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Essay Prompt: Reflecting on Haste by Xuân Diệu
Reflection on Xuân Diệu's Poem Haste
1. Introduction:
- Provide an overview of the author Xuân Diệu.
- Express your general reflections on the poem Haste.
2. Body of the Essay:
a. Author's Passion for Life (First 13 lines)
* Poet's Desires (First 4 lines)
- Bold, peculiar desires of the poet: wishes to extinguish the sun to preserve colors, to harness the wind to retain nature's fragrance.
+ These are the poet's peculiar and bold desires, opposing the laws of nature, usurping the authority of creation. He wants to dominate the heavens and earth, but in reality, he fears the passage of time, longing to grasp time, savoring the taste of life, aspiring to immortalize beauty.
+ The desire to preserve the present moment by halting the march of time.
- Artistry:
+ The poem's pentasyllabic verse form is concise and clear, affirming its bold emotions and ideas.
+ The phrase “I want” evokes a personal self eager for connection and deeply in love with life.
+ The term “don't” is like a plea to nature to halt time so that life remains as beautiful as it is now.
=> Xuân Diệu acts as both a reckless and daring commander, resembling an innocent, naive child. His sole purpose is to halt the passage of time to preserve the present moment => Passion for life.
* Depiction of spring nature - earthly paradise (Next 9 lines)
- Nature Imagery: The spring garden unfolds continuously with rich images like bees, butterflies, flowers, swallows, light,...
- Xuân Diệu views spring nature with youthful and bright eyes, everything is at its peak, tender and charming: honey, tender branches, love melodies,...
=> The author employs rich and evocative language, transforming the garden of love into a garden of happiness.
- Artistry:
+ The comparison “January tastes as sweet as a pair of close lips” is very sensual, evoking an alluring and inviting beauty.
+ The metaphorical transformation of the feeling of “delicious January” allows readers to vividly imagine the beauty of an intangible thing, expressing a fresh perspective, different from before: humans as the standard of beauty -> elevating and honoring humanity.
- Author's Emotions: “I am delighted but also in a hurry/ I don't wait for the summer sun to embrace spring.”
+ Immersed in passion and joy, the author suddenly realizes that spring does not exist forever -> Transitioning from delight to haste to fully enjoy spring.
+ Not waiting until spring is over to regret the passing of spring but expressing its own springtime regret while spring is still ongoing -> Unique, fresh, and different perspective.
b. Worries about the brevity of human life amid the flow of time:
- Notion of time: Time is linear, one-way (in contrast to the cyclical time concept of ancient people) because Xuân Diệu closely associates time with the youth of humans.
+ Antonyms: approaching - passing, still young - will grow old both depict the passage of time and accentuate the author's sensitivity.
+ The verse is like an affirmation of the truth that time once gone will never return.
- A tragic sense of life: every passing moment is a loss, a fading, a withering of all things.
+ The author perceives the contrast between the boundlessness of time and the finitude of human life: my heart is wide - but the sky is narrow, youth is short-lived - spring does not bloom twice, heaven and earth - I won't remain forever.
+ The poet links the spring of the earth with the youth of humans to realize that if the springtime of human life passes, the return of the earth's spring also becomes meaningless: “When spring loses meaning, so do I.”
- Xuân Diệu feels regret for everything in life, turning it into sorrow, despair:
+ The poet premonishes the separations and fades of life: years - separate flavors, rivers and mountains - bid farewell, the wind - must fly away, birds - cease their chirping for fear of fading away.
+ The exclamation “oh” and the phrase “never” reveal the poet's state of despair, sorrow, facing the hurried steps of time.
c. Belief in living hastily to enjoy youth and love in the mortal world
- “Quickly go! The season has not yet tilted towards evening”: If you can't hold onto time, then try to live hastily, urgently, surpassing time itself to enjoy every beautiful moment of life, to dedicate oneself.
- The phrase “We want”: shifting from the personal 'I' to “we” carries a universal meaning encompassing everyone.
- The progressively intensifying verbs: embrace, entwine, intoxicate, absorb, kiss, bite, express the increasingly intense, fervent emotions of the romantic subject.
=> The message is to live hurriedly, exert oneself to enjoy youth, spring, and love, as revealed by the desire to merge into nature and the youthful love of the author.
- The final line: “Oh pink spring, I want to bite into you” is the pinnacle of emotion:
+ It combines the abstract, lofty (pink spring) with the specific, mundane (bite), bringing surprise, creativity -> expressing intense, burning love for spring.
+ Reflecting on the philosophy of life: Living hastily, fervently doesn't mean selfishness or mediocrity but living to the fullest, dedicating, and enjoying the most beautiful aspects of life.
3. Conclusion:
- Summarize your feelings, thoughts about the poem Vội vàng.
Best Sample Essay: Appreciating Xuân Diệu's Poem 'Vội vàng'
Vội vàng is an outstanding example of Xuân Diệu's poetry, expressing a full range of emotions in love, as well as the author's intense desires. Through this, the poet conveys profound life philosophies to the audience through a poetic voice full of freedom and openness.
When assessing the new poetry movement, critic Hoài Thanh made a very favorable comment, saying: 'Xuân Diệu is the newest poet among the new poets.' Xuân Diệu's poetry combines classical and modern elements in aesthetic thoughts and emotions, with a style that is both Western and deeply rooted in the national soul. In 'Vội vàng,' we can feel this even more distinctly.
“I want to turn off the sun
So the color won't fade away
I want to restrain the wind
So the scent won't fly away”
The poetic structure is evident in the first four lines, combined with the phrase 'I want' and the term 'so,' emphasizing the poet's desire, a desire to harmonize with nature, to cling to life, to enjoy, to preserve the most beautiful essence of life, the sunshine, the fragrance of the wind, like Hàn Mặc Tử waiting for the moon to return. This desire may seem extravagant, but it is the hallmark of romantic literature, maximizing imaginative expression to convey aspirations and dreams. Indeed, seizing the wonderful moments of nature, embracing them in one's heart to savor is always the lifelong desire of poets, truly beautiful and worthy of endless appreciation. Without loving life, without loving spring and youth, the poet would never have such beautiful desires and such profound poetic verses. The pentameter, the rhythm, both gentle and profound, vividly express the poet's intense desire, a passionate, enthusiastic, and deeply loving soul.
The author's overflowing emotions, from intense desires to grasp the sunshine, the fragrance of the wind, transition into a vivid, vibrant portrait of nature, romantic and youthful.
“Of this butterfly's weekly honey
Here the flowers of the green inner field
Here the leaves of the swaying silk branch
Of this swallow here the song of love
And here the flickering eyelash light
Every morning the Spirit of Joy knocks on the door”.
We see a poetic soul of Xuân Diệu brimming with love for nature, for life. In those eyes, life is truly sweet with 'a week full of honey,' seeing the lush flowers in the 'green inner field,' witnessing the tender shoots of the 'swaying silk branch,' blending into that vivid painting is the enchanting song of the swallows. Life in the poet's eyes is always full of joy, as 'Every morning the Spirit of Joy knocks on the door.' The poetic tone is smooth, full of spring colors, revealing the enthusiasm, the joyful anticipation of a fresh, vibrant spring.
Drifting with a soul immersed, soaring with the beautiful scenery of nature, suddenly the author seems startled, the poetic tone becomes fast and hurried, as if afraid of losing something very important.
“Spring is coming means spring will pass
Spring is still young means spring will age”
Ah, so it turns out, the author realizes that everything is finite, spring comes and goes, with 'youth' comes 'age,' just as in human life. Xuân Diệu deeply understands the time of youth, each verse reveals the poet's worries, anxieties, fearing that spring will pass, and youth will fade away. Meanwhile, he has not fully enjoyed life, the fullness of spring.
“My heart is wide but the sky is tight
Not allowing the youth of mankind to last”
The author begins to lament, blaming heaven, the love for life, the intense desire for love of youth is still strong, but heaven is stingy, not 'allowing the youth of mankind to last.' How long is 'lasting'? I think, with Xuân Diệu's 'greedy' heart for enjoyment and deep regret, 'lasting' here could be infinite. To see that the regret of youth, of spring has existed in the poet's soul from very early on, from when spring has not passed, life is still young, it's profound. Readers gradually realize the profound philosophy of time that Xuân Diệu embedded in each line of 'Hasty.'
If someone says 'spring still recurs,' Xuân Diệu would immediately respond, 'youth doesn't bloom twice.' Indeed, spring comes and goes, but does anyone have their youth twice? So what Xuân Diệu ponders and regrets is the youth of a finite life, not enough for him to love, to fully enjoy the worldly pleasures, not enough for him to live and love in blissful intoxication. Death returns to dust 'While heaven and earth remain, but I am no more,' Xuân Diệu lives in 'wistfulness, regretting everything, heaven and earth,' the poet's endless regret, he regrets everything, even the heavens and the earth are included in his vast soul of regret. The profound philosophy of time exists in every verse, through the wind with 'the resentment must fly away,' the birds 'fear of fading soon.' Xuân Diệu is proving that it's not just him, but the entire world fears the swift passage of time, spring fades too quickly.
In the poem, there's a passage 'Never! Oh! Never again… / Hurry up! The day hasn't yet turned dusk.' Awakened by a sense of regret, Xuân Diệu seems to immediately revive his spirit, realizing that one cannot live like this forever. If youth has 'never bloomed twice,' then why not love, why not enjoy life while it's still fresh, before we grow old, eyes dim, ears weak?
“I want to embrace
All life that's just beginning to blossom
I want to follow the drifting clouds and the wandering wind
I want to be intoxicated with the butterflies of love
I want to be absorbed in a deep kiss.”
The poet's voice brings a sense of urgency, fearing that youth, spring will slip away. It feels like Xuân Diệu wants to embrace everything and enjoy it to the fullest. He is 'dazed' by the fragrance of flowers, filling his soul with the 'light' of spring sun, 'enjoying' the 'lush beauty' of the youthful time. The climax of this burning desire is the wish to 'bite' into the 'pink spring,' wild and alluring. The desire is not just to enjoy but to possess, to make spring his own, to savor it fully.
With a bold, intoxicating, romantic tone, 'Hasty' is a compelling message that Xuân Diệu wants to convey to everyone, regardless of age or gender. We are only born and live once, don't waste time and youth on useless things, don't just linger in a dull life. Actively expand your heart to live, give, and enjoy the best things. The poem is a remarkable combination of overflowing emotions, creative reasoning, diverse rich language, and imagery, all creating a 'Hasty' that's truly beautiful, youthful, and enchanting.
