Effects of Phan Khoi's New Concept of Poetry

Thus, although later there was an opinion that even Phan Khoi himself denied that he was not a pioneer in the New Poetry movement; even did not accept Tinh Gia as a new poem, but the reality still shows that, in the early days of finding a way out for Vietnamese poetry, Phan Khoi's role in creating a push for new poetry to later make further progress is a reality that must be recognized. Vu Gia, through his research on Phan Khoi, Vietnamese language, journalism and new poetry, affirmed that:

“The influence of the poem Tinh Gia is the whole reason for the New Poetry movement, but its appearance marked a turning point, an important milestone in the history of Vietnamese poetry. And as Hoai Thanh said, “the poetic revolution was ignited”. I think that a lifetime of poetry leaves behind a poem, even a few lines of poetry, which is already precious. Regarding the poem Tinh Gia , whether he likes it or not, Phan Khoi deserves a special place in modern Vietnamese poetry” [36, p. 311].

On the other hand, more importantly, through the heated and contradictory debates mentioned above, many values ​​of new poetry were affirmed and the concept of poetry had many innovations, creating momentum for the later victory of the New Poetry movement.

3.3.2. Establishing a different direction for Vietnamese poetry

As mentioned, to have the spectacular leaps that created the revolution in poetry, Vietnamese literature of course had to go through many changes with many different levels and forms. Gradually moving beyond the influence of ancient Chinese ideology, coming into contact with modern Western ideological, cultural and literary trends was the path that Vietnamese intellectuals chose to gradually move towards modernization.

From the changes in perception and ideology in Phan Boi Chau's poetry, to the innovation that breaks the familiar structure to aim at the desire to affirm the self in Tan Da's poetry and conveys the feeling of sadness and melancholy in Tran Tuan Khai's patriotic poetry, is a transitional process that bridges the emergence of new things in poetry.

Recognizing this issue, Ma Giang Lan stated that from here on, the process is not in one direction but always has unexpected mutations, sometimes up, sometimes down, branching, dividing, breaking, acculturation... [88, p. 75].

Realizing the constraints and dependence, and importantly, the inability to remain stuck in the “meticulous rules” of Tang poetry, Phan Khoi boldly initiated innovation. In fact, looking back at his research and writing process, we can see that: from the initial plans in the poetry introductions in the Nam Am Thi Thoai section of newspapers until the synthesis into Chuong Dan Thi Thoai , then publicly presenting Tinh Gia in the poetry village, Phan Khoi showed quite clear and sharp changes in form, aesthetics, and content aiming at the desire to find a new direction for Vietnamese poetry. His intention was quite clear and consistent.

The introduction of A new poetic style presented in the middle of the poetry village ) is still being debated, but the influence of this poem with the "presentation" character cannot be denied. Because in terms of form, Tinh gia that Phan Khoi "presented in the middle of the poetry village" completely broke the formula of classical poetry, Tang poetry. The number of lines, the length of the words are free and uneven, not words but also not poems . In particular, the rhyme is completely different from the previous style (rhymes at the end of even and odd sentences, sometimes even, sometimes odd). The poem also does not apply the parallelism of Tang poetry but only uses the small parallelism in the third line.

The entire poem is expressed according to the author's feelings, so the number of words, sentences, paragraphs, and breaks do not follow any rules. The rhythm of the poem sounds like a sad call flowing along the story of a couple who fell in love, then separated, then reunited in old age, leaving a little bit of love in the corner of their eyes when they parted. In particular, the poem completely escapes the monorhyme of old poetry and the tone changes flexibly.

Vu Gia has made quite a detailed analysis of Phan Khoi's strange use of rhyme in Old Love as follows:

“The rhymes in the poem Tinh Gia are basically used by Phan Khoi in consecutive rhymes, such as: nho - thot, trong - dang, sau - nhau, cho - no, nay - so, chong - chung, sau - nhau..., but there are also places that do not follow a certain order, such as: xua - mua - mo - nho - thot, thoi - trot - doi. The melody of Tinh Gia is a familiar melody of the nation. Twenty-four years ago, a night of both wind and rain... , creating a sad, monotonous impression that makes us hear it like a mournful call somewhere on the riverbank, on a ferry with a long rowing rhythm on a night of dim moonlight and bright stars... Next, the author uses consecutive rhymes in a sentence to evoke another sad impression: To the point that the previous love is inferior to the later, why not let each other go early! Reading it, we see that the verse has created something of loss, of surrender with a helpless sigh. Next, the author uses consecutive stressed rhymes and vaguely sounds a sad and angry laugh: Good!

How can we say that we are so heartless? How can we bear to let each other go? We love each other as much as we can, but God has forced us to do so! , making us hear a choked sob and... continue to surrender to fate, because we are human beings, not husband and wife to consider loyalty? The broken and ended verses all have even tones, evoking a feeling of sadness, spread out, and distance. Just recalling old stories. Glancing at each other and then leaving! The eyes still have tails , the poetic breath is longer, the musical waves are more continuous and the thoughts are also more abundant. The initial sadness has given way to the excitement of a heart that believes in people and life” [36, pp. 309-310].

Before Phan Khoi, French and Chinese poets also introduced free verse that did not follow any rules, including the requirement of rhyming. Phan Khoi supported this type of poetry, but he believed that, no matter how innovative and free one wanted it to be, poetry, unlike prose, must have rhyme. Therefore, he wrote the poem Tinh Gia , "although it has no rhyme, no rules, no word limit, but it must have rhyme" [13, p. 209], and affirmed that "I made it according to the principles I had established" [13, p. 209] as a model poem. Thus, starting from creative innovations, Tinh Gia contributed to freeing poets from the restrictive, complicated rules of Tang and Luc Bat poetry. How poetry wants to be done depends on the writer's emotions, and it must breathe those emotions into the reader's soul and be accepted by the reader. This somewhat free form allows poetry to express emotions naturally and authentically, and conveys the diverse and very real emotions of modern people.

In subsection 3.3.1 above, we mentioned that Phan Khoi, after Tinh Gia appeared in the new poetry scene, tried to "justify" the form of this poem, that he did not write new poetry but used the ancient style. Among the poetic forms of ancient China that were introduced to Vietnam in the Middle Ages, the ancient style was the form that existed before the Tang Dynasty's regulated poetry and was different from the regulated poetry in that it was quite free, because it was not regulated by the rules of rhyme, rhythm, and couplets, and was not limited by the

sentences, words. Because of this rather free nature, the ancient style is often used by Vietnamese authors with a free and talented style, such as Nguyen Trai with Con Son Ca , Cao Ba Quat with Sa Hanh Doan Ca , Hoang Son Vong Hai Ca. In modern times, this style of poetry is still favored by some authors with a background in classical studies, such as Tan Da Nguyen Khac Hieu (Northern Vietnam), Nguyen Lien Phong (Southern Vietnam) around 1910-1920. We can take Tan Da's poem My Chau, Trong Thuy as an example. This poem was printed in Khoi Tinh Con 1 , in 1916. Thus, in terms of time, it is 16 years earlier than Tinh Gia , and in terms of content, this is also a sad lyrical work. So why is it only with Tinh Gia that this style is associated with the "revolution in poetry" in Vietnam? Perhaps, as we have argued above, that path of innovation requires preparation in many aspects, perhaps it also “chooses” who to entrust the mission to, and in this case Phan Khoi is a worthy name. In other words, whether Tinh Gia is completely new poetry or written in the ancient style is not as important as the meaning of breaking the rules that have become barriers, become constraints on the development of Vietnamese poetry of the work.

In terms of content, Old Love expresses modernity in the concept of love and life. Right from the title of the poem, it is a kind of aggression against traditional concepts. Expressing the feelings of love between men and women is a restrained topic in medieval literature, and if there are narrow windows to express, they are basically love stories of youth. But here, Phan Khoi openly and directly in the newspaper and talks about old love . That is, from Phan Khoi, the concept of ageless love has been officially expressed, but it is a passionate love over the years. An unfinished love because "God made us like that" would not be different from Pham Thai - Truong Quynh Nhu or Thuy Kieu - Kim Trong,... if they met again twenty-four years later, they were not a "loving couple" still passionate about the old love feelings and together reminisced about the past, then " They glanced at each other and left! The eyes still have tails ". Secret lament