Binh discusses the following verses of anguish from the poem 'The Melody of the Ship': 'Encountering the people again... suddenly encountering outstretched arms.'

Two exemplary essays where Binh dissects the verses of anguish from the poem 'The Melody of the Ship': 'Encountering the people again... suddenly encountering outstretched arms.'

1. Exploring the poignant verses below from the poem 'The Melody of the Ship': 'Encountering the people again... encountering outstretched arms', sample #1:

On the journey of a poetic soul from the 'valley of sorrow' to the 'joyful fields', from the 'horizon of an individual' to the 'horizon of all', more than anyone else, Che Lan Vien understands the profound role of the Party and the People, whom the poet believes have 'changed my life, changed my poetry'. The overwhelming happiness of a poet who has realized the true value of their life upon returning to the People is expressed sincerely and emotionally through the lines:

'Encountering the people again like a deer returning to the old stream
The grass welcomes the well, the birds meet the season
Like a hungry child meeting milk
The cradle suddenly encounters outstretched arms'

(The Melody of the Ship - Che Lan Vien)

The Ship's Melody is a poem composed from a socio-economic event: the people's movement to build new economic zones in 1960. However, the poem doesn't merely serve as propaganda for a party's ideology and policies. As a poet, amidst life's realities with new demands on artists, the poet expresses the longing to return to the homeland and its people - the root of all creative inspiration. It's the profound happiness of the poet to return to the people:

'Encountering the people again like a deer returning to the old stream
The grass welcomes the well, the birds meet the season'

In the poet's reminiscence of the Northwest, the people are not just an abstract concept but are present through lives, specific destinies. They are the guerrilla soldier with 'a brown shirt patched for a lifetime. On the last night, he sends it back to his child,' the brother in communication: 'Ten years without losing a single letter,' the mother 'the red fire illuminating her silver hair. Five children, and she stays awake through many seasons'... They are the people with impoverished lives but sacrificed their whole lives for the Revolution, mentioned by the poet with the utmost gratitude. From these individuals, these specific lives, the poetic emotions lead to contemplation, abstraction:

'Encountering the people again like a deer returning to the old stream
The grass welcomes the well, the birds meet the season
Like a hungry child meeting milk
The cradle suddenly encounters outstretched arms'

The verse impresses readers primarily with its use of address, aiming to establish a familial relationship: 'Encountering the people again'. The simple yet sincere and warm address has once again concretized the relationship between the poet and the people. This is a new awareness reflecting the journey of consciousness; from one's narrow self, the artist has integrated into the vast life of the people. This is also the realization of Xuân Diệu when he grasps the position, the relationship between the artist and the people:

'I am of flesh and bone with my people
Sharing sweat, sharing drops of blood
I live alongside myriad fighters
Of millions of beloved and toilsome souls'

(On nights of marching)

Therefore, the affectionate address is what evokes emotions in the reader's heart, and it's also how the poet swam into the hearts of an entire generation, with moments when Chế Lan Viên once reproached himself for being 'offbeat' with the people's lives:

Can one forget such a childhood
Our homeland in our hearts, yet it feels as if it's not there
The people around us, yet we do not see
Verse flows like water flowing downstream

(The one who changed my life, the one who changed my fate)

In that sincere emotion, the poet expressed the meaning of returning to the people through surprising and creative comparisons. It's a comparison full of unexpected associations. Only four lines appear, yet they employ the comparison technique five times. It feels like the happiness of returning to the people suddenly blossoms like vibrant, warm-colored flowers. This intricate comparison is a characteristic showcasing Chế Lan Viên's poetic artistry. In the opening lines, the poet compares 'Our heart' and 'Our soul' to two images: a ship and the Northwest. In the latter part of the poem, when speaking of longing, of love, those lines once again reveal their brilliance through associative imagery:

Suddenly, I remember you like winter remembering cold
Our love like the wings of golden butterflies
Like spring arriving, the forest birds molt
Love turns the unfamiliar land into homeland

Constructing poetic imagery through intricate comparisons holds significant importance in expressing the poet's profound emotions, while also creating multidimensional associations with the vertical and horizontal relationships in the reader's imagination.

The comparison techniques here are built upon very simple, familiar images, especially with mountainous people: deer, streams, old, grass, swallows, spring, cradle. This also acknowledges the poet's efforts along the

path of abandoning the unfamiliar, eerie images in pre-Revolution poetry to return to the simple world, carrying within it the breath of the people's lives. Whereas before, readers always encountered intricate, even frantic images: the specter of Hoi, desolate rivers languishing in darkness... in this poem, this verse is filled with the beauty of real life.

What's remarkable in this verse is the arrangement of the poet's comparison images. It's a progression of comparisons in intensity. The first three comparison clauses focus on nature, on external objects. But the remaining two comparison clauses shift towards human beings and human existential needs: hungry children encountering milk; the cradle stopping - outstretched arms offering. This arrangement holds great significance in expressing the poet's profound and sincere gratitude upon returning to the People.

Furthermore, the use of complex comparisons in the poetry carries profound philosophical significance: Each object only holds meaning when placed in a familial relationship with other objects. Deer and old streams - they are two inseparable elements, where the old stream has become the habitat for deer. January, February mark the beginning of a year. This time is most suitable for the growth of plants, flowers, and leaves. Spring and the swallows; children and the need for milk... are all images always placed within mutually influential relationships. Borrowing images from natural and social life, borrowing those laws to speak of a greater relationship: art only holds meaning when reflecting life. The reality of life is the starting point and also the ultimate destination that every literary work must aim for. If life is lost, poetry will wither on the page. But to reflect the reality of life, the artist must be closely connected to the people, must beat in rhythm with millions of human hearts, perhaps no poet expresses the truth of that creative process as well and deeply as Chế Lan Viên.

This is one of the notable verses in the poem. With a fresh construction of imagery, with simple yet profound comparisons. Chế Lan Viên directs the reader to a universal law: returning to the people is inevitable. It aligns with the laws of nature as well as with the moral principles of human emotion. Because only that path opens up vast horizons for the artist. Walking on that path, Chế Lan Viên has truly succeeded, becoming a heroic voice in poetry, a clarion call in the anti-American years that followed.

2. Delving into the following verses from the poem 'The Melody of the Ship': 'Encountering the people again... encountering outstretched arms', sample #2:

The verse by Chế Lan Viên above is a heartfelt sentiment elevated into a beautiful philosophy: Happiness when meeting the people again. Every line of the four lines contains beautiful, innovative imagery expressing a keen, sophisticated creative personality.

I absolutely adore the poetic verses of Chế Lan Viên that speak of 'the fragrance of compassion':

Lotus flowers on the ground emit scent to the sky
The fragrance of compassion seeps into our souls forever.

I'm always fascinated whenever someone mentions this verse by him:

Suddenly, I remember you like winter remembering cold
Our love is like the wings of golden butterflies.
As spring arrives, the forest birds molt gray
Love turns unfamiliar land into homeland.

In 1960, the poetry collection 'Light and Marsh' was born, marking a new stride in the ideology and artistry of Che Lan Vien. The poem 'The Song of the Ship Expresses the Love of the Northwest and the Aspiration to Journey to Every Dream Horizon for Dedication and Creativity.' The poem consists of 3 parts: 1 - The Call to Journey; 2 - Nostalgia for the Northwest; 3 - Singing the Journey.

This is the 5th stanza excerpted from part 2 of the poem 'The Song of the Ship Expresses the Great Happiness of Reuniting with the People:

The deer returns to the people like returning to the old stream
The grass welcomes the well, the swallows meet the season
Like a hungry child meeting milk
The cradle suddenly meets outstretched arms.

The ideology of reuniting with the people is a beautiful ideology. This ideology is concretized, metaphorized by five rich and new metaphorical images. The phrase 'The deer returns to the people like returning to the old stream' is a unique comparison. The harsh winter, the deer go searching for food in the distant forest. Now spring comes, the deer return to the 'old stream,' the land that has been intimately attached and loved for generations. 'Deer returning to the old stream' is an expression of loyal affection in life like 'the deer reuniting with the people,' living within the people's hearts. The word 'deer' is used very delicately, expressing a sincere, warm feeling. When read aloud, everyone feels themselves within it.

The line 'Grass welcomes the well, swallows meet the season' opens up beautiful associations within us. Three months of winter, plants withered and yellowed. The well brings the warmth of spring to everything; the grass becomes lush and fresh. Spring is the season of greenery. 'The wild grass spreads endlessly' (Ancient poetry); 'Green grass stretches to the horizon' (The Tale of Kieu). Spring is also the season of swallows: 'In spring, swallows flutter their wings' (Nguyen Du). Swallows meet spring to mate, to sprout and flourish... The word 'welcomes' (grass welcomes the well), the word 'meets' (swallows meet the season) express the happiness of rebirth, development, becoming beautiful. Using the world of grass, birds, to speak of the joy when 'reuniting with the people' is a profound, deeply felt way of expression. The wings of swallows and the greenery of spring in Che Lan Vien's poetry are always beautiful and lovely:

In January, the hills are lush green
In January, swallows soar high into the sky.

(Meaning of Spring)

What could be happier, more joyful than when 'The hungry child meets milk,' when 'The cradle suddenly meets outstretched arms?' The sweet flow of milk is also the love of the mother nurturing the child. The arms of the mother, of the grandmother... gently reaching out when 'the cradle stops'..., lifting the baby's sleep. A peaceful sleep in the lullaby, in the love. Mother and grandmother have come to the young one in longing, in anticipation.

And that is also the joy of living in love, like when 'the child reunites with the people.'

The idea of reuniting with the people is expressed in a rich, diverse way. Meeting the people is living in happiness, in loyal affection. It is gaining more life, strength, becoming fresh, vibrant, and developing. It is living in shared love, comforting, fulfilling the longing.

The above passage clearly demonstrates the artistic technique of Che Lan Vien: rich in philosophical essence and intellectual beauty. Philosophy without dryness, because the poet has created many beautiful, novel images, and sophisticated language. Beautiful ideas, beautiful poetic souls blend into our hearts.

The love for the country and the 'people' ideology have been movingly expressed in the national poetry for centuries. But after the August Revolution, especially through the two resistance wars against the French and the Americans, that great ideology has been expressed more sincerely, profoundly, and deeply by some poets such as To Huu, Xuan Dieu, Che Lan Vien...

The bird remembers its flock, its nest,
I remember those who suffered to raise me.
Your grace, like a mother, like a father
The people's love for the Party is like loving a child...

(To Huu)

I share flesh and blood with my people
Sharing sweat, sharing drops of blood
I live through the struggle of life
Of millions of beloved, hardworking souls

(Xuan Dieu)