Buzz
1. Reference Essay 1
If the first 6 lines depict a painting of summer in the imagination created within prison walls, a beautiful scene that intoxicates the hearts of those who love life, love freedom, and love the revolutionary spirit, it is the product of imagination, of delicate, sensitive feelings of a soul that loves life, loves freedom, and yearns for freedom. Through this, it expresses love for the homeland, the country, with the youthful, liberal spirit of the poet - the young soldier.
'We hear summer waking in our hearts,
And our feet itch to crush the cell, oh summer!
How frustrating it is, how mortifying,
When the monkey howls outside!'
The sincere character returns to reality. It is the pain, the suffocating, frustrated mood of being imprisoned within four dark walls. The rhythm of the poem changes abnormally: 6/2 (line 8), 3/3 (line 9), combined with many strong verbs: crush the cell, mortifying, and many exclamatory words. All highlight the pain to the extreme while also feeling the desire to escape the gloomy imprisonment and return to the free life of the revolutionary soldier. It shows us the spiritual resilience of the communist revolutionary soldiers.
It is a prison break with a revolutionary fervor, living with beautiful ideals and an indomitable spirit. It is a prison break from darkness to light. The body is in the labor camp, but the spirit is outside. The personal self merges into the collective self of the nation.
2. Reference Essay 3
Returning to the harsh reality of confinement, with just the final four lines of the poem, the author expresses their frustration and resentment:
'We hear summer waking in our hearts,
And our feet itch to crush the cell, oh summer!
How frustrating it is, how mortifying,
When the monkey howls outside!'
Firstly, there's the desire to break free from imprisonment, wanting to 'crush the cell.' Summer becomes an enticing object, a subject for the poet to reveal their emotions. The feeling of suffocation in the oppressive confinement peaks when the poet exclaims: 'How frustrating it is, how mortifying.'
The suffocation here isn't just the narrow confines of the prison cell, but also the author's frustration and the longing for freedom, the yearning to return to the vibrant revolutionary life. The exclamatory words like 'oh,' 'how,' 'what,'... emphasize that suffocating feeling.
The line 'When the monkey howls outside!' acts as a further urging call. The howling of the monkey signals the end of summer, the transition of time, which for the communist revolutionary, isn't just about being unjustly imprisoned, but also about the revolution entering a crucial phase, the time for the national liberation revolution is approaching. Therefore, the time for action is urgent, but meanwhile, the revolutionary youth are imprisoned in the labor camp.
The irregular rhythm of 6/2 or 3/3 also emphasizes the emotional state of agitation, frustration ('And our feet itch to crush the cell/ oh summer,' 'How frustrating it is/ how mortifying'). The howling of the monkey, on one hand, signals the shifting of time, on the other hand, urges and prompts. The bird's call signifies both the changing of seasons and the urgency. For the communist prisoner, it's also the call of freedom.
3. Reference Essay 2
The final four lines of the poem 'Khi con tu hú' carry a tone that shifts from fervent longing to boiling resentment. The pulse of life surges, beckoning, urging, flooding into the dark alleys of the prison, infiltrating the souls of young communist fighters, turning into a yearning for action: 'wanting to crush the cell.'
'We hear summer waking in our hearts,
And our feet itch to crush the cell, oh summer!
How frustrating it is, how mortifying,
When the monkey howls outside!'
Summer has arrived, summer is passing. Many sounds have 'awakened in our hearts,' urging, prompting: 'wanting to crush the cramped cell.' Unwilling to endure the plight of imprisonment! The heart's resentment surges, wanting to smash the cramped prison and the suffocation. The line 'How frustrating it is/ how mortifying' with the 3/3 rhythm interruption, emotions suppressed then suddenly burst forth, reflects an indomitable will. Determined to live for freedom! Determined to die for freedom! The poem opens with the call of the cuckoo 'calling the flock,' and closes with the cuckoo's call 'outside.' The cuckoo's call evokes both nostalgia and urges to take to the battlefield.
The poem concludes but still hears the cuckoo's call 'persistently,' incessantly...
The poem gives us a deeper understanding of the beauty in the soul of young communist fighters. Those iron-clad soldiers have a rich inner world, passionately vibrating with the rhythm of life, deeply attached to the homeland's fields and sky, and a burning desire for freedom.'Khi con tu hú' is a lyrical ode, a call of the herd, towards the countryside and the sky of freedom with all the love and burning desire. The poem records a portrait of the self-painted spiritual essence of the young communist Tố Hữu back then. For us to admire and believe in.
4. Reference Essay 5
Engaged in revolutionary activities, imprisoned in a labor camp, Tố Hữu, the nineteen-year-old soldier, just enlightened to the noble communist ideals, embracing numerous plans for plunging into the battlefield, sacrificing for a great cause, hears the cuckoo's call signaling the arrival of summer and pens this poem.
Summer is vibrant, bustling, full of allure, but passionate youths like him are imprisoned amidst four solid walls, stifling, estranged from life. That cuckoo's call has stirred up feelings, innate fervor in the young communist. From the cuckoo's call, Tố Hữu envisions the carefree, fervent life of summer outside.
When the cuckoo calls the flock
Rice fields ripen, fruits sweeten gradually
The shaded garden resounds with the cicadas' chirp
The cornfield and golden ears fill the sunlit yard
The sky, the wider and higher it gets
A pair of kites somersaulting through the air.
That cuckoo's call seems like an overture. From this opening stanza, summer blooms, bustling, enchanting. But to call it a painting would be inaccurate. With the eyes of an artist, this is not a summer scene crammed into one frame. It's as if the first two lines form one painting, the third and fourth lines, and the last two lines each paint independent scenes. If it's called a painting, then it's a true mosaic. Why is that? Because this 'painting' isn't drawn with eyesight but with imagination, imagined according to human emotions. The sentimental character in this poem, at this moment, isn't intending to paint but rather the lively, vivid, dynamic scene emerges from the cuckoo's call, becoming summer within the person. Scene after scene appears, all scenes as liberating and free as a dream.
In terms of structure, the first six lines and the last four lines can be seen as two separate poems. The previous poem is titled 'summer,' and the latter is titled 'the cuckoo's call.' It turns out, although the first line of the poem's opening stanza is 'When the cuckoo calls the flock,' the soul of this whole poem, 'When the cuckoo calls the flock,' lies in the last four lines, in the very last line:
How frustrating it is, how mortifying
When the monkey howls outside!
It turns out, that cuckoo's call creates a 'reversal' in this young person's heart. Summer, vibrant, radiant, and abundant, has arrived, yet one finds oneself constrained and helpless. The external scene (imagined due to prior experience) impacts a person, stirring up turmoil, suffocation, the urge to struggle, to break free.
We hear summer waking in our hearts
And our feet itch to crush the cell, oh summer!
But in reality, it's impossible, so one is compelled to express it in words. That's the manifestation of the longing for freedom, the longing for activity increasingly intensified in the young, zealous person yet to be satisfied, met. The final line: 'The cuckoo outside keeps calling' is like the sound of life, the bustling life of the world that one is currently enduring. The cuckoo's call outside seems to ignite the heart's burning spirit fiercely.
The cuckoo outside keeps calling
The cuckoo's call is the voice of life, the revolutionary activities. And that mood, that spirit, is the mood, the spirit of a young soldier 'intoxicated by the scent of truth.'
5. Reference Essay 4
Tố Hữu is the poet of communist ideals, his poetry brimming with revolutionary romantic imagery. The revolutionary soldier's mood in his poem 'When the Cuckoo Calls' epitomizes this style.
The title of the poem is just a phrase indicating a time (still incomplete). The title of the poem is a hidden message, referring both to a blossoming moment of nature, creation, and human longing for activity.
The poem's content can be summarized as follows: When the cuckoo calls the flock (also when summer is approaching), the revolutionary prisoner feels increasingly suffocated, lonely in the cramped cell, yearning for the free-spirited life outside.
Therefore, the cuckoo's call has a strong impact on the poet's soul because it signals the approaching radiant summer days. It is also a symbol of freedom's joyous call.
When the cuckoo calls the flock
Rice fields ripen, fruits sweeten gradually.
It's not just a solitary birdcall but the call of a flock, a joyful birdcall. Hearing the cuckoo call each other informs one that 'rice fields are ripening, fruits are sweetening gradually.' But it's not just that. The cuckoo's call evokes a world full of sound, color, and imagery:
The shaded garden resounds with the cicadas' chirp
The cornfield and golden ears fill the sunlit yard
The sky, the wider and higher it gets
A pair of kites somersaulting through the air.
These are the colors, sounds of everyday life. The yellow of corn, the pink of the sun shining brightly against the green backdrop of the earth and sky, combined with the cicadas' chirping, and further embellished with the imagery of 'A pair of kites somersaulting through the air.' Space brims with vitality, in motion, burgeoning each day.
Reading carefully through the verses, one suddenly discovers many other peculiarities. Events aren't described in their normal state; they are emphasized, pushed to the highest possible level. It's not just 'golden corn kernels' but 'cornfield and golden ears,' not just 'sunshine' but 'sunlight of the highest color,' the sky isn't just 'blue' but 'the wider and higher it gets' the eyes are endlessly expanding. The cicadas' sound isn't just 'chirping' but 'resounding,' two adjectives describing sound combined make the cicadas' chorus extraordinary. Perhaps to harmonize with those sounds and images, the kites don't just 'swing' or 'glide' but 'somersault through the air.' The kites seem to also be lively, gleeful in the resplendent space of color and resounding sound.
There's a phenomenon because the author didn't directly observe and describe the scenery. The poet is imprisoned.
The enclosing walls prevent the poet from seeing or listening... Everything is recreated from imagination, memory, and above all, love, an intense longing unshackled. In the prison scene, the color of corn or the color of the sun, the color of the sky suddenly becomes infinitely precious, hence the ordinary colors, sounds become dazzling, mystical, and brilliant. This verse reflects the poet's deep love for life, for homeland.
The more beautiful the dream, the more bitter, harsh reality becomes.
We hear summer waking in our hearts
And our feet itch to crush the cell, oh summer!
How frustrating it is, how mortifying
When the monkey howls outside!
It seems like the connection between these two verses isn't tightly knit, and the four verses aren't continuous. When looking outward, the poet describes the scene, but when looking inward, the poet describes the mood. In reality, this is an extremely clever and subtle connection. The thread connecting them is the cuckoo's call. The cuckoo's call passionately opens up a vast and vivid world. But the wider, more brilliant that world is, the more suffocating and longing the prisoner (separated from that world) feels.
The cuckoo's call at the beginning and end of the poem both symbolize the fervent call of freedom, of life outside full of allure to the prisoner, but the prisoner's mood upon hearing the cuckoo's call is very different. In the opening verse, the cuckoo's call evokes images of a life full of color, thus evoking a longing for freedom. However, by the closing verse, that same cuckoo's call makes the prisoner feel bitter, distressed for not yet being able to escape from confinement.
The poem is excellent in its intimate, simple yet richly evocative imagery, in the artful use of the hexameter verse form, natural and in the deep, earnest emotions, depicting the vibrant vitality of communists.
6. Reference Essay 7
The last four lines vividly depict the revolutionary prisoner's state of mind. It's a feeling of anguish, frustration, resentment, and suffocation, yet without the appearance of pessimism, weariness, or despair of a weak soul prone to collapse, surrendering to circumstances. The poet perceives the beauty of summer through the sheer strength of the soul, through an ardent love for the homeland, a fervent love for freedom burning within 'We hear summer waking in our hearts'. The rhythmic verse is steady, gentle until lines 8 and 9 suddenly break the pattern abnormally 6/2, 3/3. The language, the imagery, once cheerful, now turns powerful, fierce: crushing the room, mortified, suffocating...
All to express the feelings of resentment, suffocation, frustration, and the longing for life, the longing for freedom. The poem begins with the call of the cuckoo and ends with the same call. Perhaps each of its cries is a signal reminding of a life of freedom and the fate of imprisonment?. The cuckoo's call at the beginning of the poem is a call to the lively, bustling summer. The cuckoo's call in the closing verse is a somewhat incendiary cry, the call of freedom, the poignant longing urging the heart. The poem concludes by opening up the cuckoo's call 'as if urging forthcoming actions.'
7. Reference Essay 6
The poet's depth of feeling for life and nature is profound. However, as beautiful as the dreams may be, reality for the author is just as harsh, if not more so.
“We hear summer waking in our hearts
Yet our feet ache to shatter this room, oh summer!”
The poem “When the Monkey Cries” was written by the author while living in prison, where the seemingly impervious walls around couldn't prevent the poet from listening and imagining the world outside. However, when the poet directs his soul outward, he is truly shaken by his own state of mind. The bird's chirping in the vast space outside becomes even more earnest, vivid, which only makes the prisoner feel more isolated, suffocated, “wanting to shatter the room”.
“Suffocated, resigned to deathThe cuckoo outside keeps calling!”
It can be seen that whether at the beginning or end of the poem, the cuckoo's call still symbolizes the earnest call of freedom-filled life haunting the communist prisoner. However, at each moment, the prisoner's mood when listening to the cuckoo's call varies. At the beginning of the poem, upon hearing the bird, the prisoner fervently longs for a life of freedom, roaming freely. But the cuckoo's call at the end of the poem makes the prisoner feel suffocated, resentful, uncomfortable, and unable to accept, immersed in the pain of not being able to escape from the prison, captivity “resigned to death”. Outside, the cuckoo's call continues unabated, the resentment in the author's heart persists.
Thus, with just the last four lines of the poem “When the Monkey Cries”, the poet Tố Hữu has demonstrated a vibrant source of life of the communist prisoner. The verses with familiar, simple imagery and heartfelt, profound emotions have left in the reader's mind a clear image of the communist prisoner Tố Hữu.
