Top 9 Best Essays Comparing the Yearning for Love in 'Waves' by Xuân Quỳnh and 'Rush' by Xuân Diệu (Grade 12)

Xuân Diệu and Xuân Quỳnh are two of the most distinguished poets in modern Vietnamese literature. Xuân Diệu is often referred to as the 'king of love poetry', while Xuân Quỳnh holds the title of the 'queen of love poetry'. In both of their works, we encounter a profound expression of passionate love and a fierce desire for life.

Xuân Diệu is widely regarded as one of the three towering figures of the New Poetry movement between 1932 and 1945. His innovative use of language and poetic inspiration set him apart, and he is often hailed as the 'most modern' of the New Poets. Unlike others of his era, Xuân Diệu’s poetry does not follow nationalistic themes but instead delves into personal expression and romantic longing. His focus is on selfhood and the intense desire to live fully.

'I want to embrace

All that life just begins to bloom

I want to chase the clouds and let the winds swirl.

I want to be intoxicated by the wings of butterflies with love

I want to gather it all in a thousand kisses

And the mountains, rivers, trees, and grass shining

To feel the fragrance, the light, and the fullness of life.'

The intensity of the poet’s desire is clearly illustrated in the repeated use of 'I want'. This personal pronoun signals the strong assertion of self, in contrast to the collective 'we'. The verse can be seen as a manifesto of the poet's determination to live urgently, to savor the limited time one has in life.

Xuân Diệu’s longing for life is evident in his desire to embrace the smallest of things, like the budding of a seed, as well as the more ethereal elements like the wind and the clouds. He yearns to be enveloped by love, symbolized by the intoxication of butterfly wings, and to embrace nature in its fullness. The verbs used—'embrace', 'chase', 'gather', 'intoxicate', 'sway', and 'satisfy'—demonstrate the poet's fierce wish to possess life completely, not just passively but intensely.

Another poet who embodies a romantic spirit and a profound longing for life is Xuân Quỳnh. A rare female voice in the youth poetry of the anti-American resistance period, her work reflects the delicate sensibilities of a woman deeply attuned to emotions. Her poem 'Waves' showcases her lyrical style:

'How I wish to dissolve

Into hundreds of small waves

In the vast sea of love

To echo for a thousand years.'

For Xuân Quỳnh, love is not only a personal experience but also a universal force that connects all of humanity. Her desire is to become one with the endless ocean of love, making it eternal. Through the metaphor of 'a hundred small waves' merging into the 'vast sea of love', the poet expresses a wish for love to transcend time and space, spreading peace and harmony across the world.

Through a comparison of these two poets’ works, we can see their shared emotional intensity and reflections on the vastness of life. Both poets express a strong desire to live fully, albeit in different ways. Xuân Diệu's poetry is driven by a bold, masculine intensity, while Xuân Quỳnh’s work is gentle, feminine, and introspective. Xuân Diệu advocates for living fast and experiencing every moment, whereas Xuân Quỳnh seeks to immerse herself in the broader collective experience of humanity. Despite their different approaches, both poets share an unyielding romanticism and a powerful belief in life’s value.

In the vast world of poetry about love, Vietnamese literature is fortunate to have two exceptional representatives of love poetry: Xuân Diệu, embodying intense, passionate, and exuberant love, and Xuân Quỳnh, representing warm, tender, and feminine emotions, yet equally intense. The value of their love poems has been confirmed over time, especially among young readers, those who understand and cherish love. The following two excerpts from their poems, “Vội Vàng” (Hurry) and “Sóng” (Waves), reveal the depth of these qualities. Xuân Quỳnh is one of the most prominent female poets of the younger generation during the Vietnam War against the United States. Her poetry speaks to the heart of a woman full of emotions—innocent, vibrant, sincere, and deeply longing for simple happiness. “Sóng” is one of Xuân Quỳnh's finest love poems, published in the collection “Hoa Dọc Chiến Hào” (Flowers Along the Trenches). Xuân Diệu is often described as the most modern poet among the “New Poets” (according to critic Hoài Thanh). He has been crowned the “King of Love Poetry” by the younger generation. He brought a new vitality and emotional depth to contemporary poetry, reflecting new ideas and innovative artistic techniques. Xuân Diệu’s poetry is characterized by vibrant, passionate, and youthful expressions of love and spring. “Vội Vàng” (Hurry), extracted from his collection “Thơ Thơ” (Poetry), is one of his most beautiful pre-revolutionary poems. The excerpt from Xuân Quỳnh's poem “Sóng” captures a self full of anxiety and longing, but also brimming with the desire for love: Literary critic Chu Văn Sơn, when studying Xuân Quỳnh’s poetry, remarked, “Her poetic heart is like the wings of a dragonfly, fluttering between turmoil and peace, storm and calm, war and peace…” Indeed, just before, she wrote with boundless belief in love, with emotions as intense as the waves crashing on the shore and the longing for her lover. But in this stanza, the poet is filled with apprehension and foreboding. Though life is long, The years still pass, Like the vast sea, The clouds still drift away. Xuân Quỳnh contrasts the finite (human life) with the infinite (time and the vast sea). The repetition of “though – still” and the adjectives “long – wide – distant” create an emotional tension. Life may seem long, but in the infinite flow of time, human existence is but a fleeting moment, as transient as the clouds. For women, this fear of fading away—of losing beauty, youth, and love—can be overwhelming, as Xuân Quỳnh herself wrote to her husband Lưu Quang Vũ: “I feel old, not just in body but in my soul, trapped in the small, mundane details of life. I look in the mirror and feel unworthy of you. My love for you feels fragile, I’m afraid of losing it… I wish I could become young and beautiful again, because I know that if I am younger and more beautiful, you will love me more.” Thus, a woman’s happiness depends greatly on two factors: beauty and love. Love can be powerful, but also fragile, as the poet expresses in the image of the clouds drifting away in the final line of the poem. Perhaps, knowing that nothing is permanent—“today’s love may fade tomorrow”—the lover, like the drifting cloud, is destined to part ways, no matter how vast her love is. This sensitivity and longing in Xuân Quỳnh’s poetry make her voice resonate even more strongly with the uncertainties of life. Xuân Diệu, too, feared time, and thus he lived hurriedly, “hurry, my love, I fear tomorrow—life moves on, and we are not eternal.” For Xuân Diệu, life is meant to be experienced fully, to seize the moments and not waste the precious time of youth. Meanwhile, Xuân Quỳnh’s fears and premonitions fuel her desire for eternal love: How to dissolve, Into hundreds of little waves, In the vast sea of love, So that they will ripple forever. At the beginning of the poem, the wave leaves the shore in search of the sea, and the final stanza expresses the wave’s fulfillment of its mission. But what about me? How can I dissolve into hundreds of small waves? These words “how to” express the poet’s inner struggles and intense desires. The yearning to become one with the waves symbolizes the willingness to give and sacrifice, to lose oneself in the vast ocean of love, seeking immortality in love itself. It also suggests transcending the limits of human existence. “Dissolve” means more than just disappearing; it’s about giving oneself, about the longing to transform into “hundreds of small waves” to merge with the “vast sea of love,” to make love eternal and timeless. It’s a way of overcoming the fleeting nature of human life. “Dissolve” is also about transcending space and time, achieving immortality in love. In that fleeting moment of emotion, whether “dissolving” or “merging,” it’s about total harmony, elevation. Love, for the poet, is about living fully, giving entirely, and allowing love to conquer the finite and fragile nature of human life. Xuân Diệu also feared time, which made him live urgently: “hurry, my love, I fear tomorrow—life moves on, and our hearts are not eternal.” In contrast, Xuân Quỳnh’s premonitions have given rise to a powerful longing—her desire to immortalize love. The poet expresses: How can I dissolve, Into hundreds of little waves, In the vast sea of love, So that they will ripple forever. The opening line of the poem is the wave leaving the shore to “find the sea,” and this final stanza feels like the wave’s fulfillment. What about me? How can I dissolve, Into hundreds of small waves. The two words “how to” express the poet’s struggle, inner turmoil, and intense yearning. The desire to transform into small waves symbolizes the willingness to give oneself to love, to lose oneself in it, to be absorbed by it, to make it eternal. This theme of dissolution suggests that love can transcend physical existence, surpass the limitations of time and space. In moments of emotional ecstasy, “dissolving” or “merging” is a symbol of total unity and fulfillment. For the poet, love isn’t just a fleeting feeling; it’s a lasting, eternal force. Xuân Quỳnh’s desire to dissolve into the sea of love mirrors her deep yearning to achieve a timeless love that will endure even after death, as expressed in the final lines of her poem. Xuân Diệu’s poetry, on the other hand, expresses a different kind of intensity—an urgency to live in the moment, to seize the fleeting beauty of life. His urgency is captured in “Vội Vàng” (Hurry), where the poet urges the reader to live fully, to enjoy every moment of life, because youth is short-lived. Xuân Diệu’s philosophy is clear: Life is short, youth is fleeting, and time moves on relentlessly. The final line of his poem encapsulates his philosophy: “Oh, red spring, I want to bite into you!” This expresses his fiery desire to live fully and experience life to its fullest. In contrast, Xuân Quỳnh’s “Sóng” is about love’s eternal promise. It’s the desire for a love that transcends time and space, a love that can exist forever. The two poets, despite their different approaches to love, share a deep commitment to living fully in love, to expressing the most profound feelings that only poetry can convey. The poetic techniques of both poets are remarkable. Xuân Diệu’s use of repetition, strong verbs, and urgent tone in “Vội Vàng” reflects his desire to seize every moment, while Xuân Quỳnh’s delicate, feminine style in “Sóng” conveys her yearning for an eternal, boundless love. The difference in their approaches highlights the richness and diversity of love in Vietnamese poetry, with each poet offering a unique perspective on the human experience of love. Love is the voice of both the heart and the mind. If “Vội Vàng” urges us to live urgently, to embrace life’s beauty fully, then Xuân Quỳnh’s “Sóng” asks us to merge with love, to give ourselves to it, to transcend the limitations of time and space. Despite their different perspectives on love, both poems express timeless values of human connection, sacrifice, and the pursuit of fulfillment in love.

Both Xuân Quỳnh and Xuân Diệu are celebrated lyrical poets in Vietnamese literature. One is a female poet with ethereal and lyrical poetry, while the other is a more modern, free-spirited, and bold poet. In their works, "Sóng" and "Vội vàng", they vividly express their views on love, youth, and human relationships in distinct ways.

For Xuân Quỳnh, she uses the imagery of the waves and the 'I' (the female persona) as metaphors to depict the different emotional states of love, expressing a deep longing to embrace her own love. At times, the waves and the 'I' go in parallel, and at other moments, they merge into one. Despite experiencing many turbulent phases, the wave eventually reaches a shore, just as the girl, despite taking different paths, always finds her way back to love. The 'I' in the poem represents a love that is passionate and unreserved, unafraid to express her deepest emotions. The poet wishes to merge with the boundless sea of love, making it eternal and timeless. This powerful longing symbolizes a desire for selfless devotion and love that transcends time.

On the other hand, Xuân Diệu praises youth and the fleeting beauty of life, often comparing spring to youth itself. For him, spring is the most beautiful time in nature, much like youth is the most beautiful period in a person's life. However, unlike spring, which returns every year, youth is fleeting. This belief urges the poet to live passionately, to embrace life fully in the limited time of youth. The imagery of 'catching the fading sunlight' or 'binding the wind so the fragrance doesn’t fade' serves as a metaphor for preserving the most beautiful moments of life and love. His philosophy emphasizes making the most of every moment of youth to experience its beauty and meaning to the fullest.

Both poets hold unique views and approaches to life and love, but they share a common theme: living passionately and embracing love fully. While Xuân Quỳnh expresses a desire to merge her love with the eternal, natural world, Xuân Diệu strives to capture and preserve the beauty of youth and love, making it last longer. In the end, both poets encourage living for love and living in the moment, teaching readers to appreciate the fleeting but precious nature of youth and love.

Through these two poems, readers are introduced to the rich emotional worlds of the two poets, while also contemplating the philosophical insights they offer on life, love, and the meaning of existence. These reflections serve as a guide on how to live more meaningfully and to cherish love in its many forms.

"Living and longing" represents the noble ideals of modern youth. Young people should know how to cherish life and contribute their energies to the world. This may reflect a fierce desire to live fully or a yearning to immerse oneself in the universal love shared by humanity. Xuân Diệu and Xuân Quỳnh, two poets of youth, have captured this modern vision of life in their iconic works "Sóng" and "Vội vàng", with notable excerpts as follows:

How can one dissolve

Into a hundred small waves

In the vast ocean of love

To echo forever

(Sóng – Xuân Quỳnh)

I want to stop the sun

So its colors don’t fade

I want to bind the wind

So its fragrance won’t escape

(Vội vàng – Xuân Diệu)

Xuân Quỳnh is one of the most prominent poets of the anti-American war generation. Her poetry echoes the heart of a woman in love, filled with tenderness – both innocent and vibrant yet profound and sincere. The lyrical figures in Xuân Quỳnh's poems are strong women, always ardently longing for ordinary happiness. The poem "Sóng" was born during a visit to Diêm Điền Beach (Thái Bình) and is a signature work of Xuân Quỳnh’s poetic style, published in the collection "Hoa dọc chiến hào".

Xuân Diệu, regarded as "the newest poet among the new poets" (Hoài Thanh), brought a fresh vitality, a surge of emotions, and innovative artistic approaches to contemporary poetry. Like Xuân Quỳnh, Xuân Diệu was also a poet of love and youth, with an exuberant, passionate, and life-affirming voice. Post-revolution, Xuân Diệu’s poetry became deeply intertwined with the nation, rich in current affairs. "Vội vàng" is one of the key works expressing youthful zest for life, published in his collection "Thơ Thơ".

"Youth doesn't bloom twice" (Xuân Diệu). Thus, living fully and passionately loving are eternal companions of youth. This is the fundamental truth of life. First, let's explore the longing for love that Xuân Quỳnh touches upon in "Sóng". Youth is meant for love, and love plays a special role in the blossoming of every individual’s youth. As Xuân Diệu writes:

How can one live without love

Without remembering or cherishing anyone.

(Xuân Diệu)

The love in Xuân Quỳnh’s "Sóng" is not just the common emotional states of a woman in love, but also contains the lofty ideals of modern love:

How can one dissolve

Into a hundred small waves

In the vast ocean of love

To echo forever.

Young people love deeply, intensely, always longing for love, always "throbbing in youthful hearts". Because of this, they are ready to sacrifice, to give themselves for their happiness. In just four lines, the poet reveals her own self and the thoughts of her generation. The phrase "how can one" is full of emotion, reflecting Xuân Quỳnh’s worry and longing. It is the deep desire to "dissolve into a hundred small waves". Why? Because the poet, through her innate intuition, recognizes that love is not eternal. It is like:

Life, though long,

Passes by

Like the sea, vast and endless,

Yet the clouds still drift far away.

Life may be long, but it cannot stop the passing of youthful years. The sea, though infinite, cannot hold back a cloud drifting to the horizon. This creates the poet’s longing: the desire to transform into a wave, to give and to sacrifice. There is an irony in love: "True happiness only comes when you learn to give, not hold tightly" (Christopher Hoare). The great wave is the culmination of "a hundred small waves", merging into the vast, endless ocean. In this endless space, the wave will forever echo with love, never fearing because love in that vast sea and sky will never fade. Moreover, Xuân Quỳnh seems to compare life to the great ocean of love made up of small waves. The wave cannot exist unless it is part of the sea. Similarly, love, if separated from the collective, will always be solitary and selfish. Thus, the poet conveys the longing to immortalize love:

In the vast ocean of love

To echo forever.

These waves merge into the boundless ocean, creating endless rhythms of love for millennia, symbolizing eternal love. Personal love must merge with the collective love of humanity to be everlasting. Just as "a drop of water can only avoid drying up when it merges with the ocean". Furthermore, the poem was written in 1968, during a particularly turbulent time in Vietnam’s history, as the country was engaged in the fierce battle against American invasion. Young men and women were on the front lines, facing the red-colored separations of lovers during that time. This context makes Xuân Quỳnh’s message of love even more poignant. In the final verse of "Sóng", Xuân Quỳnh imparts a humane message about love: love is about giving, and personal love cannot be separated from the vast love of humanity.

Xuân Quỳnh cleverly chose the five-character poetic form to enhance rhythm. The rhythm of the wave, the rhythm of the soul, helped the poet convey her humanistic meaning to the reader in the most profound and touching way. The comparison of "I" with "the wave", along with metaphors and personifications of waves, created a successful poem.

Not only loving wholeheartedly and sincerely, but youth also has a fierce desire to live. Xuân Diệu, more than anyone, embodies the passionate and hopeful spirit of youth:

I want to stop the sun

So its colors don’t fade

I want to bind the wind

So its fragrance won’t escape.

The four lines above open the poem "Vội vàng". Notably, these lines are written in the five-character form. With short, quick lines full of musicality, this form perfectly suits the poet’s bold and passionate expression. The figure in "Vội vàng" is someone who desires to "stop the sun" so the flowers don’t lose their color, to "bind the wind" so the fragrance doesn’t drift away. The sun and wind, the fragrance and flowers here represent the spring of the earth. Spring, the most beautiful season, is filled with fragrant flowers, strange grasses, warm air, and birds gathering. Through the poet’s "young green eyes", spring appears even more youthful and enchanting: "January is as sweet as a close pair of lips".

Yet beneath this beautiful spring lies the relentless passage of time. Time, with its devastating power, wears down everything, even the youth of humans. Thus, Xuân Diệu is afraid of love, afraid of aging: Spring is coming, which means spring is leaving; Spring is still young, but it will soon age.

This invisible fear haunts the poet endlessly. Thus, Xuân Diệu yearns to seize the power of creation, to stop the universe from spinning, and to halt time. Only then can the poet fully enjoy the finest moments of life. This longing may seem reckless, even mad, but it is perfectly logical. As someone once said: "Youth is like a summer rain, even if you catch a cold, you want to go back and feel the rain once more". Youth is the time when one feels at their most beautiful, at their peak. The poet wants to hold on to and enjoy youth – and that is understandable. This is the humanistic longing of the poet. Xuân Diệu reminds the reader: "Hurry up, the season hasn’t turned yet". This means we must rush so that youth does not fade too soon, so that we don’t regret "waiting for the sunset, only to miss spring".

The poet uses the five-character poetic form with strong rhythms to vividly portray his intense longing, further enhancing its emotional appeal. Just with the opening four lines, the strong verbs "stop", "bind" and the repeated phrase "I want" emphasize the poem’s message, creating the distinct style of Xuân Diệu.

Clearly, both Xuân Quỳnh and Xuân Diệu use the five-character poetic form, rich in rhythm, to amplify emotional expression and convey their humanistic meanings. Furthermore, the two excerpts express the intense aspirations of the youth of their generation. However, while "Sóng" conveys the desire for romantic love, the longing to give and sacrifice for beautiful love, amidst the "vast ocean of love", "Vội vàng" reflects a philosophical view on life: to live passionately and urgently, to enjoy the values of life fully.

It is said: "Youth is the time when one has no doubts and no hesitation". The years of youth pass quickly. Therefore, don’t hesitate, love wholeheartedly, live fiercely with the energy of youth, as Xuân Diệu and Xuân Quỳnh did. Only then can we reach eternal happiness and savor the most beautiful moments of life.

Love and desire are fundamental elements of every human life. It is only when one yearns to love and be loved, when the desire to live and cherish life arises, that life’s true value is realized. Perhaps this is why poets, the people most sensitive to life’s nuances and attuned to the changing times, deeply understand these emotions. Thus, some poems are written as expressions of human longing, capturing intense feelings of love and the wish to live fully. "Sóng" and "Vội vàng" are such works, poems filled with a deep longing for love, life, and contribution.

Both Xuân Quỳnh and Xuân Diệu are acutely aware of the passage of time, a force they cannot stop despite their desire to do so.

"Life may be long, but

Years still pass too quickly"

Life is long, yet time never slows down; it quietly slips away, shortening the finite existence of a person. This creates a sense of worry about time’s relentless flow, a feeling of melancholy about the passing years, both fearful and regretful.

"Like the vast sea, even though it is wide,

The clouds still drift far away"

Even the vast, boundless ocean cannot stop the clouds from drifting, just as Xuân Diệu, too, is fearful of time, rushing and eager:

"Spring is coming, which means spring is passing,

Spring is still young, but spring will soon age,

And when spring ends, I, too, will fade.

My heart is vast, yet the sky remains cramped,

Not allowing the youth of humankind to last."

He fears that youth will fade too quickly, leaving behind only regret and sorrow. Time, as always, flows on, and spring follows its endless cycle, coming and going. One realizes that youth doesn’t last forever, age inevitably increases, and when spring ends, so does life. The more one grasps the fleeting nature of time, the more one understands the need to live fully, to love, and cherish life, so that one doesn’t look back with regret for the years gone by. Xuân Quỳnh's love is gentle, sincere, and intense—a love from a woman who is shy, yet brave in her affection:

"How can one dissolve

Into a hundred small waves,

In the vast ocean of love,

To echo forever."

One wave alone cannot form the vast ocean; it must join the rhythm of the ocean’s many waves, pounding against the shore to become part of the greater whole. Waves travel together in the vast sea to echo forever, eternally. Just like the love between us, it cannot remain isolated but must be a love as great as the ocean, as boundless as the sea, a love that belongs to both of us, to humanity, to everyone. This is not only the sea of nature but the ocean of love, a love that will last forever, never fading like human life. This is a high and extraordinary aspiration of love. Love is an eternal yearning, a deep, unceasing pulse in every person’s heart, in the hearts of the youth.

Similarly, Xuân Diệu, too, is deeply aware of the passage of time and the brevity of human life. The more he realizes life’s fleeting nature, the more he rushes, urging humanity to live quickly, to seize life’s most beautiful moments and enjoy the essence of the world. He yearns to experience everything, to capture the beauty of creation, to stop time from fading and to preserve the fragrance of life:

"I want to stop the sun,

So its color won’t fade,

I want to tie the wind,

So its fragrance won’t drift away."

Then, his yearning grows stronger, wanting to capture the fullness of life, to embrace all that is beautiful and precious:

"I want to embrace

The new life that is blooming,

I want to hold the drifting clouds and winds,

I want to intoxicate myself with the wings of butterflies and love,

I want to catch it all in a kiss of the evening...

Oh, spring, I want to bite into you."

This burning, passionate desire rises within him, the urge to live, love, and possess everything, to hold on to a spring full of life, a spring that belongs to the nation, to youth, to love itself.

While "Sóng" conveys the idealistic and beautiful longing for romantic love, a powerful yearning to give oneself fully to love, tender yet intense, "Vội vàng" by Xuân Diệu reflects a desire to live urgently, to experience and savor every moment because time waits for no one. Both poems express a personal voice longing to be free, to embrace the full experience of love and life. This voice, though personal, speaks to the collective aspirations of many, resonating with the desires of a generation.

Xuân Diệu and Xuân Quỳnh are two of the greatest poets in 20th-century Vietnamese literature. While Xuân Quỳnh’s poetry reflects the voice of a woman’s soul—gentle, sincere, and full of longing for simple happiness—Xuân Diệu’s work conveys a passionate, fervent desire to live, to love, and to embrace life. Both poets express the deep aspirations of youth, especially when it comes to love.

The desire for love in Xuân Quỳnh's poem "Sóng":

“How can one dissolve

Into a hundred tiny waves

In the vast ocean of love

To echo forever.”

(Sóng – Xuân Quỳnh)

This excerpt from Xuân Quỳnh’s "Sóng" expresses a deep yearning to merge into a multitude of waves, to be part of something eternal. The desire to dissolve into a hundred tiny waves reflects the yearning to give and to sacrifice, as love’s true happiness lies not in holding tightly, but in letting go and sharing, as Christopher Hoare once said, “True happiness only comes when you dare to give, not when you grasp tightly.”

The aspiration to merge one's love so it continues to echo forever speaks to the desire for immortality, for love to endure beyond time. Xuân Quỳnh’s view of love is deeply humanistic—her concept of love and self-sacrifice goes beyond personal affection and connects to the community. In the historical context of 1968, during a time of war in Vietnam, we can better understand the profound meaning of love and its aspirations in the hearts of people during that era.

The desire for love in Xuân Diệu's "Vội vàng":

“I want to stop the sun,

So its color won’t fade,

I want to tie the wind,

So the fragrance won’t drift away.”

(Vội vàng – Xuân Diệu)

This passage from Xuân Diệu’s "Vội vàng" reveals a passionate, eager persona, full of longing. Xuân Diệu wishes to stop the sun and tie the wind—to preserve the fleeting beauty of nature. The sun, wind, flowers, and fragrance here represent spring, with its vibrant, fleeting youth and beauty. This imagery is reminiscent of the fresh, captivating beauty of youth, as if saying that “spring” is as sweet as a kiss, fresh and full of promise.

Xuân Diệu, always anxious about time and aging, reflects on the inevitable passing of youth:

“Spring is coming, which means spring is passing

Spring is young, which means it will age

And when spring ends, I too shall fade

My heart is vast, but the sky is too small

Not allowing the youth of humankind to last

Why say that spring always comes again

If youth cannot return?”

Xuân Diệu’s desire is to grasp the power of nature, to make the universe stand still, to stop time, and fully experience life’s most beautiful moments before they slip away. This desire is deeply humanistic in its yearning to preserve youth and love forever.

The aspiration in "Sóng" is one of selfless love, a deep yearning to give and merge into the eternal, while in "Vội vàng" it is a philosophy of living fully, urgently, seizing every moment, knowing that time waits for no one, and youth will not last forever.

“Poetry, no matter the subject or person it addresses, is ultimately the expression of the poet's inner self.” (Thanh Thao). The lyrical voice in poetry always comes from the first person, representing the inner voice of an individual, a personal reflection of emotions and moods. Hence, when discussing the longing for love, Xuân Quỳnh expresses:

“How can I dissolve...

To be remembered for a thousand years”

(Sóng)

While Xuân Diệu in his poem “Vội vàng” shares his own:

“I want to embrace...

To savor the freshness of youth’s time”

Love is a timeless theme in poetry. We've felt the yearning in the girl’s longing in “Khăn thương nhớ ai,” we’ve been heartbroken by the budding love of Kim and Kiều, and we've felt sorrow for the lonely wait of the waiting woman in “Chinh phụ ngâm.” Love inevitably carries with it endless reflections, countless thoughts, and countless aspirations. For Xuân Quỳnh – a woman with a heart ablaze with love, she believes in true love and portrays a feminine, graceful, and subtle self in the sacredness of human emotion. Meanwhile, Xuân Diệu, an artist constantly seeking “poetry’s tower on earth,” yearns for a complete and passionate love, wishing to pour his boundless, intense soul into capturing the love bestowed by the universe. Through their two major works, we see two distinct writing styles, two ways of expression, each deeply personal, creating an unexpected world of feelings, which can be described as “autobiographies of yearning” (J.M. Maulpoix).

“Sóng” was inspired by a field trip to Diêm Điền's coastal region. Confronted by the powerful waves and the winds of the vast ocean, the poet could not contain her emotions, giving voice to her heartfelt song. The poem is not just about love but also desire, the passionate yearning of a heart on fire:

“How can I dissolve

Into hundreds of tiny waves

In the vast sea of love

To be remembered for a thousand years.”

The image of waves merging with the desire to give, to be absorbed into the endless ocean of love. The phrase “dissolve” expresses the longing to become one with the waves, to exist in the infinite space of the eternal sea. The great wave wants to transform into countless smaller waves, merging into the boundless ocean, sharing its soul, blending and offering everything to the lover of the sea. This desire represents the yearning to give in love, to extend the brief and finite human life through love. This seemingly sacrificial wish may remind the reader of the mermaid turning into sea foam. This transformation, though painful, symbolizes sacrifice—preferring to disappear so that the one she loves may find happiness. Could this hint at the image of a girl rich with sacrificial desire, willing to give everything for true love? What is the purpose of this girl’s desire, is it not:

“In the vast sea of love

To be remembered for a thousand years”

This transformation is not in vain, nor does it signify eternal disappearance. The waves are ready to break into smaller waves, merging into the ocean's waves, to continue forever, even as time passes. The closing lines still carry the heartbeat of a deeply passionate and intense love. Therefore, “Sóng” remains one of the most beautiful love songs in modern Vietnamese literature.

Before Xuân Quỳnh, there was another poet who shared such intense longing, a new poet with fresh writing, new ideas, causing literary critic Chu Văn Sơn to exclaim: “In Xuân Diệu’s spiritual atmosphere, time only has two seasons: spring for youth, love, and life, while autumn represents fading leaves, decay, and withering.” Xuân Diệu’s yearning for love has engraved itself into readers' souls with these passionate lines:

“I want to embrace

All the life that’s just beginning to bloom;

I want to grasp the clouds and wind;

I want to be intoxicated with butterflies in love

I want to gather in one kiss

And the mountains, the waters, the trees, and the fragrant grass

To be overwhelmed with fragrance, to be filled with light

To be sated with the beauty of youth’s time”

The pronoun “I” is used repeatedly, expressing the poet's personal self. These lines recreate the image of a hand yearning to embrace the earth, the world, and the divine beauty of nature. The repeated phrase “I want” combined with powerful verbs like “embrace, hold, intoxicate, gather” amplifies the intense desire for love by Xuân Diệu, the “king of love poetry.” Perhaps because he is so enchanted by the natural world, by the newly blooming life in each branch and leaf, by the wind and clouds, and by the fluttering butterfly, the poet yearns to “gather in one kiss” all the beauty of nature. He desires to connect with, to possess, and to fully enjoy everything—to become “intoxicated” with the sweet fragrance of life, and “sated” with the divine light granted by the universe. For Xuân Diệu, no love is shallow. If one loves, one must merge completely, fully embracing, to feel fulfilled and satisfied in life’s essence. Xuân Diệu’s love for Spring, with its beauty and youth, has captivated his heart, leading him to seek the entire world, the whole universe, and the stunning beauty of nature. This repetition of “the sky, the trees, and the grass” is not excessive but a final expression of his intense love for life and its fleeting beauty.

As Khrapchenko once said: “What remains of a writer is their unique voice.” Xuân Diệu, the poet of passionate feelings, has deeply embedded such emotions in the hearts of his readers, leaving an indelible imprint. His poetry tower continues to rise, built from a burning desire for love and connection—a desire that will never cease to blaze.

Though literature is a realm of creativity, disallowing repetition, it is strange how poets often find a shared resonance. Both “Sóng” and “Vội vàng” echo a deeply emotional voice with a longing to connect with life and others. Both also express a burning desire for love and a passionate, overflowing connection with life. “There is no common path for the two poets,” as each poem carries its own unique message, marking the personal imprint of its creator. While “Sóng” portrays a feminine love filled with devotion, longing, and immortality, “Vội vàng” brings us a modern philosophy of life: to live hurriedly, to seize all the beauty of the world, because youth’s fleeting moments cannot be reclaimed. “Sóng” can be seen as a symphony of love, while “Vội vàng” is a postlude to the yearning for a rushed, beautiful life.

Unbeknownst to one another, both poets poured their souls into their poetry, each with a fervent, intense passion. Xuân Quỳnh with her feminine heart full of love, Xuân Diệu with his haste and intense emotion—each has carved their name into the flow of time and into the hearts of people. Their poems will live on forever.

Through the voice, one recognizes the singer.

Through the engraving, one recognizes the silversmith.”

(“My Dagestan”)

Like unique fingerprints, every artist has their own distinct “signature of words,” unlike any other. Therefore, even under the same sky, breathing the same air, and with the same theme, life through the eyes of artists will never be identical. This can be seen in the perspective on love through the eyes of Xuân Quỳnh:

“How can I dissolve

Into hundreds of small waves

In the vast sea of love

To echo for a thousand years?” (“Sóng”)

Meanwhile, Xuân Diệu expresses it as:

“I want to embrace

All the life that is just beginning to blossom;

I want to grasp the drifting clouds and the swirling winds,

I want to intoxicate myself with the love of butterflies,

I want to gather it all in one long kiss

And the mountains, rivers, trees, and fragrant grass,

For the dizzying smell, for the fullness of light,

For the vivid colors of youthful time;

- Oh red spring, I want to bite into you!”

For Xuân Quỳnh, poetry is closely linked to life and love; writing poetry allows the female poet to live fully as herself. Each poem is the sincerest expression of a compassionate woman’s soul, filled with both worries and intense yearning for everyday happiness. The poem “Sóng” resulted from a field trip to Diêm Điền beach in Thái Bình at the end of 1967 and was included in the collection “Flowers Along the Trenches” (1968). “Sóng” and “I” – two entities yet one, together representing the deepest emotions of the lyrical subject. In love, the girl sometimes has concerns: “Though life is so long / The clouds still drift away” but ultimately, she chooses to trust:

“How can I dissolve

Into hundreds of small waves

In the vast sea of love

To echo for a thousand years?”

“Dissolving” – that is the yearning to transform into waves, to exist in the vast expanse of the ocean and the eternity of time. It is a desire to immortalize love, to use love to prolong the fleeting human life. This longing reminds one of the tale of the mermaid turning into sea foam so her beloved may find happiness. The question “How can...” reflects the insatiable yearning in a woman’s heart. By the following two lines, the woman has found the vast sea of her life. But how, in this boundless sea of love, can she still feel the waves of our love? The desire to transform and eternally preserve the beautiful love becomes even more urgent. Could this be the innate sacrificial nature of women?

The poem begins with a strong, proactive pursuit of happiness and ends with sacrifice and boundless love. It starts with a desire to define oneself, but concludes with the yearning to merge. The beginning of the poem is filled with hopes for happiness, and by the end, there is action taken to build and preserve that happiness. The parallel imagery of the waves and “I” captures the beauty of a love that is gentle, refined, yet active, passionate, traditional, and modern all at once. It is a transformation that is as natural as it is courageous and noble in the qualities and beauty of the woman. This also creates a difference in tone: from the confident, decisive quick rhythm of the verse to the gentle, lyrical flow that mimics the ocean’s soft waves. For Xuân Quỳnh, poetry is life, and life is poetry. If poetry is about “pouring out one’s soul,” Xuân Quỳnh embodies this completely. She lives wholeheartedly, writes candidly, and pours her very self into each verse, image, and idea — this is Xuân Quỳnh’s poetry style. No masks, no makeup, no borrowed ideas, no pretense — Xuân Quỳnh truly pours herself into her work. For Xuân Diệu, however, it’s different:

“I want to embrace

All the life that is just beginning to blossom;

I want to grasp the drifting clouds and the swirling winds,

I want to intoxicate myself with the love of butterflies,

I want to gather it all in one long kiss

And the mountains, rivers, trees, and fragrant grass,

For the dizzying smell, for the fullness of light,

For the vivid colors of youthful time;

- Oh red spring, I want to bite into you!”

The eight-syllable lines grab attention, especially with the three-word line: “I want to embrace,” which sharpens the voice of the poem, conveying a strong desire, a demand to take action. The “I” from earlier has transformed into “we,” which still holds the prideful “I” of the poet, but also encompasses the “I” of every reader. Indeed, do not just acknowledge “life that is blossoming” without recognizing that “Spring is here, which means spring is also passing,” “Spring is still young, meaning it will age.” Youth must be loved, must be lived fully to hold onto time and to savor this beautiful life. The structure “I want” paired with strong verbs like “embrace, intoxicate, gather, bite” fully expresses this intense longing, this desire to live life to the fullest. The rhythm of the poem accelerates to match these desires, with a series of actions depicted. The more one enjoys and receives, the more one feels that life becomes beautiful and meaningful. Finally, the exclamation: “- Oh red spring, I want to bite into you!” For the first time, the red spring is personified to the point where one can “bite” it. The verb “bite” epitomizes the highest expression of Xuân Diệu’s longing to merge with nature. For Xuân Diệu, everything must be concrete, a tangible experience. That is why Thế Lữ described him as “A man of the earthly world. His poetry is built on the ground of a human heart.” In these lines, Xuân Diệu, a modern poet, also uses synesthetic imagery, a hallmark technique of French Symbolist poets.

For Xuân Diệu, the real, present life is the most beautiful and worth living. He embraces life with all his love and enthusiasm. But recognizing the harsh reality of time’s passage, he lives fully, loves passionately. This is Xuân Diệu, always earnest, eager, and contemplative.

Both Xuân Quỳnh and Xuân Diệu express their love with deep sincerity and passion, longing to immortalize love. But when it comes to romantic love, Xuân Quỳnh chooses to give herself completely, merging with her love to make it eternal. This is the sacrificial nature, the feminine essence in her poetry, representing the timeless beauty of Vietnamese female poetry. Meanwhile, Xuân Diệu, with his love for life, opts to live fully in the moment, immortalizing the vibrant youth that will never return. This represents the Western approach to life and love. Each poet’s approach to love gives us different insights and emotions.

Each page of their writing opens up a unique, unrepeatable world. This is what keeps literature, even from the days of Homer or the Book of Songs, alive, existing with us until the end of time. It cannot be bought, nor sold, but is indispensable to human life, helping us live better, more beautifully.

Love and desire are essential "elements" in everyone's life. Only when we yearn to love and be loved, when we long to live and cherish life, can we truly understand the value of existence. Perhaps this is why poets, individuals who are deeply connected to life and sensitive to the changing world, grasp this truth more than anyone else. This understanding is why certain verses are written, speaking on behalf of countless lives, countless emotions, and intense desires that people yearn to express. "Sóng" and "Vội vàng" are such poems, poems of the longing for love, for life, and for contribution. Both Xuân Quỳnh and Xuân Diệu have a profound awareness of the passage of time, a time that flows continuously, despite their desire to halt it.

"Although life seems long,

Time passes swiftly."

Life may seem long, but time moves swiftly, silently slipping away and shortening the finite nature of human existence. This is the anxiety before time, the sadness in recognizing the fleeting months of life, a feeling of both fear and nostalgia.

"Though the sea is vast,

The clouds still drift far away."

The sea may be vast and endless, but it cannot stop the clouds from drifting. They cannot meet. Xuân Diệu feels the same anxiety before time, hurried and frantic:

"Spring is coming, which means spring is passing,

Spring is young, meaning it will age,

When spring ends, it means I will be lost.

My heart is vast, but the sky is still narrow,

Not allowing the youth of humankind to last."

He fears that youth will fade away, leaving behind nothing but regret. Time always flows, and spring keeps coming and going, reminding us that youth is not eternal. As time passes, people become aware that their youth is fleeting, and they must live more consciously, yearning to love and live fully, without regret. Xuân Quỳnh, with her deep, sincere love, portrays a passionate love from a woman who is shy, yet brave in her emotions:

"How can I dissolve,

Into hundreds of small waves,

Of the vast sea of love,

To keep crashing forever."

One wave alone cannot create a vast ocean; it must blend with the rhythm of the waves, with countless waves crashing on the shore to form the great sea. The wave merges with the ocean, becoming eternal, unending, just like her love, which cannot be kept to herself. It must be as vast as the sea, as boundless as the ocean—love for both of them, for humanity, for all people. This is not just the sea of nature, but the ocean of love, the eternal, immortal sea of love, unlimited as human life is. A love so pure and magnificent, a longing for eternal love, beats in the heart of youth.

Similarly, Xuân Diệu, aware of the passing of time and the fleeting nature of life, urges us to live fully, hastening to enjoy the beauty of life, to seize the fleeting moments. He longs to experience the wondrous things, to hold onto the most beautiful aspects of nature, so that the sun never fades and the fragrance of flowers does not vanish too soon: