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Prompt: Analyzing the three Tây Tiến poems by Quang Dũng
Exemplary essay: Interpreting the three Tây Tiến poems
Amidst the distant war zone
Recalling fondness and fears
Tying knots in wartime chaos
Some return, some remain
If by chance I don't come back
May the tender wife enjoy her countryside evenings...
Writing about the 'fields' and 'dreams' of the Western Front warriors, Quang Dung has praised the optimistic spirit and love of life of his comrades. It's a discovery by the poet when sketching the portrait of 'Comrade Ho's soldier' hailing from the petite bourgeoisie during the nine-year resistance against the French.
The subsequent four verses act as supporting strokes, accentuating the profile of the soldier.
Scattered along the distant borders
The battlefield, where youth isn't spared
Exchanging uniforms for the embrace of home,
The Song Ma river roars with tales of solitary marches.
Amidst hardship and battle, many comrades fell on the Western battlefield. They lie at the foot of mountain passes. The graves of the soldiers are scattered along the border. The verse left in our hearts with much sympathy, gratitude, and pride: 'Scattered along the distant borders'. If the verse is separated from the stanza, it's like a bleak, desolate, and poignant gray picture, evoking much sorrow. But within the context, the following stanza, 'The battlefield, where youth isn't spared', elevates the spirit and stature of the soldier. They went to battle for a very noble ideal. 'Youth' here symbolizes young men, the youthfulness of 'Those boys not yet heroes...' the students, and scholars of Hanoi. They marched off to enlist for the great cause of patriotism. They 'pledged to die for the motherland'. The verse 'The battlefield, where youth isn't spared' rings out like a solemn oath, lofty and sacred. They resolved to sacrifice everything to defend the independence and freedom of the motherland. The soldiers, like our people, rose up in resistance with unwavering determination: 'We would rather sacrifice everything, but we will never be slaves'. Quang Dung documented the heroic scenes amidst the Western battlefield of that era:
Trading uniforms for the embrace of home
The Song Ma river roars with tales of solitary marches.
The brave soldiers of yore amidst the battlefield used horsehide as their proud covering. The Western Front warriors with their simple mats and 'bào' cloth: 'return to the land'. A gentle, peaceful death. Falling in battle means: 'returning to the land', lying in the embrace of our beloved Motherland. The poet doesn't use the words 'death', 'sacrifice', but rather the phrase 'return to the land' to extol the lofty sacrifice that is simple yet serene, gentle, likening death to a light feather. The Western Front warriors lived and fought for the homeland, died for the country. 'Returning to the land' with all the faithful hearts of the soldiers. The roar of the Song Ma river 'rises' amidst the mountains and forests of the Western region like the bugle in the song 'Summoning the souls of heroes' escorting the souls of martyrs to a peaceful eternal resting place. The line 'The Song Ma river roars with tales of solitary marches' is a beautiful verse as it captures the sacred atmosphere, solemnity, while also creating a majestic, mournful melody. Quang Dung's style of language is very distinctive, alongside the simple soldierly words like: fallen, hairless, fierce, stern, returning to the land, mat, roaring... there are also some Sino-Vietnamese words such as: dream, dreams, borders, graceful figure, border, distant land, 'bào' cloth, solitary march - thereby making the simple stand out, highlighting the lofty, sacred, and the ordinary accentuating the heroic, great. The epic nature and romantic colors from the verses spread widely in space and length of history.
The stanza depicting the portrait of the soldier in the Western Front poem is the most unique. The epic tendency and romantic inspiration are creatively combined by the poet in description and emotional expression, creating verses with 'soul'. The soldiers lived bravely, died gloriously. The image of the Western Front soldier forever remains a monumental artistic figure deeply ingrained in the soul of the nation.
