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Prompt: What do Nguyễn Khuyến's Three Autumn Poems discuss?
Exploring Nguyễn Khuyến's Three Autumn Poems
Previously, the three Autumn poems 'Autumn Moisture', 'Autumn Pipe', and 'Autumn Air' by Nguyễn Khuyến have been extensively critiqued. These poems are considered emblematic of Nguyễn Khuyến's Nôm poetry, establishing his position as the 'poet of the Vietnamese countryside'. Most authors tend to affirm that these three poems are poetic paintings, accurately depicting the spirit of autumn in the rural areas of the Red River Delta; hidden within the peaceful autumn scene is a silent longing for the pain of the lost country and the author's own helplessness and stagnation. It must be said that these assessments are not incorrect. Each of Nguyễn Khuyến's autumn poems is indeed a poetic picture, expressed through words, accurately conveying the spirit of the autumn scenery in the Red River Delta with characteristic images: blue sky, clear water, yellow leaves, white smoke, ponds, houses, alleys... Reading the three poems, one can easily perceive the serene and gentle atmosphere of the countryside through the ages. However, approaching from a different perspective, one can see a contrasting tone to the poetry's poetic and peaceful nature. Some authors have discussed this aspect, yet still aimed to affirm the beauty of the poems in portraying the beautiful scenery of the autumn countryside and the author's subtle contemporary pain. This article seeks to add and emphasize a new perspective: the three autumn poems are a condensation of suffocation, decay, passivity, and stagnation, both in scenery and emotion. With these autumn poems, Nguyễn Khuyến is a poet of sorrows, repeatedly and intensely expressing the pain of life, the pain of the times.
1. Desolation, Silence, Illusion, Decay, Passivity
Nguyễn Khuyến's three autumn poems also depict a scene of desolation, silence, illusion, decay, and passivity.
The state of desolation is portrayed through various images of narrow, dark, and solitary spaces. These include ponds, houses, alleys... These spaces differ from the characteristics of traditional medieval literature. Medieval literature often values vast spaces of sky, sea, mountains, and rivers, placing humans within the cosmic scale to express heroic spirit 'across the vast sky, waving across the sea' (The Tale of Kieu - Nguyễn Du). Nguyễn Khuyến takes a different direction. He begins the poem 'Autumn Pipe' with the image of a small pond:
The chilly autumn pond, its water crystal clear
The village pond, or garden pond, is often a confined body of stagnant water, much smaller compared to lakes, reservoirs, or marshes... The pond is encircled by banks, its narrowness accentuated by the cold of autumn and the clarity of the water. According to physics, objects expand when heated and contract when cooled. The cold air of autumn makes readers feel that the pond is narrower. Furthermore, the phrase 'crystal clear' both emphasizes the clarity of the water and suggests that the depth of the small pond can be clearly seen. Thus, with the term 'crystal clear,' the pond clearly shows its narrow limits in both width and depth! Moreover, the small size of the pond is further reduced by the sound of 'eo' - whenever this sound is pronounced, the mouth forms a rounded shape! Even in the opening line, the sound 'eo' appears in two words: chilly and clear. 'Eo' is also the rhyme scheme of the poem: clear, shrink, near, shrink, float, creating a suffocating, enclosing feeling! Thus, the narrow state is expressed three times in the first line, with each word, the narrowness becomes more emphasized. The pond is so small that it tries to shrink even smaller. The petite nature pervades the entire poem as the author chooses the rhyme 'eo' for the entire poem!
In the second line of the poem 'Autumn Pipe,' the petite nature is further heightened:
A tiny fishing boat barely afloat.
A tiny boat appears on the small pond. The use of the singular word 'one' combined with the phrase 'barely afloat' makes the boat even smaller - resembling nothing more than a tiny dot, puny and unable to shrink any further! This petite state is also evident from the beginning of the poem 'Autumn Moisture':
Five low grass houses stand crooked,
Dark lanes deep in the night flicker faintly.
The traditional five-grass house of the Red River Delta at the end of the 19th century, already small, is further emphasized with the word 'low'. 'Low' to the point of being crooked - meaning extremely low, almost impossible to be any lower, just enough for people to bow to enter. This narrow state continues to be depicted through the space of lanes. Although lanes widen the lengthwise space more than a pond, a house, they are still narrow. In the poem 'Autumn Pipe,' winding lanes - not straight - this characteristic further amplifies the narrowness of the village lane. In 'Autumn Moisture,' lanes are submerged in the dark night - dark lanes. The darkness once again adds to the narrowness of the lane! Every space is cramped, small! Examining each image, one can see that every image is diminutive: the pond, the lane, the leaf, the ripple, the weed, the boat... It can be said that the suffocating, gloomy state creates a bleak, cramped atmosphere of the impoverished countryside of the North!
Alongside the suffocation, darkness is the illusory, decaying, passive state. This impression is expressed in numerous images under the blue sky. Nguyễn Khuyến's three autumn poems, each depicts a deep blue sky:
- Soft clouds drift in the deep blue sky,
Bamboo lanes twist, deserted and faint.
- Whose hand dyed the sky such a deep blue,
An old man's eyes not waving, yet tinged with red.
- Autumn sky, layers of deep blue high,
Bamboo groves sway lightly, the wind whispers. (Autumn Ode)
The blue sky is a characteristic image of the Northern autumn. It is a poetic, gentle, and pure image in the emotional core of many. For modern people, the color blue symbolizes peace. But in medieval literature, the image of the blue sky is also associated with the notion of a supernatural force with terrifying power, dominating all events of the world. The force of the blue sky makes people mournful, in pain before the unexplainable sorrow. People raise silent questions, stuck, bitter with the sky:
Deep green stretches endlessly above,
Who has wrought this sorrow? (Song of the Soldier's Wife - Đặng Trần Côn, Đoàn Thị Điểm)
The color green in literature is similar, sometimes representing the boundless, harshness of nature. When green appears, many sorrows and pains unfold:
What is a hundred years worth,
Just a patch of green moss stitches. (Song of Bitterness - Nguyễn Gia Thiều)
Later, the poet Vũ Hoàng Chương (1916-1976) also had two lines with deep green reflecting profound contemplation and philosophy:
From times past Earth has departed,
Tears split have turned verdant in the vast ocean. (Seasonal Bamboo Rhythm)
The green skies, green seas, green trees, green graves... send shivers down one's spine! They signify that the heavens and earth remain vast and expansive, time continues to flow, vegetation thrives... They exist within themselves, contrasting with the finite, decay of humans. Faced with such harsh green, humans become painfully desolate as if nature is indifferent to their own agonizing pains!
Returning to Nguyen Khuyen's three autumn poems. The blue sky has become the backdrop, highlighting the finite, diminutive nature of all things in general, and humans in particular. Moreover, under the deep blue sky, successive phenomena demonstrate passivity, decay, illusion.
The illusion, decay is first expressed in the timeframe of the three autumn poems. All three poems have settings in the late afternoon and evening of autumn. Medieval people had a clear concept of yin and yang. Autumn, late afternoon belongs to yin time (yang is spring, summer; morning, noon...). Nguyen Khuyen places the yin time of the day into the yin time of the season. Autumn evenings in Autumn Ode. Then late afternoon and night respectively appear in Autumn Moisture, Autumn Pipe. The only difference is sometimes there is moonlight (Let moonlight bathe; The pond shimmering under the moon's glow), sometimes darkness thickens, enveloping the village lane (Dark lanes deep in the night flicker faintly)... This late afternoon and evening itself suggests the idea of decay. Alongside decay is illusion (always in flux, changing, transiently shifting from one form to another). In this moment of decay, illusion of autumn evening, other images gradually appear within its system. That is bamboo groves in Autumn Ode:
Bamboo groves sway lightly, the wind whispers.
The term 'sway lightly' evokes the image of thin, sparse bamboo, with leaves sparsely scattered. Before the chilling wind, the bamboo branches become increasingly old and frail, withered and desolate. It is almost as if their life force has been drained. The image of yellow leaves signifies decay even more distinctly:
Yellow leaves will flutter before the wind.
Yellow leaves are the ones that have transitioned from vibrant green, full of vitality, to the yellow of aging, nearing the end of life! With the image of swaying bamboo groves and yellow leaves in the wind, the decay in Nguyen Khuyen's autumn poetry has been depicted from two perspectives: time and objects. These images evoke illusion - the end of the leaf's life!
The illusionary state is further illustrated by additional imagery. That includes water waves, layers of clouds, flickering fireflies' light, the faint drifting smoke, the sparkling gleam of the moonlight. Even the image of water hyacinths on the pond evokes the notion of 'foam'! All these images render every layer of space, whether distant (cloud layers) or nearby (waves, smoke, moon), not static but depicted in motion with words like ripple, flicker, drift, sparkle... It changes (even subtly) with each moment. The most pronounced change that leaves the poetic figure pondering is the image of last year's flowers, which waterfowl:
A few bunches of last year's flowers by the mirror,
One sound in the sky, which waterfowl?
In the lines above, the real-illusion tone leans towards the real. But in these lines, the poetic imagery shifts entirely to the illusory perspective. Are last year's flowers still real blooms, or merely remnants lingering in the sentimental character's mind? Which waterfowl describes a state of uncertainty, oblivion - unknowing, unaware. Last year is time, which water is space. Both time and space are immersed in a state of vagueness, befuddlement.
Alongside decay, illusion, the passivity of phenomena in Nguyen Khuyen's three autumn poems is also apparent. The passive nature is also depicted in all spatial dimensions and in various phenomena and objects:
The azure waves follow the gentle breeze,
Golden leaves sway as the wind decides.
Cloud layers hang suspended in the deep blue sky,
... Fish dart beneath the swaying weeds.
(Autumn Odes)
Why the emphasis on passivity? Because the waves, leaves, clouds, and weeds are all subject to external influence. They cannot move or remain still on their own but are constantly governed, dependent on other factors. Waves, leaves, and clouds are all affected by the wind. Waves follow the breath! And leaves are no longer fixed on branches but detached, carried away by the wind. A leaf cannot determine where it will fall; it merely goes wherever the wind takes it! The word 'sway' both conveys rapid movement and demonstrates the leaf's inability to resist the wind. Cloud layers, too, cannot determine their flight path in the sky. They have an even more ephemeral fate than waves and leaves. Because the waves in the pond have shores, the golden leaves are sure to return to the earth. But where do the clouds go, where do they go amidst the vast, endless sky? Following the theme of the above verses, the image of cloud layers once again increases the element of passivity to a higher, more comprehensive level. For up high, there are clouds, down low, there are weeds: clouds drift, weeds float - swaying and drifting everywhere! The image of cloud layers hovering amidst the backdrop of the sky adds another dimension to the nature of the objects in the poem: the indefinite, directionless drifting!
It can be said that with his masterful talent, Nguyen Khuyen has turned his three autumn poems into 3D, 5D paintings using language, allowing readers to have a multi-dimensional 'reflected' view. Each dimension reveals a different shade. Readers can easily perceive the dreamy autumn paintings. However, from another perspective, Nguyen Khuyen's three autumn poems no longer exude poetic beauty, tranquility! Readers may feel a chill, a sense of fear due to the oppressive, silent, illusory, desolate, passive nature of the scenery.
Explore the detailed content of the News Writing Style section to better understand the subject of Grade 11 Literature.
In addition to the material already studied, students need to prepare for the upcoming lesson on Preparing the Lesson: Happiness in a Bereaved Family to master their Grade 11 Literature knowledge.
2. The profound sadness with the solitary fate, exhausted spirit, and moral decline
Medieval literature often depicts scenes of sentimentality. The small, illusory, passive nature of the landscape reflects the insignificance, illusion, and passivity of human life. From the symbolic meaning of poetic imagery, the images of people in Nguyen Khuyen's three autumn poems are portrayed in their aging, decrepit, and lonely state amidst a scene of decay, era of decay, and life in decay. To see this aspect, one needs to place Nguyen Khuyen's autumn poems in the context of their creation and feel those poems from the characteristics of medieval literature with its idealized features, using symbolism, allegory...
Nguyen Khuyen composed his three autumn poems at the end of the 19th century. At that time, the country was in turmoil, and Nguyen Khuyen returned to his hometown Binh Luc - Ha Nam. He carried the great pain of a renowned scholar (Three Firsts - three times being the top scorer in the imperial examinations) but became powerless and meaningless in the face of the times. The three autumn poems vividly depict the deep pain of the Three Firsts Yen Do amidst the turbulent era.
First and foremost is the pain of solitude. This pain is present in many images. It's the boat, the house, the alley...
- A small fishing boat alone on the water
- Five low grass-thatched houses
- An alley twists and turns with no one in sight
- The alley deep in night with a faint flicker of light
There's only one boat, five houses. 'One' - this is a word indicating singularity - the boat is small and remains solitary! 'Five' - seeming to imply many, but still only refers to a single small house! One boat, one house represents personal space. Nguyen Khuyen extends the human world to the alley. But the 'alley' sometimes only appears dark, sometimes completely deserted! That means desolate, vacant, without a soul. The poetic image changes the depiction of the human world. From 'a small fishing boat,' 'five low grass-thatched houses' - synonymous with someone fishing on a pond, someone living in a house, a more expansive space with the 'alley' - a path where many pass, but the numbers 'one,' 'five' here have turned into 'no one in sight.' Thus, the emptiness has reached an absolute level! It pushes individuals on a pond, in a house into solitude with the present.
Additionally, bamboo in medieval literature is an idealized image symbolizing the nobility. An empty bamboo alley implies that even the world of heroic nobility has no one left. This can be affirmed. Because, the idealized images of bamboo, chrysanthemum, bamboo in Nguyen Trai's poetry, which are very lush, vigorous, and beautiful, have all become bleak, vague in Nguyen Khuyen's poetry. Bamboo in Nguyen Khuyen's poetry is either deserted (The alley twists and turns with no one in sight) or swaying weakly (Bamboo stands weakly as the wind blows). It leads one to think of the noble figures, no longer vibrant, no longer possessing the demeanor of a 'valiant hero'! Alone with the present, the sentimental character seeks to connect with the past in the poem Autumn Ode. But:
Inspiration arose, urging me to wield the pen,
But upon reflection, I felt ashamed before Mr. Dao.
Thus, it seems impossible to be intimate with the past! Meaning, the search for camaraderie between the present and the past is futile. The image of humanity has been elevated to the point of absolute loneliness. Only the solace of wine remains, yet ironically:
The wine, whether praised or not, matters little,
After three or five cups, intoxication sets in.
Loneliness, most poignant is the image of a solitary figure on a small boat in a tiny pond:
Resting on the pillow, embracing the longing,
Yet no fish stirs beneath the reeds.
This imagery evokes the legend of Lao Tzu fishing. However, it contrasts starkly in essence. Amidst turbulent times, Khuong Tu Nha - Lao Tzu retreated to live in seclusion near deep waterfalls and dense forests. Nevertheless, he foresaw, grasping the era and understanding the fate. Hence, he spent his days fishing on the banks of the Vi River, waiting for the opportune moment to embark on a grand career. His fishing line was straight, without bait, for he wasn't fishing for fish but 'fishing' for ministers, courtiers, and generals. Indeed, he 'caught' Co Xuong. Later, with his talent in governing and pacifying the world, Khuong Tu Nha achieved great feats in the campaign against Zhu, establishing the Chu dynasty, and was appointed as a lord in the land of Te, which later became Te Tai Cong. It's a magnificent and monumental legend of Khuong Tu Nha's patience to await the right opportunity, forging a great career that earned him universal reverence.
The Third Honor Graduate Yen Do Nguyen Khuyen also hid away and went fishing. However, it was fishing amidst autumn's golden leaves - a time of decay, a decaying life in a confined pond; fishing in despair due to loneliness; fishing in pessimism because one does not know where the era is heading (like clouds drifting in the blue sky; weeds floating under the water's surface); fishing with folded arms embracing the clear awareness of one's own incompetence (resting on the pillow, embracing the longing)... It can be said that these are images that encapsulate the unrelenting pain of an impotent intellectual faced with reality and unable to predict the future of the era. Where is the dignity of the main character in medieval literature? It's no longer the posture:
Already renowned throughout the heavens and earth,
What recognition is there with mountains and rivers?
(Nguyen Cong Tru)
Driven by unwavering determination, Nguyen Khuyen sought solace amidst scenes of desolation: scenes of melancholy and gloom; sought solace in wine that couldn't dispel sorrow; sought solace in people, but found them absent, distant. Reaching out to old acquaintances, only to feel ashamed in their presence. Thus, finding no one as a companion. Reflecting inward, he felt like a fallen yellow leaf amidst life's turmoil, amidst the era... All of this left Nguyen Khuyen in agonizing numbness. He looked at flowers, mistaking them for those of yesteryears, listened to the cries of birds in the sky, wondering:
How many clusters of flowers before the trellis bloom of yesteryear,
But not a single call from waterfowl in the sky?
because the beautiful era, both personally and nationally, belonged to the past. Today, it's the dark scene of a enslaved, desolate nation. Where are the waterfowl? Because nothing in this country belongs to its people anymore. The land and sky have fallen to the enemy, even the grass, trees, and birds of the wilderness belong to the enemy. The verse is the lament of a displaced intellectual!
In Nguyen Khuyen's three autumn poems, there's another noteworthy aspect. It's the synthesis of many symbols, allegories: autumn examination essays, Dao Thiem's seclusion, Laozi fishing, Khong Minh's grass hut (thao lu), then wood, pines, flowers, eagles, wine... from lines like:
In the vast field, a single corn leaf falls,
Announcing to the world: autumn has arrived.
(A lone corn leaf falls,
Announcing to the world: autumn has arrived)
(From the book 'Records of Genealogies and Clans', Wood Genealogy)
- Sensing the sorrow of departing flowers,
And the heartache of separated birds.
(Feeling the tears of falling flowers,
And the heartache of separated birds)
(Spring Aspiration - Đỗ Phủ)
Nguyễn Khuyến has 'processed' Han literature to the extent that it almost erases the traces of classics. Simultaneously, he 'turns upside down' certain classics, rendering them entirely different in nature from their original meanings. Lã Vọng fishing peacefully, trusting in fate, becomes a person fishing in despair and desperation. The grass hut, symbolizing tranquility and cool breeze in Khổng Minh's context, transforms into a lowly 'le te' grass hut amidst dark, cramped alleys. Bamboo, typically a symbol of strength and straightness, in Nguyễn Khuyến's poetry becomes 'lơ phơ', desolate and bleak... This gives the three autumn poems a flavor of mockery and bitterness. Poet Nguyễn Khuyến's sarcasm is subtle yet profoundly bitter in all three autumn poems!
Nguyễn Khuyến's three autumn poems also encapsulate many of his disclosed sorrows. These include the loneliness felt in the twilight of life:
Life wanders like a lone crane,
Old age's figure resembles a solitary cloud.
(Inspiration)
Pain of losing homeland:
Five summers of blood flowing in deserted nights,
Six moments of souls dissolving in the dim moonlight.
(National Anthem of Sorrow)
Shame of status, of highest rank yet powerless, futile:
- I think I'm quite pitiful, don't you,
Even the tombstone and the gold plaque.
(Self-mockery)
- What use are books and scrolls for that era,
Embroidered robes recalling old age's embarrassment...
(Spring Day's Advice to Offspring)
It can be said that Nguyen Khuyen expressed his personal despair to the extreme. He juxtaposed elements that were once idealized: autumnal themes, images of blue skies, golden leaves, flowers, birds...; typical scenes of the Northern Delta: ponds, houses, alleys... and even his poetic talent - weaving verses with skill to cloak his indescribable pain of fate! Nguyen Khuyen's talent lies not only in creatively employing traditional poetic materials while using the rich Vietnamese language, but also in his avoidance of direct, oppressive, painful words... yet readers still feel the overwhelming agony through each word, each poetic image! The accumulated pain in all three autumn poems vividly portrays the solid portrait of a Tam nguyen Yen Do suffering bitterly, bitterly about himself and his era!
3. Conclusion
Artistic works often carry multiple meanings. The works of great authors contain layers of meaning that lead readers from one discovery to another. Nguyen Khuyen's three autumn poems are such works. These are poems that allow readers to perceive from various perspectives, different dimensions. Placing the images of the three autumn poems within the same framework, considering them from the perspective of the idealism of medieval literature and the creative context, one can see that the scenery in the three autumn poems is not poetic, the confessions in the three autumn poems are not confined to silent longing. On the contrary, it is a state of suffocation, helplessness, floating, illusion, and indeterminacy of the world of phenomena and the small, lonely, helpless nature of humans in the face of decay, ruin, and desolation. This is what makes Nguyen Khuyen's three autumn poems condensed with shades of sorrow, despair, and desolation of Nom poetry by Nguyen Khuyen and unified with the characteristics of his literary creation: 'In the past, Confucian scholars often idealized themselves, associating themselves with past noble figures. Nguyen Khuyen transitioned to a phase of self-mockery, self-denial'; 'He is the first classical poet to see the void of traditional idealized humans, a poet who initiates the change in the symbolic meanings of the ancient poetic system'. With just these three autumn poems, Nguyen Khuyen has not only demonstrated a masterful poetic talent but also expressed deeply the throbbing heart of an intellectual who feels powerless, meaningless in the face of the times!
Apart from the above content, students can also explore the section Preparing the Poem Autumnal Fishing to get ready for the content of the poem Autumnal Fishing - Nguyen Khuyen Literature Textbook Grade 11.
In the 11th-grade Literature curriculum, the poem 'Autumnal Fishing' is an important topic that students need to pay attention to. Analyzing the poem 'Autumnal Fishing' comprehensively is crucial.
