetic, and deeply real in expressing the emotional pulse of poetry. The phrase 'Sadly looking' at the beginning of each lục bát couplet creates a rhythm that is both mournful and increasingly intense within the wave-like rhythm. And it's also from that 'sadly looking' that helps the reader clearly see the painting in front of Ngung Bich tower through Kieu's melancholic, anxious gaze, the pitiable girl.
It can be said, it's not by chance that 'The Tale of Kieu' is considered a masterpiece of national literature, and it's not without reason that the excerpt 'Kieu in Ngung Bich tower' has touched the hearts of readers for generations. Here, we feel the pen dripping with the love and compassion of the great poet Nguyen Du, and we feel even more sorry for Kieu, the lotus flower of many scents, trampled in the mire of a rotten feudal society. The sorrows of Kieu will always be the voice accusing that society, urging us to cherish the value of peaceful, happy life today even more.
Kieu's experience at Ngung Bich Tower is a poignant excerpt from Nguyen Du's masterpiece, The Tale of Kieu. Apart from composing essays analyzing Kieu's emotions while at Ngung Bich Tower, students and teachers explore additional literary works such as dissecting the final eight verses of the Ngung Bich Tower excerpt, delving into Kieu's emotions within Ngung Bich Tower, and analyzing excerpts and verses to accentuate the emotions of the wandering girl in her journey, alongside crafting compositions on Kieu at Ngung Bich Tower, excerpted from The Tale of Kieu by Nguyen Du. Let's delve into these and apply them for optimal learning.
