with mental states such as "sacrificing to avenge", "unforgiven souls", "resentment", "hatred", "anger" make "blood" and "fire" become symbols of the heat of a suppressed patriotic spirit. And then later combine into fighting enthusiasm, urging action, through unique symbolic images: "Heart of steel still burning with the fire of war" ( Ho Chi Minh ) , "In the dark night, my heart becomes a fire" ( Hello Spring 67 ) ... and a rise with community strength, epic strength like from the time of Dam San, Xinh Nha: "Footsteps crushed rocks, thousands of sparks flew" ( Viet Bac ) , "People's fire rose on all sides" ( Diary of the Way Home ) , "The roaring sea of people's fire" ( My story... ) . The fighting atmosphere of the whole nation is urgent, vibrant, and passionate, and nothing can be more appropriately described as "fire".
In addition, the theme of building a new country is also a community event, an era where the "common" is promoted, and is also expressed through images rich in generalization:
Amidst the ashes, my hands light a fire. Storms put out the rain, with an iron liver and a golden heart. I level mountains and hills, digging up the earth to make cast iron.
To stop the rapids, we use the river to make electricity.
(On the highway)
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The image of fire, "making fire" is a metaphor for building a new life, accompanied by poetic details with symbolic exaggerated colors: "Storm", "rain", "iron liver", "golden heart", "leveling mountains and hills", "digging up land to make iron", "stopping fierce waterfalls", "catching rivers to make electricity" making the poem seem to have drawn not only the scene of tireless labor in building the country, but also showing the spirit of overcoming difficulties and persevering in the face of hardships in building a career.
In addition to the main theme of resistance and nation building, when expressing people in poetry, To Huu also relied on the generalization of symbolic images to depict, in which the most prominent is the soldier defending the country during the anti-French period, whose fighting spirit is likened to the heat of "iron fire":
Heroic warrior with iron-fired head
(Cheers to Dien Bien soldiers)
The heroic soldiers in the historic Dien Bien Phu campaign are shining examples whose names will echo for thousands of years. Be Van Dan, Phan Dinh Giot, To Vinh Dien... those examples cannot fade from memory, forever living with time, living with verses of poetry and immortal songs.
During the anti-American war, we meet here another name but also from the old National Guards, the Liberation Army:
Living indomitably in this world like Thach Sanh of the twentieth century
A slingshot, a spike can also attack the American enemy.
(Spring song 68)
How heroic! We meet many epic characters, and to elevate them to even greater brilliance, we see that they are always associated with "fire", as Troi, Nguyen Van Troi, and To Huu wrote:
And his hand snatched the black bandage, he wanted to burn, with his eyes, the despicable ones, with death, he wanted to see face to face, like a fire that would never be extinguished!
(Mark my words)
His gaze was like a fire burning the enemy, a fire of hatred and struggle that could not be extinguished. This reminds us of a heroic female soldier, Ms. Tran Thi Ly, a real image, who has become a symbol of "Vietnamese Women" idealized as an angel, and also associated with the symbol of fire with the meaning of strength and immortal will:
Who are you? Girl or fairy Are you old or ageless?
Is your hair here like clouds or streams?
Your eyes look like lightning in the winter night Is your flesh like iron or copper?
(Vietnamese girl)
We also meet the hero Nguyen Chi Thanh in One Man.
also shown through the "fire" symbol:
Two red eyes, burning like fire
The smile is bright and long...
(A human)
"Fire" is passion, light, burning power, immortality, mostly associated with heroic characters, since ancient times, and until now, To Huu still sees it as evident:
Oh, the strength of youth! In the past, the young man Phu Dong stretched his shoulders and suddenly grew a thousand pounds. He rode an iron horse that spewed fire and uprooted the bamboo bushes of the village to chase away the Yin invaders!
(Following Uncle Ho)
And now:
No, not the angel Seven-mile Footsteps
Still you, you liberate army
Still wearing rubber sandals, fighting for thirty years, wading everywhere
deep river forest
When you left, the bamboo shoots were sharp and simple like a young man from Gióng village.
The weapon is you, the boundless love The weapon is you, the burning fire of hatred
(Total victory is ours)
Talking about people of such an era, the poetic voice is heroic, has a praising nature, has a clear heroic tone, especially in the resistance war against America, the image of the soldier is raised to become a heroic image of the era and history, often expressed by the mythologizing style. And therefore, each original model carries additional symbolic meaning for abstract, great, and magnificent things.
3.1.2. Concrete images elevated to the level of grandeur and sacredness
The images of "blood", "fire", "flag", "star" are not only generalized, creating abstract meanings as presented above, but also enhanced.
to a great extent to mainly express the romantic inspiration in To Huu's poetry, expressed in the fact that the poetry always looks to the future, arouses joy, confidence and passion for the revolutionary path, praises revolutionary sentiment and revolutionary people, and sanctifies revolutionary leaders.
In battle, the flag and the star are like a guiding light, like a navigator, so that the whole nation can unite to destroy the enemy. The image of the flag and the star at that time was truly majestic and sacred. The picture of the army going to battle, entering a place of bombs and bullets, but how romantic and heroic, the symbol of "starlight" contributed to increasing the magical sparkle of the poem, it is both a star on the hat and a star in the sky, but also a bright star of ideals, of will, of courage to lead the way:
The army marched in rows and rows, the starlight on the gun muzzles and the bamboo hats
(Viet Bac)
That's why the atmosphere of the battle is so exciting, but no less romantic, always associated with the symbol of the "flag" in a lofty position: "The flag flies up to save the country" ( Kill the enemy ) , "Our flag will wave in the sky, shining red!" ( Shoot ), "Raise the red flag high, workers lead the way" ( Thirty years of our life with the Party ) .
The flag and star are always raised high in a solemn position, clearly showing the joy of Independence Day :
Autumn Revolution Success Autumn is here oh red flag and yellow star
(Thirty years of our life with the Party)
How rosy the flag of August Independence Day was, the joy of the day peace was restored was no less romantic, when after "nine years of making Dien Bien Phu", now the Central Government, the revolutionary headquarters, returned to Hanoi:
Rose garden wind and rain pass
Red flags, sunny roofs, yellow stars
...
Now here it is again
National flag on the top of the tower with a flying star on the lake
The poet compares the "9-year war" to a storm that swept through the nation's life, a life as beautiful as a "rose garden", and now, the wonderful, brilliant colors, the wonderful, sparkling images of an independent life appear: the national flag high above, the "roof", the "top of the tower", the sparkling stars reflecting on the clear surface of the Sword Lake. These are sacred images, symbolizing the achievements of the revolution, a peaceful, tranquil life.
In addition, the flag and the star are also idealized to symbolize the future ahead, creating images of a new world of peace, prosperity, and worth living, nurturing in each person the hope for a new day, a new life, like thousands of pieces of a beautiful future:
Thousands of pieces of the future flutter, Red flag leaflets flutter in the wind
(Motherland) Belief in a prosperous life: A day of red flags rising to power
The sacred star leans down on the hillsides, the cassava and sweet potatoes eagerly return to the palace to occupy.
The right to live in a land of stinking grass.
(Love of cassava)
Belief in mastering the future, mastering the country as soon as a region is liberated:
A land in hand
Although not complete, the red flag has flown!
(Spring Song 1961)
Belief in the steering of the Revolutionary boat of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Party flag is like the sunlight illuminating the way:
The night steps until the dawn of the Sun! The Party flag is raised high!
(Thirty years of our life with the Party)
Faith in complete victory over foreign invaders, faith in the glorious day of victory:
Looking forward to the future of victory, our flag is raised straight ahead!
(Glory to our country)
We see that most idealizations of the future are associated with the image of the flag and the star, so these two images become majestic and sacred, and they also symbolize a desirable world of the future.
In another aspect, the two symbols of the flag and the star also aim to absolutely affirm the value of justice, of us, in relation to the injustice, the cruel destruction and killing of the enemy. If the enemy is savage, then we are human dignity, are justice:
Star, the truth of life
Vietnam, the gold of people's hearts today The more I look, the more intoxicated I become
The wind blows the flag on the East Sea...
(Thousand miles of mountains and rivers)
Many times To Huu affirmed the noble dignity of Vietnamese people:
This flag is blood and skin
Ours, man's, priceless
(Vietnam - Blood and Flowers)
We follow the Soviet Union, on the path of Socialism, therefore, in our eyes the Soviet Union is also a "bright star", Moscow is a "red star in the thick fog", ( Diary of the way home ) each person of the Soviet Union "sparkles" like "a star!" ( With Lenin ) .
This is the climax of romantic inspiration when the poet absolutizes the radiant qualities of people who worship the Socialist regime - a society that upholds the right to life, the right to enjoy freedom, democracy, and the pursuit of prosperity and happiness. A society that we are still trying to build step by step.
To Huu's poetry 30 years of war also shows admiration and worship for President Ho Chi Minh. Therefore, the poet still uses the image of the star, of the flag, to idealize the qualities of the genius revolutionary leader, the Father of the nation. When he was a young man looking for Lenin, he cherished a great ambition, looking for light, a path for the whole nation, then his image is associated with patriotism, the fire of fighting to save the country containing all paths of the soul:
Hey patriotic Vietnamese men, fan the flames of heroism!
(Following Uncle Ho)
To Huu also used the images of "sacred torch, national flag" ( Ho Chi Minh ) , "the first flame" ( Following Uncle Ho's footsteps ), and "eyes shining like fire or like stars" ( Hue in August ) , "that star sets into dawn" ( Following Uncle Ho's footsteps ) to praise Uncle Ho, seeing that his heart was "as red as Mars and as bright as Venus" ( Following Uncle Ho's footsteps ) ... to idealize and sanctify the national hero Ho Chi Minh.
Through the above presentation, we see that in order to describe the reality of the resistance, the poet has raised the images to a new level of political generalization, making the problem no longer just a personal one, but a national one. Moreover, in the midst of pain and hardship, thanks to the sacred, majestic, romantic images, we see that the resistance is always full of faith and hope.
3.2. Poetic tone and rhetorical devices
3.2.1 Poetic tone
To Huu's poetic voice constantly changes in each situation of resistance reality, also thickening the meaning of the symbols: the passionate, painful, choking voice with the continuous exclamations "oh", "oh", "oh" associated with the pain of the nation: "Oh compatriots, oh brothers and sisters" (The eternal hatred will never be dissolved ) , "oh mother!" ( Ben Tre Letter ), "oh blood of love", "oh burning fire" ( Kill the enemy ) , "oh the Buddha's door is also boiling oil and burning fire" ( South ) , "oh humanity! The burning earth" ( Following Uncle Ho's footsteps ) , "Who hears her voice calling out: My child!" ( She is a mother ) , "Oh, how can I tell you! How much blood flows like a canal" ( Leaf
Letter from Ben Tre ) , "Oh South, blood flows" ( Can it be peaceful ) ... The poetic tone with its calls and exclamations expresses sorrow and sympathy for the pain of war of the entire nation.
From sorrow, the poetic voice becomes a voice of burning hatred through strong verbs, associated with the symbols "fire" and "blood" expressing the tense emotional states of the irreconcilable hatred with foreign invaders: "Resentment has burned in the head" ( Spring comes ) , "The fire of war is blazing" ( Ho Chi Minh ) , "The fire of anger boils the blood" ( Following Uncle Ho ) , "My head is burning like a ball of fire" ( Shoot ) , "The fire of battle we sprayed into the face" ( Glory to our Fatherland ) , "The hearts and minds are burning with fire" ( With Lenin ) , "The blood of sacrifice must wash away this revenge" ( Glory to our Fatherland ) , "The blood of unjust souls will never be forgiven" ( You are the mother ) , "Blood calls for blood" ( Thirty years of our life with the Party ) ... The poetic voice itself has contributed to the symbolic meaning. of "blood" and "fire" in expressing the immense hatred of the enemy of every Vietnamese person.
Next is the urgent, calling, and heroic voice, like the drumbeats of a military campaign, and with that spirit, the "flag" cannot be absent. Thanks to this tone, the meaning of the will to destroy the enemy and the determination to fight and kill the enemy is deeply affirmed:
Charge! Charge!, The flag flies up to save the country!
(Kill the enemy)
Forward, Liberation Army!
.....
Under the red flag with yellow star!
(Kill the enemy)
Our flag will wave in the sky, shining red!
Hey, you shock troops, lie there silently. Get your spears ready, jump up and stab....
(Shoot)