Top 10 Representative Poets of 20th Century Vietnamese Literature

Nguyen Khuyen stands out as a remarkable phenomenon in Vietnamese literature. He excels as both a romantic poet and a leading satirical poet. He embodies the dichotomy of a court scholar and a true village man, seemingly indifferent to worldly matters yet harboring a deep yearning within. Nguyen Khuyen epitomizes the Vietnamese spirit, alongside poets like Ho Xuan Huong before him, Nguyen Binh, and others later, forming a unique poetic trend that vividly depicts the essence of Vietnam through its landscapes and the Vietnamese soul. His works, such as Quế Sơn Collection, Yên Đổ Collection, Bách Liêu Literary Collection, Cẩm Ngữ, Bạn đến chơi nhà, and three beautiful autumn poems: Autumn Sonnet, Autumn Nostalgia, and Autumn Ballad, along with many songs, worship poems, and folk couplets, establish him as the foremost poet of Vietnamese landscapes.

'Tan Da is the first poet, heralding the dawn of modern Vietnamese poetry. Tan Da was the first to courageously embrace poetry, to be a poet in an upright and daring manner, maintaining a strong sense of self.' With his boldness, Tan Da brought a fresh vitality to Vietnamese literature.

The poet boldly expresses his unique and innovative self. Tan Da's uniqueness lies in the harmonization of various elements, embodying the characteristics of a Confucian scholar, romantic, arrogant, and adventurous. The fusion of the old and the new, the past and the present, makes Tan Da a bridge between two eras of poetry, a shining star with a distinct beauty in the sky of Vietnamese literature. His notable works include: Praying to the Sky, Swearing by the Land, Wanting to Be Cuoi...

Phan Boi Chau was a great patriot, a Vietnamese revolutionary with a fighting spirit, integrity, and wholehearted dedication to the cause of Vietnamese independence from French colonial rule. He founded the Duy Tan Association (1904) - advocating for military reverence and violent resistance to overthrow French colonialism to restore independence, honoring Ky Ngoai Hau Cuong De as the sovereign ruler, and initiating the Dong Du movement (1905) - urging people to study abroad in China, Japan to acquire new knowledge to help the country.

He was one of the outstanding poets, with very innovative thoughts and a distinct self. Notable works: Farewell when going abroad, Thirst for water, Death...

Han Mac Tu is the only poet whose verses may surpass the excellence of Nguyen Du. However, Han is a poet with a complex soul, a soul full of changes, syntheses, and contradictions living within each other, linguistic forms, and thought forms harmoniously combined in Han's poetry to create a surreal world, unprecedented in Vietnamese poetry.

Today, revisiting Han Mac Tu's literature, we can confirm: Han Mac Tu is a pioneering poet who innovated thinking, laid the foundation of imagination in Vietnamese poetry, as early as the 1930s. His poetry delved into the human body, fate, belief, and aspirations, creating a spatial technique, where the moon, water, and atmosphere constitute the fundamental elements building the universe of Han Mac Tu's poetry. Notable poetry collections include: Mad Poetry, Country Girl...

The Lu has always been regarded as the foremost innovator of 20th-century Vietnamese poetry. With him, Vietnamese poetry confidently transitioned from classic to romantic. The author fully expressed his self, his complete self, by presenting a new concept of art, of humanity, of the artist. It is a diverse, rich, multi-faceted personal self; a romantic, fulfilled self. Moreover, this self is the author, the poet. This personal self has changed the landscape of Vietnamese literature from medieval to modern.

The Lu dared to consider the personal self as the subject reflecting art, as the creative subject of art for future poets to develop the 'First Sounds' of this poetic instrument. This self is elevated, considered the center, giving rise to new creations, new styles of the 'Era of the Self.' The awareness of freedom and the desire for realization have shaped The Lu's style in New Poetry 1932-1945.

Xuan Dieu brought a fresh inspiration to New Poetry, the exotic source of a lively, passionately loving life, expressing the deepest longing for empathy with life through a self-conscious individual self who clearly values ​​himself in the world. The poet reveals a fervent longing for life, intoxicated by life, stemming from Xuan Dieu's living philosophy as a great writer of Vietnamese literature, an outstanding poet who contributed greatly to the modernization of Vietnamese poetry.

He is a wholehearted, whole-minded, whole-souled person, devotedly dedicating his life to poetry, racing against time to seize every moment of life. The active participation of the individual self-conscious self in life and the burning desire to live brightly. Representative works of the 'poet king': Poetic poetry, Sending fragrance to the wind,...

When it comes to Nguyen Binh, most will surely recall the poem Longing, making him seem like a poet of romantic poetry, but the majority of Nguyen Binh's poetry is not written in folk poetic forms. Yet many critics agree that Nguyen Binh is a poet of the countryside.

Writing about Nguyen Binh would probably require an entire book. The more one delves into the subconscious, the more memories arise. Rural areas, Schools, The Dream Picker, Nonchalant... all pieces that have been passed down and copied during school days. But why do the words suddenly become dry, stiff, and empty to the point of embarrassment whenever discussing his poetry? Perhaps his 'soul' in poetry has already spoken for itself. Therefore, it is his self and his pure emotions in his work that have helped Nguyen Binh become a representative poet of the 20th century.

Amidst the poetry trends of the 60s and 70s, which were more about captivating readers rather than impacting their intellect, Chế Lan Viên's awakening poetry trend brings significant innovation. To achieve this, Chế Lan Viên believes that a poet must 'contemplate', must delve deep, flip through issues to discover the new within the reality's undercurrents, to find a fresh narrative, deeply influencing the readers' intellect.

Hence, we understand why the titles of his poetry collections and individual poems, such as: Light and Marsh Mist, Everyday Flowers and Storm Forecasting Birds, Flowers on Rocks, People Searching for the Image of Water, New Dialogues about Old Stories, etc., and a series of poems titled 'thought' (Thoughts in '68, Thinking about Poetry, thinking...) manifest the constant contemplations in Chế Lan Viên's poetic thinking. We understand why the intellectual quality in his poetry becomes a luminous nucleus, shining brightly with various hues on each page, becoming the most representative aspect of his style.

Huy Cận stands as a towering figure in the nation's poetry landscape, a high-ranking official of the Government, yet a humble man of ordinary life. In him, there's a harmonious amalgamation of contrasting qualities and capabilities. He possesses the strategic vision and cautiousness of a leader, coupled with the sensitivity, romanticism, and passion of a talented poet. He is a knowledgeable and understanding individual across various domains: philosophy, religion, politics, economics, culture, while also remaining grounded in everyday life.

Not only a prominent representative of the New Poetry Movement, Huy Cận also emerges as a significant poet of modern Vietnamese poetry. His poetic journey epitomizes the first-generation poets in contemporary Vietnamese literature. Transitioning from being a notable member of the New Poetry Movement to embracing the Revolution, he found genuine purpose and ideals for his artistic voice, becoming one of the exemplary poets of modern Vietnamese poetry. Notable poetry collections include: Sacred Fire, Cosmic Ode...

Tố Hữu stands as a towering figure in Vietnamese poetry, epitomizing the 20th century. In the nation's literary revolution, it's rare to find a poet whose works bear the distinct imprint of each historical period and have deeply touched people's hearts like Tố Hữu's poetry in the 20th century.

The love for the homeland, the nation's deep devotion, are embodied in the politically charged romantic verses that reached the pinnacle of revolutionary poetic art. Reading Tố Hữu's poetry, one can fully sense the author's sentiment towards the homeland and the nation, nurturing in turn the love for the homeland and peace in everyone. Notable works include: Since then, Viet Bac, Stormy Wind...