Buzz
Prompt:
We want to embrace
All new life that is budding
We want to soar with clouds and breeze with wind
We want to be intoxicated with butterflies and love
We want to be enveloped in a multitude of kisses
And lands, and waters, and trees, and vibrant grass
For the dizzying fragrance, for the overflowing light
For the blissful hues of the youthful era.'
(Hastily - Xuân Diệu, Literature 11, Volume One, Education Publishing House, p.23)
'How could it dissolve
Into a hundred small waves
In the vast sea of love
For a thousand years to still ripple.'
(Waves - Xuân Quỳnh, Literature 12, Volume One, Education Publishing House, p.156)
Present your impressions on the two verses above.
I. Detailed outline
II. Sample essay
Sample essay Presenting the feelings about the verse in the poem Waves and Hastily
I. Detailed outline Presenting the feelings about the verse in the poem Waves and Hastily
1. General introduction:
- Xuân Quỳnh stands as one of the prominent figures of the young poetry generation during the anti-American war period. Her poetry highlights the feminine beauty, the intricate soul of women, innocent, sincere, deep, and profound in the desire for everyday life.
- The poem 'Waves' was composed in 1967, during a practical trip to the Diem Dien sea area (Thai Binh), and it represents Xuân Quỳnh's poetic style.
- Xuân Diệu - one of the three peaks of the New Poetry movement 1932 - 1945. He is considered the 'newest poet among the New poets' for his innovative ideas and artistic style.
- 'Hastily' is a typical poem by Xuân Diệu before the August Revolution, regarded as a declaration of life, an artistic manifesto of the poet.
2. Body:
a. The verse in the poem Hastily by Xuân Diệu:
- The verse illustrates the 'ego' craving for life, longing to passionately embrace life. Like a declaration of one's heart, the poet self-defines a hurried, indulgent attitude towards life, appreciating the limited nature of life (Hurry up! The season has not yet turned towards evening); consciousness dominates, enjoying life at its highest level (dizzying, brimming, satiated) the most beautiful things (fragrance, light, youthful era).
- Artistic elements such as metaphors, sentence structure, strong verbs... contribute to depicting the hurried, eager, restless mood, making the rhythm of the verse lively, passionate.
b. The verse in the poem Waves by Xuân Quỳnh:
- The verse embodies grand, noble aspirations in love: longing to dissolve the small egoistic self - individual waves, into the vast collective self - 'a hundred waves' amidst the vast ocean. The lines carry a self-encouraging nature, inspiring a way of life, passionate, wholehearted love: desiring to merge into the grand love of life. This is how love becomes immortal.
- The five-character form of poetry with the image of 'waves,' both metaphorical and aesthetically rich, makes the verse profound, full of femininity.
c. Comparison:
- Similarity: Both verses express intense emotions, contemplation about life. These are two verses that combine emotion and philosophy.
- Difference: not only in poetic style (Xuân Diệu passionate, full of masculine traits, Xuân Quỳnh tender, full of feminine emotions) but also in the 'behavior' of each poet: faced with the 'flow' of time, Xuân Diệu chooses to live hurriedly, indulging, Xuân Quỳnh expresses the desire to dissolve the personal into the collective to make love immortal...
3. Conclusion:
Summarize the value of content and artistry of the two above verses. Summarize the value of content and artistry of the two above verses.
II. Sample essay Presenting the feelings about the verse in the poem Waves and Hastily
Xuân Diệu and Xuân Quỳnh are hailed as two of the prominent poets of modern poetry. If Xuân Diệu is dubbed the king of love poetry, then Xuân Quỳnh is known as the queen of romantic poetry. In these two poetic souls, we encounter an abundance of love and a strong desire for life. The following verses are a clear testimony to the convergence of poetic inspiration between the two authors:
We want to embrace
All new life that is budding
We want to soar with clouds and breeze with wind
We want to be intoxicated with butterflies and love
We want to be enveloped in a multitude of kisses
And lands, and waters, and trees, and vibrant grass
For the dizzying fragrance, for the overflowing light
For the blissful hues of the youthful era.
(Hastily - Xuân Diệu, Literature 11, Volume One, Education Publishing House, p.23)
'How could it dissolve
Into a hundred small waves
In the vast sea of love
For a thousand years to still ripple.'
(Waves - Xuân Quỳnh, Literature 12, Volume One, Education Publishing House, p.156)
Xuân Diệu has long been regarded as one of the top three figures of the New Poetry movement from 1932 to 1945. He is hailed as the 'most modern poet among the New poets' for his use of language and poetic inspiration. Unlike other poets of the same period, Xuân Diệu did not follow nationalistic inspiration but leaned towards romantic inspiration. He focused on expressing his personal ego and desire for life.
'We want to embrace
All new life that is budding
We want to soar with clouds and breeze with wind
We want to be intoxicated with butterflies and love
We want to be enveloped in a multitude of kisses
And lands, and waters, and trees, and vibrant grass
For the dizzying fragrance, for the overflowing light
For the blissful hues of the youthful era.'
The author's intense ego is clearly expressed through the phrase 'we want.' 'We' is a pronoun that asserts the personal ego, completely distinct from 'us,' which is currently prevailing. The verse is seen as a declaration of life where the author self-defines a hurried attitude towards life, wanting to enjoy and appreciate the limited nature of life.
Xuân Diệu desires to embrace from 'all new life that is budding' the smallest things like seedlings. And 'incessantly' the supernatural things like 'clouds and breeze with wind'. Next is intoxication with 'butterflies and love' and 'a multitude of kisses'. And all 'lands, and waters, and trees, and vibrant grass' things on the earth that exist. To make the body dizzy with fragrance for overflowing light and for the blissful hues of the youthful era. With a series of strong verbs like 'embrace', 'soar', 'intoxicate', 'envelop'. 'dizzy', 'blissful' it is evident how the author's desire to dominate life is. Through this verse, Xuân Diệu shows that he not only wants to live ordinarily but wants to live fast, to live hastily, to enjoy all the sweetness of life.
Another poet representative of romantic inspiration and the desire for life of human beings is Xuân Quỳnh. A rare female poet is the epitome of the young poetry generation of the resistance war against America. Xuân Quỳnh's poetry embodies the feminine beauty, the soulful beauty of a sensitive woman. The excerpt from the work 'Waves' below best illustrates her poetic style:
'How could it dissolve
Into a hundred small waves
In the vast sea of love
For a thousand years to still ripple.'
(Waves - Xuân Quỳnh, Literature 12, Volume One, Education Publishing House, p.156)
For Xuân Quỳnh, love is considered the essence of life. But emotions are not limited to the small self but are also immersed in the vast ocean of humanity's love. She wishes:
'How could it dissolve
Into a hundred small waves'
From these 'hundred small waves' merging into the 'vast sea of love,' that's how love becomes immortal. And from there, love will spread to every corner of the world, bringing peace and harmony to humanity.
Through analyzing the two verses above by the authors Xuân Diệu and Xuân Quỳnh, we see that both express intense emotions and contemplation about the vastness of life. They both demonstrate a strong desire for life and a wish to immerse themselves in the common life of humanity.
To deliver insightful reflections on the poetic excerpt from 'Waves' and 'Hastiness', it's advisable for students to consult additional material such as the 'Hastiness' composition by Xuân Quỳnh as well as delve into the specifics of 'Waves' at Mytour.
