Analyzing Xuân Quỳnh's Poem 'Waves'

Two Exemplary Essays on Xuân Quỳnh's Poem 'Waves'

Interpreting Xuân Quỳnh's Poem 'Waves,' Sample #1:

If Xuân Diệu once trembled for love, dedicating a lifetime to love racing against time to be loved, so did Xuân Quỳnh, experiencing the same tremors, anxieties, and pains of love. However, being a woman, she rarely exhibited boldness, as Xuân Diệu did. Reading Xuân Quỳnh's poetry, one often encounters images of waves, a boat speaking for love. Yet, ultimately, these are just mundane materials of life, yet laden with countless implications and sentiments that Xuân Quỳnh seeks to express. We come to 'Waves' by Xuân Quỳnh to savor each taste of longing, each memory of a woman in love.

People often liken love to a miraculous flower! Indeed! That's true, love has never followed a definite path. Sometimes, people see love as a multifaceted musical instrument playing countless love melodies, sometimes solemn and earnest, sometimes poignant and painful, sometimes tender, affectionate, and lovely. Here, in this poem, the feelings of the character 'You' also fluctuate like that!

'Waves' is a narrative poem, a poetic form very suitable for depicting a love legend full of poignant emotions, various degrees of feelings, hence the poem can be easily set to music. 'Waves' is a metaphor, a means of expressing the emotions of the character 'You' openly.

Intense yet gentle
Noisy yet serene
Waves unaware of themselves
Waves seek out to the sea
Oh, the waves of yesteryears
And forevermore they shall be
... Stirring in the young heart.

A fairy tale about love retold by poet Xuân Quỳnh. The story begins with a wave that seemingly emerges from nowhere, appearing like a person with tumultuous inner turmoil. Two contrasting soul states, tearing each other apart, mixing sorrow with joy. The wave doesn't understand why it's sometimes 'intense' and then 'gentle,' 'noisy' and then 'serene.' Perhaps the wave is in love, silently, quietly? Yes! A feeling burning in the heart of the girl, how can anyone 'define love'? An afternoon dream? A chance encounter? A moment stirring the soul? The girl, or the character 'You' in the poem, is trying to find answers for love, for the turmoil, the contradictions in her heart. And then there's only one way out: the wave must seek out to the sea, just as 'You' seeks the origin of love.

The human soul is an endless realm. How can we traverse through this endless realm? And precisely when the heart is ablaze with love, the young girl is more troubled, confused, tormented, and vexed with her own heart. She must transcend this narrow limit, throw herself into the vast sky, the boundless realms to understand her heart.

The wave has left the shore, gone far away, trying to understand and compare itself with other waves to know the magic of love, which still remains a mystery to it. What is love? A French poet once affirmed: 'Love is something that human beings 'cannot understand.' And so the wave continues to search, search endlessly:

Oh, the waves of yesteryears
And forever they remain the same
The longing for love
Stirring in the young heart.

Love is like a wave, eternal with time and youth. Xuân Diệu once said: 'Let the children speak of the sweetness of candy, let the youth speak for love.' Love is intertwined with youth. Youth is a heart brimming with emotions and the fervor of love as life essence. Hence, the yearning for love keeps stirring in the young heart, propelling youth to seek the truth of love, just like the waves of 'yesteryears and forever the same.' However, the line 'stirring in the young heart' is an immature line. In fact, whether young or old... both hearts are fervently stirred by love. Yet, the waves and I keep searching without understanding, unable to comprehend love. The wave itself is the epitome of the awareness of the 'law' that cannot define love:

Waves start from the wind
Wind starts from where
I also don't know
When we love each other.

Waves start from the wind - Yes! Where does the wind start from? Where does love start from? We also don't know anymore. Reading these verses, one can imagine the gentle sway as a sign of the girl's helplessness. While the girl tries to find love, love becomes a game of hide and seek, impossible to grasp, and thus, eternal love remains a mystery.

The love of 'You' now becomes a poignant, tormenting memory. It fills the space, it occupies the depths and breadth, it stretches through all time. Phạm Đình An remarked: 'Love in Xuân Quỳnh's poetry is not confined to simple puppy love, fleeting, sweet, but it is a happy love, love intertwined with life with many demands in the depth of emotions, with many proofs of challenges, bearing the mark of responsibility.' Therefore, the love of 'You' here can be said to be mature, with the intervention of reason, with emotional awareness.

Yet in the heart of the girl still rises fiercely a memory of countless forms:

The wave beneath the deep
The wave upon the surface
Oh, the wave longing for the shore
Nights and days without sleep.

The longing of 'you', of intense love, starts from lofty ideals, not trivial or mundane at all! That longing is poignant, engulfing the soul of the girl! For Xuân Quỳnh, every wave has a shore, the purpose is to reach the shore so when the wave is far from the shore, it must long for it, nights and days without sleep.

Just like waves, the longing for 'Him' still surges fiercely:

My heart remembers you
Even in dreams, I am awake

Love arrives, bringing an endless longing to 'You,' overwhelming the soul of 'You.' Love has become so intense, and the longing becomes even more poignant.

'Is there any space longer than the length of longing, is there any abyss deeper than love...' Yes! How to measure longing, how to measure love! 'You' still remembers 'Him,' only remembering the direction of him:

Even heading north
Even heading south
Wherever I think
Towards you - one direction

Love is truly magical! What's noteworthy is that 'You' know how to take initiative, how to send longing towards a specific direction: Towards him! - Direction of love: 'that affectionate sky of countless shades of blue, and I lean all towards him, and I lean all towards him...' The love of a woman is fierce yet pure, simple, a loyal and complete love. But to maintain that love, the wave must overcome countless obstacles:

Out there in the ocean
Of the hundred thousand waves
Every one reaches the shore
Despite countless obstacles

The wave wants to reach the shore, must overcome storms, tempests. You want to head towards him, must overcome life's traps. Ultimately, love needs trials to truly reveal its value. Love's existence requires departures and returns, ups and downs, ultimately returning to the innocence of love at the beginning.

It's your love that helped me overcome everything, embracing an eternal love - grand and noble, not tinted with selfishness but immersed in the universal and within that vast universality, the individual will endure forever:

How could it dissolve
Into a hundred small waves
In the vast ocean of love
To continue lapping for a thousand years.

Love will mature more beautifully and will be eternal in the beauty of creation.

The poem has ended yet the gentle, soothing rhythm of love still lingers here and there. The poem succeeds not only in depicting the imagery of 'waves' but also reveals a truly passionate love, the longing for love of the female poet. This is the freshness in modern Vietnamese poetry, among many flowers, Xuân Quỳnh's flower emits a unique fragrance, a unique perception of waves - the sea in love. Love is like a boundless, endless wave, yet the ultimate destination is always an eternal first love.

Lecture on Xuân Quỳnh's poem 'Waves,' sample number 2:

Love poetry is the most remarkable genre of Xuân Quỳnh. The poem 'Waves' is one of the gems in this genre. Xuân Quỳnh's life had many unfortunate events. Her love also faced numerous obstacles. But this poem depicts love in its early stages when the young woman had not experienced much in love. Thus, 'Waves' brims with enthusiasm, freshness, and full of confidence in happiness, in the future.

First of all, love is a peculiar psychological state (Both intense and gentle. Both noisy and quiet). And when in love, one always feels expansive, unable to tolerate confinement. It's like a wave, a narrow river unable to understand itself must find the vast sea. Why is that? How to explain? Love, throughout the ages, remains the same:

Oh, the waves of the past
And still the same in the future
The longing for love
Roiling in the young heart

But when in love, one always seeks, wants to explain (Thinking of you, my dear). Because love demands absolute and thoroughness. Why do we love each other? When did we start loving? Since when? Ask your lover and question yourself. But just like the sea waves and the wind, how can one know for sure?

Waves start from the wind
Wind starts from where
I also don't know
When did we start loving each other

Xuân Diệu once wrote 'How can one define love?'. Love cannot be defined. It just occupies our hearts without us knowing when and how.

Love always comes with memories. Love is melancholic. Memories are poignant, nothing can soothe them. The passage from the 17th to the 26th lines is a sentiment of love, turmoil, passion, and obsession. The love of a woman is sincere, intense - the wave of love emerges endlessly, whether on the surface or deep within. Remembering always keeps us awake - awake even in dreams, like the endless waves of the sea:

Oh, the wave longs for the shore
Day and night, sleep eludes
Just as I dream of you
Even in slumber, awake

Throughout the poem 'Waves', but most vividly in this verse, the rhythm is the rhythm of the waves, and the rhythm of the waves in this verse seems more intense, passionate, and lively. Love through longing seems to reach its peak. The words are more fervent, more vibrant:

The wave beneath the deep
The wave upon the surface
Oh, the wave yearns for the shore
Day and night, sleep eludes

Though heading Northward
Though reversing to the South
Wherever I am, I think
Of you, in one direction

The final three verses of poetry reveal a belief:

Out in the vast ocean
With its hundred thousand waves
Each one reaching the shore
Despite countless obstacles

Love and faith go hand in hand. Once deeply immersed, there's no room for doubt. After enduring many bitter experiences, Xuân Quỳnh's poetic sentiments will no longer express faith so openly. Most touching is the unwavering belief in happiness; the poet desires love to be eternal:

How could it dissipate
Into a hundred small waves
In the vast sea of love
To echo for a thousand years

'Wave' is a charming, pure poem, with sincere and straightforward expressions of passionate love from the woman's perspective, something not often found in our literature. Such a love makes us believe more in life. It enhances vitality, making people more beautiful, more noble.