Appreciating Nguyen Binh's Poem 'Yearning'

Prompt: Appreciating Nguyen Binh's Poem 'Yearning'

Analyzing Nguyen Binh's Poem 'Yearning'

I. Outline for Analyzing 'Yearning' by Nguyen Binh

1. Introduction:

- Introducing the author and the poem.

2. Body:

a. The First Four Verses 'Thon Doai...love you': The longing and yearning of the young man:
- Using distant expressions, taking two villages where the young man and the girl live to imply his longing, then expressing sincere feelings with the phrase 'nine misses ten yearns.'

b. The Next Eight Verses 'Two villages...far away love': The reproach of the young man:
- Blaming the girl when it's obvious that the two villages are close to each other but she has never visited, leaving him immersed in yearning, waiting 'day after day, season after season,' suffering because of longing, hope day by day, even from summer to autumn 'green leaves turn into yellow leaves.'
=> It's a sigh, revealing the longing, the love that transcends time and remains unchanged, still waiting for his girl.
- Blaming 'They say the river crossing is too far/Not crossing is the same as crossing, it's settled/But here's just a corner of the village/How far is it for the distant love,' just a corner of the village but the girl never has the intention to visit, making the young man even more sad, upset.
=> Worrying about the girl's feelings 'How far is it for the distant love,' perhaps the reality is so distant that even being in the same village is like being thousands of miles apart.

- The special nature of psychological laws in poetry:
+ According to the usual tradition, it's always the young man who actively seeks and pursues the girl, but in 'Yearning' by Nguyen Binh, we see an image of a passive young man, full of longing, then turning to reproach, blaming the girl for not coming to find him.
=> The author wants to express the longing, so it's necessary to put the young man in a passive position to fully express the emotions in a one-sided love.
+ Blaming is not a negative emotion, it can be seen as common psychological developments when people love, blaming is a form of expressing longing, hoping for comfort, reassurance from the other person.

c. The Next Four Verses 'Yearning...meet':
- Directly express their feelings, the one-sided yearning has lasted for countless nights without a single response.
- Sighing 'Ask anyone, ask anyone who understands', expressing the hope that the girl will understand his heart.
- Distant wishes 'When will the dock meet the boat?/When will the butterflies of the rivers and lakes meet?', that one day we will meet, side by side like the dock and the boat, reunited like the romantic love stories of wandering knights and noble ladies.

d. The Last Four Verses:
- The distant longing of the young man with the very meaningful appearance of the betel nut and betel leaves. In the customs of Vietnam, betel nut and betel leaves symbolize the bond between couples, an indispensable element in wedding customs hanging from generation to generation.
- The image of her house with a rich vineyard and his house with a row of betel palms, meaning the desire for a day to become husband and wife with the girl of the young man.

3. Conclusion:

General feelings

II. Sample Essay: Interpreting Nguyễn Bính's Poem Yearning

Nguyễn Bính stands as one of the triumvirates of the New Poetry movement during the period of 1932-1941. While Xuân Diệu impresses with fervent, daring verses of passionate love, and Hàn Mặc Tử weaves dreamy, haunting poetry with a blend of two contrasting styles, Nguyễn Bính presents himself as a poet of simple, rustic charm. Critic Hoài Thanh aptly described Nguyễn Bính as a poet with genuinely 'country' verses, deeply intimate and familiar. Though Nguyễn Bính might not have standout periods with flashier works like other modern poets, he still deserves reverence in the annals of modern poetry for embodying the genuine rustic spirit with his rural language and tone, a combination rare and uniquely his own. One of his most iconic and famous poems is 'Yearning,' a piece resonating with the folk hexameter, innocence, purity, and the tender, affectionate love of country folk.

Yearning seems to be an inevitable spectrum of emotions that every person stepping into the path of love must experience. The poignant nostalgia, the profound questions about the other's feelings, always swirl in the mind, often leaving individuals in a state of indecision and distraction. Particularly, yearning is still used to describe the state of unrequited affection when love is hindered by space, time, or even the apparent ignorance of the other person, leaving the yearner in distress. However, all emanates from a budding love, full of hope, whereupon scrutiny, one finds it utterly endearing, easily understood, and sympathized with. Nguyễn Bính may not be a poet specialized in love poetry like Xuân Diệu or Hàn Mặc Tử, yet his love poetry is no less remarkable, especially in 'Yearning,' where we witness a deeply ingrained rural spirit through vivid imagery, metaphorical expressions, and the familiar hexameter.

'Thôn Đoài sits reminiscing about Thôn Đông,
One person longs for the other,
Wind and rain are ailments of the heavens,
Yearning is my ailment for loving her.'

In the first four lines, the longing and yearning of the young man are charmingly and affectionately revealed. Initially, he employs a distant narrative, using two villages where he and the girl live to metaphorically convey his longing. He then expresses his sincere feelings with the phrase 'nine longing, ten yearning.' This affection becomes profound, seemingly making the young man oblivious to everything else, even if it rains or storms, nothing can deter his love. It's a love that begins to face challenges, ready to overcome even the changes of nature, the vast universe. Moreover, the phrase 'Yearning is my ailment for loving her' brings a pleasant, endearing sensation to the reader, with a very sincere confession, infused with a hint of humor, likening yearning to the 'ailment' of love, subtly implying that the cure for the young man's ailment is the love of the girl from Thôn Đông. The confession, candid and adorable, with a distinctly rustic charm, does not make the poem appear outdated, rural, but instead brings very unique flavors, a rural romance reflecting a part of the emotional life of the people in the old villages.

As mentioned above, yearning is not only the feeling of longing and restlessness but sometimes also includes shades of anger, jealousy, whether near or far. This is vividly portrayed by Nguyễn Bính in the following verses:

'Two villages form one community,
Why doesn't she cross over to mine?
Day after day, season after season,
Green leaves have turned to yellow.
It's said the river ferry is the obstacle,
But not crossing means no way to meet.
But here's a single pagoda,
How far is too far for distant love...'

Firstly, the young man blames the girl when clearly the two villages are close together, yet she has never once visited, leaving him submerged in yearning, waiting 'day after day, season after season,' suffering due to longing and hope, even from summer to autumn 'green leaves have turned to yellow.' Clearly, the young man not only blames the girl for not visiting but also sighs, expressing his heartfelt anticipation, a love enduring time without change, still steadfastly waiting for his girl. Furthermore, the geographical distance is emphasized once again in the cool reproachful lines 'It's said the river ferry is the obstacle, But not crossing means no way to meet. But here's a single pagoda,' despite only a single pagoda distance, the girl's house has never shown any intention to visit, making the young man even more melancholic, frustrated incessantly. Simultaneously, the young man gradually becomes perplexed about the girl's feelings, 'How far is too far for distant love,' even though they are close to each other, they have never met, perhaps because of the distance in the heart, hence the distance of a single pagoda, or being in the same village is akin to being thousands of miles apart. Readers might wonder why traditionally it's the man who actively seeks and pursues the woman, yet in Nguyễn Bính's 'Yearning,' we see the opposite, a young man passive, full of longing, then turning resentful, blaming the girl for not coming to find him. However, placed in the literary context, the author aims to elucidate the longing, perhaps not needing the usual norms, but placing the young man in a passive position can fully reveal the range of emotions in unrequited love, as well as their innermost feelings, allowing readers to understand more objectively. Secondly, about the reproach, this is not necessarily negative emotions but can be viewed as common psychological developments when people love, reproach is a form of expression of longing and anticipation, hoping to receive consolation, reassurance from the other person. Especially when one's own love is brimming, but the other intentionally ignores, is indifferent, sometimes doing something to attract attention is quite common in love.

'How many nights has yearning kept me awake,
Whom to ask, to whom will they disclose!
When will the pier meet the ferry?
Like the stars and the butterflies, when will we meet?'

After the moments of resentment, the young man once again openly expresses his feelings, the unrequited longing that has lasted for countless nights without a response. Along with the sigh 'Whom to ask, to whom will they disclose,' expressing the hope that the girl will understand his heart, to end these days of longing and sorrow. Accompanied by vague dreams are distant wishes 'When will the pier meet the ferry?/Like the stars and the butterflies, when will we meet?', longing for a day when he and the girl will meet, side by side like the pier and the ferry, reunite like the romantic love stories of wandering knights and noble ladies. It is a lofty metaphor, somewhat sentimental, yet genuinely accurate in the emotions of rural boys, attached to the village with stories of romantic love.

'In your house, there's a lush trellis,
In mine, there's a row of betel trees in the courtyard.
Thôn Đoài yearns for Thôn Đông,
Do the betel trees in Thôn Đoài yearn for the lush trellis of any village?'

In the final four lines, we see a clear longing of the young man for a distant wish with the very symbolic presence of the betel and betel nut images. In Vietnamese customs and traditions, betel and betel nut symbolize the bond between couples, an indispensable element in wedding rituals passed down through generations. The image of her house with a lush trellis and his with a row of betel trees implies the wish for a day to become husband and wife with the girl. It is a deeply profound yet endearing metaphor that also clearly demonstrates the traditional beauty of rural life, characteristic of Nguyễn Bính's poetry. In the last two lines, once again, the young man expresses his love indirectly 'Thôn Đoài yearns for Thôn Đông,' while also posing a question, whether the girl has let anyone into her heart yet, whether there is a hint of affection for him, asking, 'Do the betel trees in Thôn Đoài yearn for the lush trellis of any village?', expressing a distant longing, uncertainty about the prospect of betel nut and betel pairing with the girl from Thôn Đông.

Nguyễn Bính's 'Tương tư' is a rustic love poem that easily captivates readers with its deeply folkloric style, rural nuances, familiar vernacular, and emotions that resonate with many people experiencing the spectrum of real emotions. Throughout the poem, we always find pure, simple emotions, reflecting the authentic rural soul through the poet's use of language and the traditional hexameter verse form. Love in the poem also becomes very close and understandable, not overly focused on concealing poetic meanings, which is why 'Tương tư' has seamlessly integrated into life, sometimes even mistaken for an ancient folk song.

This article provides analyses and insights into Nguyễn Bính's 'Tương tư' to further understand the work. Readers are invited to refer to the following articles: Preparing 'Tương tư', Emotional development of the young man in 'Tương tư', Analysis of Nguyễn Bính's poem 'Tương tư', Analyzing the opening stanza of 'Tương tư' poem.