Personal life themes in Nguyen Khuyen's poetry

Khuyen devoted himself to his studies and exams, but his wish was not fulfilled, so he had to return to his homeland with sadness. These verses are filled with Nguyen Khuyen's deep sadness and worry.

Nguyen Khuyen lived with sincere feelings, so when his close friends passed away, he wrote very touching verses. The poem Crying for Duong Khue is a good poem and leaves a strong impression on readers about Nguyen Khuyen's feelings for his friend. Duong Khue - who passed the bachelor's exam in the same department as Nguyen Khuyen. He was one of Nguyen Khuyen's closest friends. The whole poem is like a sob. Although very sad, Nguyen Khuyen avoided writing words about Duong Khue's passing such as: dead, lost, passed away, passed away... and only said:

Uncle Duong, stop it!

The two words “thoi” placed in a line of poetry seem to evoke Nguyen Khuyen’s sadness, pity, and surprise at the departure of his friend. Sometimes he said differently:

Maybe you are interested!

How come you're back so soon?

Or:

Why rush to get to heaven?

The questions: “how?”, “why?”, combined with words indicating speed and urgency such as: “hurry”, “busy” show Nguyen Khuyen’s anger and reproach towards his friend, just because he loved his friend too much and could hardly accept the fact that his friend had left. The atmosphere of the poem is very touching: In the first part of the poem, Nguyen Khuyen recalls the memories of the two of them from their humble days, when they were young. Nguyen Khuyen also compared his feelings for his friend to “heavenly fate”:

Dear from beginning to end,

While meeting someone else is not fate…

The rhythm of the poem is slow and sad, but towards the end when it directly talks about your death, the rhythm and tone of the poem become urgent, sobbing, sorrowful, and choked:

Good wine without good friends,

Not buying is not because of lack of money. I thought about it for a while but did not write the poem,

Who do I write this to, who knows? The bed is hung with indifference,

The other zither plays, the sound is also absent-minded. Uncle is not here, even though I beg him not to stay,

I love you but I miss you...

The verses with repeated syntax such as: not buying... not buying... not buying, writing to give to who... who knows to give, not staying... even though begging not staying, loving... taking memory to love... express a feeling of being suppressed, emotions that seem to burst. It can be said that Nguyen Khuyen is a person who loves his friends very much, he writes lines of poetry that are the voice of the heart, friendship to him is sacred and noble, he writes so truthfully that anyone who reads it is moved. Everyone has close friends by their side, when losing a friend, everyone is in pain, but to write such passionate, heartbreaking verses like Nguyen Khuyen crying for Duong Khue, there is really not much literature. Therefore, the friendship between Nguyen Khuyen and Duong Khue is always compared to great friendships such as: Ba Nha - Tu Ky, Tran Phon - Tu Tri...

3.5. Neighborhood relations

Nguyen Khuyen was a Tam Nguyen who was respected and honored by everyone. He was appointed to many official positions. Yet, there never seemed to be any distance between Nguyen Khuyen and the villagers. He blended into the lives of the people in a natural, simple and intimate way:

Today is the day he celebrates his seventy years, the ancients were not many people.

Teeth loose but eyes still sharp, Hair white but ears not yet blocked.

Friends gather around to drink Ly cups, Grandchildren dance under the pillows in Lai yard. Always keeping the heart sincere,

The word "virtue is like blood" is passed down through generations.

(Happy old butcher)

Nguyen Khuyen wrote a poem dedicated to Mr. Uoc Da, a fellow villager of the poet, whose family had been butchers for several generations. From the first verse, we can see that the tone of the poem is very humorous. In ancient Vietnam, the age of seventy was considered "rare", but Nguyen Khuyen used the word "new seventy" to imply that the old man next door was still very young and healthy, the tone of the poem is very humorous. "Chua tac tai" is a casual, intimate way of speaking, written in poetry but still as simple as everyday speech. The special feature of this poem is that it shows Nguyen Khuyen's talent for wordplay. We can see that in each of the eight verses, there are "specialized" words to refer to the butcher profession such as: blood, neck, teeth, eyes, head, ears, shoulders, knees, hearts, legs, bones, blood... Nguyen Khuyen is not only talented in writing poetry but also creates unique images and details that anyone can understand when reading them, and the meaning is extremely profound.

The village relationship was also shown by Nguyen Khuyen in inviting distinguished guests to attend the longevity celebration:

He doesn't know he's old, he's fifty and he's old. Brothers and neighbors, please invite everyone, ham, cakes, buffalo and pigs, it's all included!

Uncle Lao came with me, Mr. Tu went to the market with me.

Now it's time to eat for free, when there's wine, he comes out with a cane.

(Old)

According to old customs, when the village holds a festival to celebrate the elders' advancement, the village communal house will display a feast, flags, fans, gongs and drums. The elders are seated in a circle around the communal house, are given the best tray, and are given red silk shirts. The poem expresses the spirit of community and humanity. Each

When there is a family event or a village event, all the villagers come together, from the elders to the children. Eating and drinking are always given special attention. The bustling atmosphere is not only the laughter and chatter but also the clatter of trays and bowls, the sound of buffalo and pigs being slaughtered. All these sounds create a happy and cozy atmosphere.

The feelings of the villagers were expressed by Nguyen Khuyen in inviting people from neighboring villages such as Uncle Lao and Mr. Tu. Before the revolution, Vi Ha village consisted of two hamlets, Dong and Doai. One hamlet called the other "the other hamlet". The poet lived in Dong hamlet, Uncle Lao lived in Doai hamlet, so they were called "the other hamlet". As for Mr. Tu, he lived in the market hamlet near Vi Ha village, he held the position of guardian of the communal house, so the villagers called him Mr. Tu. Although the two men did not live in the same village and were not people of high status, they all came to celebrate with Nguyen Khuyen as honored guests regardless of their status. We seem to feel the happy smile on the face of the late Nguyen Dynasty mandarin, it expressed the sincere and warm humanity in the ancient Vietnamese countryside.

Besides writing poetry, Nguyen Khuyen also wrote parallel sentences to give to his neighbors.

This is the scene of a blacksmith's wife crying for her husband, there is: coal, bellows, forging pair, and anvil:

The house is in ruins, the young children are in trouble, who can take care of them? The work is neglected, the young wife is threatened by many people.

(The blacksmith's wife cries for her husband)

The chicken seller cries for his wife: there are baskets and cages, baby chickens frantically looking for their mother, and roosters clucking to feed their chicks:

The cage of creation, the bottom has collapsed, the child is in a panic looking for its mother, The burden of the universe, who can divide it in half, the empty cage is struggling to feed the child.

With the parallel sentences mourning the dyer, the poet finds color signs such as: purple, red, blue, yellow, deep purple...

I told you from the red leaves of the wedding, when the purple luck,

In times of trouble, whether wise or foolish, thanks to the red father, He thinks back from the netherworld, his wife with rosy cheeks,

White teeth, purple liver, purple intestines with green man.

(The dyer's wife cries for her husband)

Song " Congratulations to the couple who own the market and build a new house "

First near the market, second near the river, this place used to be called a shelter, Rich in the village, noble in the country, thanks to heaven now have grown up.

This parallel sentence has one part in Nom and one part in Han because "this couple were originally market keepers. Because their business was doing well, the husband bought a position as a deputy village chief and built a new house, so the husband wanted to ask for a parallel sentence but in Han characters, the wife wanted to ask for a parallel sentence in Nom, so the author wrote one part in Han characters, one part in Nom characters but the parallel is very neat: thi - village, giang - water, oc - tom" [10, p. 607]. The first sentence, although in Han characters, has an idiom, the phrase "ti oc" comes from the idiom "ti oc kha phong" meaning good customs, every house deserves praise. "Nhat can giang, nhi can thi" is also a popular proverb of our people to refer to a beautiful place, easy to live and do business, it is very neat with the saying: rich in the village, noble in the country.

Nguyen Khuyen has the talent to put folk songs and proverbs into the parallel sentences, which can be kept intact or slightly modified without reducing the meaning of the sentence but increasing the value of the parallel sentences. When writing parallel sentences for neighbors, he always looks at the characteristics of their occupations and living conditions to come up with parallel sentences that are emotional, reasonable, inspiring, widely spread, easy to remember and easy to learn for everyone.

* Summary

Studying the relationships between individuals in Nguyen Khuyen's poetry, we see that the poet not only lives according to reason, according to the exemplary framework of Confucianism, but goes beyond it, he comes to everyone with the voice of compassion. The personal relationships in his poetry are therefore very deep in human love, love of life: with his wife, he is a soul mate, a confidant; with his children, he is a father who loves his children wholeheartedly, advising his children with all his heart; with his friends, he lives sincerely and deeply; with his village, he lives close, harmoniously and loves the people; with his students, he advises and teaches them very practical things.

Through those relationships, Nguyen Khuyen's private life as well as his personality and soul appear more realistic and vivid.

CONCLUDE

1. It can be said that, with Nguyen Khuyen, the issue of the poet's own private life - the private relationships, the person and the author's own personal life - has become the main issue, the central issue that the writer raised and posed in his work. That is the result of the process of receiving, continuing and developing on the basis of the innovation of the concept of human in medieval literature from Nguyen Trai, Nguyen Binh Khiem through Nguyen Du, Ho Xuan Huong, Nguyen Cong Tru... In a social context where there are still many strict regulations on human life, the appearance of the topic of private life in Nguyen Khuyen's poetry has value as a process of people looking back at themselves, self-evaluating themselves and daring to be themselves. This is an extremely bold and new perspective so that people can truly exist with their inherent natures, people can promote their profound human values.

2. The theme of private life in Nguyen Khuyen's poetry is one of the typical and unique themes in the poet's work. It is expressed vividly and realistically through verses written about individuals. Placed in the flow of medieval literature, in Nguyen Khuyen's work, the theme of private life is clearly shown.

The theme of private life in Nguyen Khuyen's poetry shows that his concept of human is close to the concept of modern human.

3. Along with the appearance of the theme of private life in medieval literature, the diverse and rich development of the theme of private life in Nguyen Khuyen's poetry has made literature change more recently and deeply.

Of course, the theme of private life in Vietnamese medieval literature in general and Nguyen Khuyen's poetry in particular was not as complete and whole as in later modern literature, but its steps were extremely important for the development and expansion of the theme of private life in Vietnamese poetry in later periods.

4. In this topic, we have only surveyed and studied poems about the theme of private life in Nguyen Khuyen's poetry. In the future, if we have the opportunity, we will expand our research direction to gain a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the art of expressing the theme of private life in his poetry. Not only that, we will survey all genres, not only poetry but also couplets and spoken songs.

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