The Exploitation of Cultural Materials and Poetic Language

2.4. Exploitation of cultural materials and poetic language

2.4.1. Traditional cultural values in Nguyen Khoa Diem's poetry

Speaking of Nguyen Khoa Diem, everyone can easily imagine a poetic style imbued with philosophy, originating from a vast knowledge base and cultural depth in a combination of both sharp philosophical and mystical associations, with the shadow of the ancient culture of the national soul. “Nguyen Khoa Diem’s poetry contains many literary and folk cultural materials. The verses, whether in traditional or free verse, always have the flavor of folk songs and proverbs. The wise quality of folk wisdom permeates every word” [39, p.255]. Nguyen Khoa Diem was born and raised in the heart of the cultural cradle of Hue. It is the profound Hue quality, the moss-covered imperial citadel casting its shadow, dyeing the water of the green Huong River purple, that makes Nguyen Khoa Diem’s poetry even more profound and vaguely mysterious. Nguyen Xuan Nam made a rather clear comment: “ Nguyen Khoa Diem’s poetry... has a strong associative power. He often leads readers from the past to the future, from suffering to happiness, from books to life”. [20, p.125]. Rich in knowledge of Eastern and Western books, abundant in real-life materials is a strength that creates many shining moments in the unique associations of Nguyen Khoa Diem's poetry. In this subsection, we focus on analyzing cultural symbols in Nguyen Khoa Diem's poetry.

Through studying Nguyen Khoa Diem's poetry, we would like to draw out the traditional cultural values that he used quite a lot in his compositions: that is.

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In the chapter "Country" , poetic language is used from folk literature materials with great frequency. However, folk literature materials in Nguyen Khoa Diem's poetry are no longer in their original form, a copy of a community product, but it has been transformed into the poet's words, tone, feelings, and thoughts, creating a unique identity in his poetry.

We have a treasure trove of folk songs and proverbs imbued with lyrical flavor, crystallizing the noble sentiments of the people, the experiences of labor, production and struggle. Folk songs and proverbs have naturally permeated Nguyen Khoa Diem in his perception of the Country - a country rich in cultural traditions. Traces of folk songs and proverbs are continuously deployed in each verse. Explaining the origin of the Country, the poet begins with childhood memories to imagine the existence of the Country in the most natural perception and sentiment of people. The beauties are evoked from the emotional vein imbued with the breath of folk songs and epic legends of the nation. It is a series of images with symbolic meaning but very close:

The Country is in the "once upon a time..." stories that my mother often told.

The Country begins with the betel nut you are chewing now.

The Country grew up when its people knew how to plant bamboo to fight the enemy. Mother's hair was tied behind her head.

Parents love each other with spicy ginger and salty salt. The beams and pillars become names.

Rice grains must be milled, pounded, winnowed, and sifted in the sun and dew. The Country has existed since that day...

The evocative power of the images has created a traditional cultural space carrying the soulful breath of the folk song " Gung ginger is spicy, salt is salty, please don't forget each other " imbued with loyal love. That source continues the process of maturity of each individual, from the time of going to school, to the first moment of love. All originate very naturally, with sweet and excited memories:

Land is where you come to wall Water is where I bathe

The Country is where we meet

The Country is where I dropped my scarf in secret memories.

Interwoven with the present moment of time and space is the awakening of community consciousness, with the synthesis of beauty in the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people. The beauty of the homeland is recreated in folk songs that exude pride in the beautiful mountains and rivers, in the Dragon father and Fairy mother, associated with gratitude to ancestors that is deeply ingrained in the subconscious of every Vietnamese person:

Land is where "the phoenix flies to the silver mountain" Water is where "the fisherman claws the ocean" Time is endless

Vast space

The Country is where our people reunite, the Land is where the birds return.

Water is where the dragon lives

Lac Long Quan and Au Co

And so, the origin of the nation and the origin of ancestors always remind every Vietnamese person that:

Every year, where do you eat and work?

Also know to bow your head to remember the anniversary of the ancestors

Worshiping ancestors and loving one's homeland are factors that contribute to the Vietnamese tradition of patriotism.

The verses seem to have nothing. Every verse repeats folk songs, proverbs, and fairy tales, but why do they still resonate, penetrate, and move when read? Obvious things like truth suddenly shine with eternal value, the everlasting strength of the nation on the fate of each anonymous person in layers of time. In Nguyen Khoa Diem's poetry, the Country is displayed with all the sparkling beauty of cultural traditions that are both familiar, concrete, sacred, and magical. Nguyen Khoa Diem knew how to exploit folk literature materials in fairy tales and legends, which had the effect of using literary allusions and allusions to make the poetic language more concise and meaningful, creating a very unique folk color for his poetry.

The poet has aroused the sediments that have built up the Country to fan the flame of pride and patriotism in the hearts of the urban youth of the South during the years when the Country was still divided. The author's effort is to use folk cultural materials - the most typical ones - to highlight the deep cultural and historical layers of the country that no force or danger can erode or collapse. The Country is like a sacred inheritance left by ancestors for their descendants. Every shape of river and mountain, every legendary story is viewed from the desire to entrust and pass on to the next generations to infinity.

2.4.2. Characteristics of Nguyen Khoa Diem's poetic language

Studying the characteristics of Nguyen Khoa Diem's poetic language through the poetry collections Dat ngoai phuc, Mat duong khat vong (long poem), Ngoi nha co dong fire am, Coi noi, we realize that it is not a really flowery, sophisticated language but it is refined and has many profound, hidden meanings. It is a language system that carries the traditional Hue cultural color and the depth of the spiritual world and inner feelings of people.

The soul of Hue has penetrated deeply into the nature of Nguyen Khoa Diem and emerged into poetry. That is why the place names and sediments of Hue enter Nguyen Khoa Diem's poetry in a surprisingly natural way. The names of mountains, rivers, roads, streets... seem to voluntarily follow each other to call back and stay in the poetry. The passionate, burning call of Hue rises from the depths of the poet's heart:

Since when... Oh my Hue, the autumn sky is deep blue on the flagpole. Our flag flies red on the forbidden palace floor. The mountains and rivers resound: Independence!

(Road of Desire)

A series of place names appeared as an urge, urging people to take to the streets to fight:

Brothers, take to the streets!

Tran Hung Dao rested on Phan Boi Chau Phan Boi Chau joined hands with Huynh Thuc Khang Crossing the bridge is Chi Lang, Nguyen Du

Entering the Imperial City, there were Mai Thuc Loan and Doan Thi Diem. Like poetic verses rich in association.

Rich in love

(Road of Desire)

It is still the familiar image of Truong Tien Bridge in the heart of Hue city, but when it comes to poetry, it seems to be given new appearances and impressions thanks to the unique and different way of organizing sentences, associating, and combining words. Also from these images and words, Nguyen Khoa Diem takes us endlessly into rich, multi-dimensional fields of association, giving rise to new meanings and perspectives from an ordinary object:

And Truong Tien bridge is like a hyphen

Between land - land

Between people - people Between today - history Between you - me

Every region has its own dialect. That dialect also contains cultural elements, customs, and social activities of the people and a land. Hue dialect is not simply the spoken language of Hue people, but it has entered literature, art, and poetry with its beauty.

new and unique. In Nguyen Khoa Diem's poetry, Hue dialects appear as lovely touches to talk about the people and land of Hue:

Oh my beloved city, I am so far away from you .

- I love you like that

Bring the person back to me...

- Where do you make bricks?

Literature is messy and smeared on people's faces.

Hue dialect when heard orally can be confusing, sometimes even funny to the listener. However, the same words rang, chở, rừa, ni, di... when put into poetry, it takes on a new beauty, a new vitality. The sound of Hue dialect is very rich and concise, as if it has the meaning of shyness, cool resentment, poetic, cute.

To successfully use local words in poetry is not easy because if used too much, the poem will become colloquial and lose its generality. In his poetry, Nguyen Khoa Diem used them in the right place and in the right “dose” to not only express pride in his native language but also to honor it, making it immortal in poetry.

Although Nguyen Khoa Diem is calm because of his reserved Hue style, when faced with the demands of reality, the poet sometimes breaks away from the stereotypical, elegant words to capture the reality that needs to be reflected: canned food, A, C rations, filth, nakedness before humanity, chemicals, electronics, photon, bestiality, obscenity into rationality, trembling heart, blackened lungs, tight intestines... Besides, Nguyen Khoa Diem has distilled the source of folk culture, Hue culture in many unique art forms to be able to extract words rich in expressive, implicit, and polysemous meanings. To be more precise, Nguyen Khoa Diem has molded the common language in strange syntactic molds, in unexpected, new combinations of words, making his poetry both traditional and attractively modern, impressing readers.

Chapter 3

A LYRICIAN VOICE, CONTEMPLATION, POLITICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL WITH PERSONALITY

Belonging to the first generation of pure young intellectuals of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Nguyen Khoa Diem was a man of sharp intelligence, rich book knowledge, along with experience through the challenges of war and an enthusiastic and idealistic poetic soul. The life experience, knowledge and spiritual state of that era sublimated and left in the poet's creative language a lyrical, contemplative, political and philosophical voice that both bears the mark of a time and bears the mark of a unique personality.

3.1. Voice of the times and unique creative style 3.1.1. Style and style of the times

The concept of style in general and style in literature in particular is a complex issue. Although it has been of interest to researchers for a long time, it is difficult to affirm that the concept of style has been defined definitively. On the one hand, there are still many issues that need to be discussed and debated to reach a consensus; on the other hand, the concept of style itself is not a fixed, unchanging factor but is increasingly expanded in content according to the development of literary research. Around this term, there have been many rich and diverse definitions and concepts.

In the West, since ancient times with outstanding representatives such as Plato, the concept of style has been studied and applied. Entering the 19th century, especially the 20th century, the concept of style has received more and more attention. According to Khrapchenko, there are many different definitions of literary style. These definitions "acknowledge style as a historical category

- the broadest, most comprehensive aesthetics”, while “recognizing it as the characteristics of individual works” [26].

Buffon said: " Style is the person " each writer usually has his own personality.

Academician Likhatsep in his book Russian Literary Poetics defines “ Style is a certain system of form and content, an aesthetic principle for structuring the entire content and form”. The author especially emphasizes the harmonious combination of the two elements of content and form of an artistic work. Meanwhile, V. Dneprop believes that style is considered as a complete form with content. He stated: “ Style is the connection of forms, that connection reveals the unity of artistic content”.

After stating and analyzing a series of different opinions about style, Khrapchenko put forward basic arguments that link the problem:

- Style expresses the characteristics of the writer's creative personality, the completeness of the writer's perception of life, and the writer's view of the world.

- The creative personality of a writer is closely related to the person who uses different techniques and means of artistic expression to see life in a figurative way.

- Style is understood as the way of expressing the exploitation of images in reality, as the way of expressing the impact of ideas and emotions, which cannot be identified with the form of the work. In addition to formal elements, style also includes the characteristics of expressing ideas, themes, the depiction of characters, and the tonal elements of the work of art. The characteristic of style is not the individual elements themselves but the combination of them...

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