Analyzing the quartet paintings within 'Forest Memories'

Prompt: Analyzing the quartet paintings within 'Forest Memories'

Analyzing the quartet paintings within 'Forest Memories'

I. Analytical Outline of the Quartet Paintings within 'Forest Memories' (Standard)

1. Introduction:

- Introduction to the author and the work

2. Body:

a. Content:
- Recalling the fierce past of the tiger in the zoo to reminisce its glorious days
- Represents the words of the petite bourgeoisie intellectuals facing societal reality
- The quartet painting in the third stanza is a magnificent, majestic portrayal of the mountainous forest.

b. Analyzing the quartet painting:

* First painting:
- A scenery in the night amidst golden moonlight by the stream
- Space filled with golden hues, the lord of the forest standing silently by the stream 'intoxicated with prey'
- A dazzling, infinitely beautiful scene, the lord of the forest blending with nature.

* Second painting:
- The image of the tiger is central amidst the rainy day scenery
- Nature becomes fierce, obscure, yet the lord of the forest remains unfazed
- The tiger maintains the posture of a king, standing above all

* Third painting:
- After rainy days, the forest becomes fresh, vibrant in the morning sunlight
- Birds chirp vigorously
- The tiger returns to its slumber
- It's evident, the tiger lives in freedom, dominates and controls others

* Fourth painting:
- Twilight scene as dusk descends
- Dominant color scheme is red, making the scene more vibrant, dazzling
- All creatures gradually enter into slumber and the lord of the forest also awaits the moment of dusk 'I wait for the harsh sun to die down'

c. General Conclusion:
- Using classical poetry materials in a new poetic form
- Using exclamatory words 'oh, oh' and interjections 'where': expressing nostalgia for the glorious past
- Borrowing the words of the tiger, expressing the general mood of people living under the oppression of French colonialism.

3. Conclusion:

- The quartet paintings in the work depict magnificent, majestic scenes of nature.

II. Sample Composition Analyzing the Quartet Paintings within 'Forest Memories' (Standard)

Thế Lữ is one of the prominent poets of the New Poetry movement in Vietnam. He contributed to establishing a solid foundation for Vietnamese poetry. One of his works that deeply impressed readers is the poem 'Forest Memories'. In his work, Thế Lữ has created a quartet painting with four scenes full of grandeur, magnificence, solemnity, and fierceness of the forest - where the lord of the forest once roamed freely.

The poem 'Forest Memories' is the voice of a tiger in the zoo reminiscing about its glorious past, when it used to roam freely in the deep forest. Yet now, it is confined in a cage, in a place of 'artificiality, mediocrity, deceit', feeling lost. This reflects the current sentiment of a portion of the petite bourgeoisie intellectuals, disillusioned and resentful towards the reality surrounding them, trapped in the year of 1936.

The quartet paintings in 'Forest Memories' by Thế Lữ consist of ten lines, portraying four splendid forest scenes, depicting the moonlit night, the twilight:

'Where are those golden nights by the stream,
We stand intoxicated by the moonlight's glow?
Where are the rainy days, shifting in all directions,
We silently admire the renewed mountains?
Where are the green morning sunrays bathing the trees,
The chirping birds celebrating our slumber?
Where are the blood-stained evenings after the forest.
We await the harsh sun's death,
To claim our secret portion?
- Oh, how fleeting are the glorious times now?'

The first painting in the quartet is the scene of a moonlit forest night by the stream. The golden moonlight sparkles, illuminating the small stream flowing smoothly:

'Where are those golden nights by the stream,
We stand intoxicated by the moonlight's glow?'

The space within the deep forest is filled with a golden hue from the high moon shining down. And in that space, the sound of the stream flowing makes the forest even more vibrant, fresher, more lively. There, the lord of the forest is 'intoxicated' standing silently by the stream, enjoying the coolness of the small stream. Perhaps, the lord of the forest is not only 'intoxicated' waiting for prey but also 'intoxicated' in the splendid, magical scenery of the deep forest, intoxicated in the cool water under the shimmering golden moonlight. Its ferocity, its brutality seems to have softened under the silver moonlight. It calmly merges with nature, blending into the silence of the deep mountain forest, where it is the king, the ruler of all. The first painting creates a dreamy, harmonious illusion between one side of the fierce lord of the forest, and the other side of the gentleness of nature, of the forest.

However, the beauty of the scene, this only remains in memory, in distant dreams 'those golden nights by the stream'. Those glorious moments now only linger in longing. The majestic presence when the lord of the forest stands 'intoxicated', towering amidst the freedom of the endless forest has receded into the past, leaving only longing in the painful 'where are...'

The second painting is the scene of white sky rainy days, the mountain forest immersed in a curtain of white rain:

'Where are the rainy days, shifting in all directions,
We silently admire the renewed mountains?'

The rains in the deep forest seem endless, 'shifting' in 'all directions'. Nature, the mountains and forests are no longer gentle, peaceful, but also ferocious, full of brutality, and obscure. The rain curtains everywhere make everything change, however, the lord of the green forest remains as majestic as ever, showing no sign of fear before such ferocity. It just 'silently admires the mountains' while undergoing transformation in that rain. The thunderous cries of nature do not make it tremble, it remains upright, steadfast, and calmly absorbs everything into its gaze. This is the demeanor of a king, fearless of anything! No matter how fierce nature is, how all creatures change, it's only to 'renew' its 'mountains', which proves it stands in the most majestic dominance over all creatures.

But that's only the image of the past, of bygone days. The tiger now has to live in a situation:

'Tame vine leaves without secrets
Also imitate the wilderness
Of a lofty, gloomy place for thousands of years'

Its former freedoms, the torrential jungle rains, are now just a distant memory in its mind.

The third painting is a depiction of dawn in the mountains, when the entire forest wakes up after a long night:

'Where are the green morning sunrays bathing the trees,
The chirping birds celebrating our slumber?'

After the rain comes a sunny day. The whole forest, refreshed after the rain, becomes even fresher, livelier, full of vitality. The branches, rocks, mountains,... all come alive with the sound of birds singing loudly. The lord of the forest appears with sleep but it's a 'lively sleep'. When the birds sing vigorously, when all creatures stretch themselves in the new sun, it's the moment the lord of the forest enters its slumber after a night of waiting through wind and rain. The lively sounds and the fresh air lull it into a peaceful sleep.

Living in freedom, it did whatever it liked, whatever it wanted. It ruled over all creatures, dominating others with pride, solemnity. Yet now, it has become the pleasure-seeker of humans, 'arrogant, absent-minded'.

As dawn passes, dusk arrives, the fourth painting unfolds the scene of dusk, when a long day closes in brilliant twilight:

'Where are the shimmering evenings after the forest.
We await the harsh sun fragment's death'

The painting full of colors with powerful words has created a profound impression on the reader. That evening scene is so intense with the image of 'shimmering evenings after the forest'. Perhaps this is when the lord of the forest has just finished hunting, enjoying its meal, or perhaps it's the red hue of the sun when setting behind the mountains? However, whatever the reason, that radiant red color makes the painting truly vibrant, truly impressive. When dawn breaks, the sun's rays illuminate the world, and life everywhere awakens, operates. When the sun sets behind the mountains, everything sinks into tranquility, stillness, and rest. And the lord of the mountain forest, too, 'waits for the harsh sun fragment's death'. Waiting for the sun to leave the mortal world to 'seize its own secret part'.

What is the 'secret' here? No one can know, only the lord of the forest himself knows! Is it the power of the universe, of the world of all creatures that it wants to seize?

Four paintings emerge in thought, in the grandeur of the mountain forest and in the solemnity of the tiger - the lord of the forest. However, those majestic scenes now only exist in the past, in the poignant and painful memories of the tiger in the Zoo. Four paintings are created with exclamatory words 'oh, where' and the interrogative 'where' fully describing the sorrowful pain of the lord of the forest, regretting what it has experienced from the glorious past.

Borrowing the words of the tiger, Thế Lữ wants to voice the sentiments of the young intellectuals living in turbulent times, when the Vietnamese people are under the yoke of French colonialism. Those four paintings are the splendid, intense months of their ancestors with the most glorious anti-colonial feats in the nation's history. However, now it's just the past, Vietnam is facing the invasion of foreign powers.

Ten verses with four paintings of the mountains in the presence of the lord of the forest have helped readers see the grandeur of the mountain forests, the magnificence of the deep mountains and valleys with the lord of the green forest. Four paintings with vivid colors have created an unforgettable beauty in everyone's heart. At the same time, it also reveals the author's personal feelings amidst the contemporary era.