An Anthology of Vietnamese Poems: From the Eleventh through the Twentieth Centuries [Hardcover]

Huynh Sanh Thong (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 27, 1996

This anthology brings together 1000 years of Vietnamese poems. Comprising more than 300 poems by 150 poets, the collection is organized around nine main themes that include Vietnamese views of society, responses to foreign influences, and the role of art in life.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This scholarly and very readable translation of over 300 poems from about 150 poets is loosely divided into nine chapters. It starts with the Chinese influence of early poems ("Vietnam and China," "The Buddhist Ethos") and moves on to Vietnam's relations with the West, principally France and the United States. Although readers may not appreciate the intricacies of classic poetic form, the themes are universal: war, peace, love, and time. Huynh, the best-known translator of Vietnamese poetry and winner of a MacArthur fellowship, supplies useful notes for these superb translations that make the poems very accessible and truly beautiful. Highly recommended for Asian collections.?Kitty Chen Dean, Nassau Coll., Garden City, N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

If In A Future Life We Meet Again by Bang Ba Lan
Mother, I Am Still Here With You by Bang Ba Lan
They Starved, They Starved+ by Bang Ba Lan
A Fallen Fruit by Bui Cong Tru'ng
To A Watering Scoop by Bui Du'ong Lich
The Man Who Sleeps Out In The Fields by Bui Khai Nguyen
Soap Bubbles by Bui Khai Nguyen
Two Eyes by Bui Nhat Tien
Drink And Drown Your Cares by Cao Ba Quat
Good Luck, Bad Luck by Cao Ba Quat
The Body by Cu Huy Can
A Dirge by Cu Huy Can
Talking With The Pyramid by Cu Huy Can
The Two Wooden Men by Cu Huy Can
Contrasts by Dang Thai Thuyen
The Song Of A Soldier's Wife (phan Huy Ich Co-author) by Dang Tran Con
The Sea, The World, And The Boat People by Dang Tri Hoan
To Be A Poet by Dang Xuan Khu
At Condore Port by Dao Duy Ky
Where Gather Mists And Clouds by Dao Duy Tu'
Her Story by Dien Nghi
Visiting An Old Friend by Dinh An
Peace! Peace! by Do Tan Xuan
Words Of Comfort by Do Tan Xuan
Who? by Do Thi Dam
Where Have They Gone by Doan The Nho'n
Prison Life by Du'ong Ba Trac
The Sea And The Sands by H. H. T.
Shilly-shally by Ha Trieu Anh
Zoo Cages by Hai Au Tu
Revolutionary Youth by Ho Van Hao
The Bonze Got Stung By A Bee by Ho Xuan Huong
The Cake-that-drifts-in-water by Ho Xuan Huong
Confession by Ho Xuan Huong
Elegy For The Prefect Of Vinh-tu'o'ng by Ho Xuan Huong
The Funny Grotto by Ho Xuan Huong
A Girl Caught Napping By Day by Ho Xuan Huong
The Girl Without A Sex by Ho Xuan Huong
Jackfruit by Ho Xuan Huong
The Man-and-wife Mountain by Ho Xuan Huong
Ode To The Fan by Ho Xuan Huong
On Being A Concubine by Ho Xuan Huong
On Hering A Woman Mourn Her Husband by Ho Xuan Huong
On Picking Flowers by Ho Xuan Huong
Poking Fun At A Bonze by Ho Xuan Huong
Scolding Some Dunces by Ho Xuan Huong
The Shrine Of Ts'en Yi-tung by Ho Xuan Huong
Snail by Ho Xuan Huong
Swinging by Ho Xuan Huong
The Threefold Pass by Ho Xuan Huong
An Unwed Mother by Ho Xuan Huong
A Woman Lies Alone by Ho Xuan Huong
Mourning A Hero by Hoang Pham Tran
A Sense Of History by Hoang Pham Tran
Forty by Hoang Trinh
It's Me Your Son by Hong Chu'o'ng
A Farewell Song by Huynh Hanh
The Old Hound by Huynh Man Dat
The Old Whore Becomes A Nun by Huynh Man Dat
Bread by Huynh Phu So
Buying A Dress For My Love by Lam Tan Phac
The Poem Of Humankind by Lam Tan Phac
The River by Lam Tan Phac
The String Of Pearls by Lam Tan Phac
War by Lam Tan Phac
The Red Cross by Lam Thai Uc
Like Leaves by Lam Thi My Da
The Dawn Of A New Humankind by Le Cu' Phach
A Drinking Song by Le Ha Vinh
The New Lullaby by Le Ha Vinh
A Deathless Autumn by Le Lieu Hue
Washing My Wife's Clothes by Le Ngoc Chau
The Buffalo Boy On A Field Of Corpses by Le Phu'o'c Dai
The Booby Had A Little Sack by Le Tat Dieu
Five Crackpots Got Together by Le Tat Dieu
Our Friend Would Board The Thu'o'ng-tin And Go Home by Le Tat Dieu
The Conduct Of Kings by Le Thanh-tong
A King's Portrait by Le Thanh-tong
Merchangs by Le Thanh-tong
Mother's Faith by Le Van Cu'
The Southern Emperor Rules The Southern Land by Ly Thu'o'ng Kiet
The Morning Bell At Tieu Monastery by Mac Thien Tich
Getting Well by Ngan Giang
Casting Fragrance To The Winds by Ngo Xuan Dieu
Come On, Make Haste by Ngo Xuan Dieu
Distance by Ngo Xuan Dieu
Feelings And Emotions by Ngo Xuan Dieu
A Fool In Love by Ngo Xuan Dieu
Forever by Ngo Xuan Dieu
Foreword To A Book Of Poems by Ngo Xuan Dieu
A Geologist And Millions Of Years by Ngo Xuan Dieu
In A Hurry by Ngo Xuan Dieu
It's All In The Heart by Ngo Xuan Dieu
Magic by Ngo Xuan Dieu
New Tiles by Ngo Xuan Dieu
Nothingness by Ngo Xuan Dieu
An Orange With The Rind Still Green by Ngo Xuan Dieu
Spring Out Of Season by Ngo Xuan Dieu
To Love by Ngo Xuan Dieu
You Must Say It by Ngo Xuan Dieu
Before The World Of Power You'll Fold Your Arms by Nguyen Binh Khiem
Clouds Float Through Dreams by Nguyen Binh Khiem
Men Jostle And Men Fight With Labored Breath by Nguyen Binh Khiem
My Hair Has Thinned, My Teeth Have Worn Away by Nguyen Binh Khiem
On Reading The Buddha's Scriptures by Nguyen Binh Khiem
The Rich Look Grand, The Poor Seem Cheap And Mean by Nguyen Binh Khiem
Self-reflection by Nguyen Binh Khiem
Three Ranks Of Men, Three Grades Of Things by Nguyen Binh Khiem
Time And Again You've Seen Them Win Or Lose by Nguyen Binh Khiem
The Girl Next Door by Nguyen Binh Thuyet
Two Hearts by Nguyen Binh Thuyet
All Comes To Me by Nguyen Chi Thien
The Party Left Me In The Wilds by Nguyen Chi Thien
A Hero's Will by Nguyen Cong Tru'
Looking Forward To Retirement by Nguyen Cong Tru'
Ode To All Flowers by Nguyen Cong Tru'
Officialdom by Nguyen Cong Tru'
Scholars And Soldiers by Nguyen Cong Tru'
A Wasted Life by Nguyen Cong Tru'
Coaxing My Illness by Nguyen Dang
Island by Nguyen Dang
Biding Our Time by Nguyen Dau
A Blind Poet Looks At The World Outside by Nguyen Dinh Chieu
Elegy For Tru'o'ng Dinh by Nguyen Dinh Chieu
A Fisherman Speaks His Mind by Nguyen Dinh Chieu
Fleeing From Bandits by Nguyen Dinh Chieu
The Loyal Horse by Nguyen Dinh Chieu
The Storm by Nguyen Dinh Chieu
Waiting For The East Wind by Nguyen Dinh Chieu
Back In Prison by Nguyen Dinh Kien
Prison Impromptu by Nguyen Dinh Kien
Yearning by Nguyen Dinh Thi
Calling All Souls by Nguyen Du
Bamboos Of Vietnam by Nguyen Duy Nhue
A Song Of Sorrow Inside The Royal Haren by Nguyen Gia Thieu
Folk Songs For Today by Nguyen Hoang Hai
Against Tunes In A Minor Key by Nguyen Hoc Sy
Beauty And The Poet by Nguyen Hoc Sy
Carrying A Cangue Around The Neck by Nguyen Hu'u Huan
Neither Fish Nor Fowl by Nguyen Hu'u Huan
The Tattered Map by Nguyen Khac Hieu
The Barber by Nguyen Khac Hieu
The Canary In A Cage by Nguyen Khac Hieu
Dark Night by Nguyen Khac Hieu
The Rail And The Bullfrog by Nguyen Khac Hieu
The Ship An-nam by Nguyen Khac Hieu
Speaking To My Photo by Nguyen Khac Hieu
The State Of The World by Nguyen Khac Hieu
Still At Play by Nguyen Khac Hieu
To A Scarecrow by Nguyen Khac Hieu
The Troth Between The Hill And The Stream by Nguyen Khac Hieu
At An Exposition by Nguyen Khuyen
The Comedian Gets A Curtain Lecture by Nguyen Khuyen
The French National Holiday by Nguyen Khuyen
Old Age by Nguyen Khuyen
On Hearing The Rail Cry by Nguyen Khuyen
A Scholar-laureate In Retirement by Nguyen Khuyen
Self-portrayal by Nguyen Khuyen
To A Discarded Fan by Nguyen Khuyen
To A Statue by Nguyen Khuyen
To Some Students Caught Nodding In Class by Nguyen Khuyen
The Widow's Reply To A Matchmaker by Nguyen Khuyen
A Cradlesong by Nguyen Kim Thanh
The Cuckoo Calls Its Flock by Nguyen Kim Thanh
Elephants by Nguyen Kim Thanh
Orphans by Nguyen Kim Thanh
Prison Thoughts by Nguyen Kim Thanh
Since Then by Nguyen Kim Thanh
The Song On The River Of Perfumes by Nguyen Kim Thanh
Three Sounds by Nguyen Kim Thanh
Cold Season by Nguyen Nam
A Hundred Tongues by Nguyen Nam
The Day Of Mourning At Yen-bay by Nguyen Ngoc Huy
To Nguyen Du by Nguyen Ngoc Huy
A Prisoner's Funeral by Nguyen Ngoc Thuan
In A Garret by Nguyen Nhu'o'c Phap
Congratulating A Friend On His New Dentures by Nguyen Quang Nha
The Song Of A Cotton Yarn by Nguyen Sinh Cung
Remembering The Past In The City Of The Soaring Dragon by Nguyen Thi Hinh
Waves by Nguyen Thi Xuan Quynh
The Well by Nguyen Thien Tung
The Lyre Of Myriad Tunes by Nguyen Thu Le
Opium by Nguyen Thu Le
Among The Great, No Smooth And Open World by Nguyen Trai
Ask To Be Put In Charge Of Streams And Hills by Nguyen Trai
Both Favor And Disgrace You Have Full Known by Nguyen Trai
For Years You Wallowed In The Scholar's World by Nguyen Trai
He Tends The Tree Who Wants To Eat The Fruit by Nguyen Trai
The Hibiscus by Nguyen Trai
How Blessed Is A Middle Rank In Life by Nguyen Trai
The Old Banyan Tree by Nguyen Trai
A Round Shape Water Takes Inside The Gourd by Nguyen Trai
Tired Legs Won't Climb The High Road Of Blue Clouds by Nguyen Trai
A Womb's Own Flesh Nd Bone -- Strong Brotherhood by Nguyen Trai
A Gaffer In Love by Nguyen Trung An
Shrimps by Nguyen Van Lac
To A Dead Dog In The River by Nguyen Van Lac
I Shall Not Die by Nguyen Van Nang
A Prison Cell by Nguyen Van Nang
The Hand by Pham Ho
The Sea by Pham Ho
Tall Trees by Pham Ho
Summer Drought by Pham Quy Thich
Breaking Rocks On Poulo Condore by Phan Chu Trinh
Dogs In The Loft by Phan Chu Trinh
A Game Of Chess by Phan Chu Trinh
Impromptu by Phan Chu Trinh
Ode To The Candle by Phan Chu Trinh
Opera Actors by Phan Chu Trinh
A Fighter's Thoughts Of Spring by Phan Dinh Khai
The Bamboo Hedgerow by Phan Ngoc Chau
Graves by Phan Ngoc Hoan
The Human Skull by Phan Ngoc Hoan
More Thoughts On Nguyen by Phan Ngoc Hoan
On The Way Home by Phan Ngoc Hoan
Silk Threads Of Memory by Phan Ngoc Hoan
The Waning Night by Phan Ngoc Hoan
The War Elephant by Phan Ngoc Hoan
Fishermen And Cormorants by Phan Thanh Gian
Independence Day by Phan Trong Binh
International Solidarity by Phan Trong Binh
A Ricksha Man's Impromptu by Phan Trong Quang
The Ricksha Man by Phan Van Hy
The Alarm Clock by Phan Van San
Character by Phan Van San
Epitaph For My Dog by Phan Van San
Human Nature by Phan Van San
In A Canton Jail by Phan Van San
Mourning Nguyen Thai Hoc And Nguyen Thi Giang by Phan Van San
My Shadow And I by Phan Van San
Rights by Phan Van San
To A Cuckoo by Phan Van San
You Eat The Figs, So Sit Beneath The Tree by Phan Van San
Grains Of Rice by Phan Van Tri
The Mosquito by Phan Van Tri
Opera Actors by Phan Van Tri
The Rice Mill by Phan Van Tri
Advice To Students by Phung Khac Khoac
What Mother Told Me Once by Phung Quan
Looking For Her by Ta Hu'u Thien
Wrecking The Statue Of Paul Bert by Thien The
To A Piggy Bank by Ton That Diem
The Dress Of Ha-dong Silk by Tran Bich Lan
It's Mere Child's Play To Die by Tran Cao Van
On Poulo Condore by Tran Cao Van
A Letter To My Future Child by Tran Duc Uyen
A Falling Leaf by Tran Gia
The Night Train by Tran Gia
A Down-and-out Fighter And The Spring Nymph by Tran Huy Lieu
Dropping By The Guava Graveyard In So'n-la by Tran Huy Lieu
What's My Crime by Tran Huy Lieu
Prison Dreams by Tran Minh Tu'o'c
The Back-dang River by Tran Minh-tong
Farewell To Two Envoys From The Yuan Court by Tran Minh-tong
A New Year's Wish For A Little Refugee by Tran Mong Tu
Verses For The End Of An Era by Tran Phong
My Mother's Son by Tran Si Hue
The Old Vow by Tran Si Hue
The Country Road by Tran Te Hanh
Mother by Tran Te Hanh
Actors by Tran Te Xu'ong
The Best Wishes For The New Year by Tran Te Xu'ong
Drought by Tran Te Xu'ong
Lamenting The State Of Confucian Scholarship by Tran Te Xu'ong
Looking Far Ahead by Tran Te Xu'ong
A Man Has Lost His Way by Tran Te Xu'ong
New Style Examinations by Tran Te Xu'ong
No, Thank You by Tran Te Xu'ong
Poor And Happy by Tran Te Xu'ong
Tomorrow, Should I Fail by Tran Te Xu'ong
What Earthly Use Are These Confucian Graphs by Tran Te Xu'ong
Our Land, Our Home by Tran Tuan Khai
Paradise by Tran Van Bang
Run! Run! by Tran Van Bang
A Woman Writes To Her Daughter Who's Studying Overseas by Trinh Tien
The First Day Of School by Tru'o'ng Anh Thuy
Beauties In White by Tru'o'ng Khuong Trinh
The Hero Of Our Times by Tru'o'ng Khuong Trinh
The Long Night by Tu' Dien Dong
A Retired Mandarin's Wife Complains by U'ng Binh
The Back-dang River by Anonymous - Vietnamese
The Bird In A Cage by Anonymous - Vietnamese
Catfish And Toad by Anonymous - Vietnamese
The Constant Mouse by Anonymous - Vietnamese
Exhortation To Learning by Anonymous - Vietnamese
Fleeting Time by Anonymous - Vietnamese
Flood by Anonymous - Vietnamese
The Fourteenth Of July by Anonymous - Vietnamese
Homage To The Tru'ng Queens by Anonymous - Vietnamese
In Praise Of The Broom by Anonymous - Vietnamese
In Praise Of The Hat by Anonymous - Vietnamese
King And Subjects by Anonymous - Vietnamese
The Lake Of The Returned Sword by Anonymous - Vietnamese
Last Words by Anonymous - Vietnamese
The Marvelous Encounter At Blue Creek by Anonymous - Vietnamese
The Monastery On Mount Hill-and-stream by Anonymous - Vietnamese
Ode To The Betel Palm by Anonymous - Vietnamese
Ode To The Sewing Needle by Anonymous - Vietnamese
Ode To The Toad by Anonymous - Vietnamese
Ode To The Watermelon by Anonymous - Vietnamese
The Quarrel Of The Six Beasts by Anonymous - Vietnamese
Staffs And Hats by Anonymous - Vietnamese
Stepping Out Of The World by Anonymous - Vietnamese
Tru'o'ng Chi, The Lovelorn Boatman by Anonymous - Vietnamese
The Village Crier by Anonymous - Vietnamese
O Life I Love And Cherish Like My Wife by Viet Phu'o'ng
Paradise And Hell by Vo Liem So'n
Selling My Soul by Vo Thi Hoai Trinh
The Old Calligrapher by Vu Dinh Lien
Our Hearts Are Ancient Citadels by Vu Dinh Lien
The Beau Ideal by Vu Hoang Chu'o'ng
Far Away by Vu Hoang Chu'o'ng
No More Anxiety by Vu Hoang Chu'o'ng
To The Black Nymph by Vu Hoang Chu'o'ng
Harvesting At Sunset by Vu'ong Kieu
Yhou Cannot Lock Up The Mind by Xuan Thuy
Twenty-eight Lines For My Wife by Yen Ba
My Home by Yen Thao
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 444 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (March 27, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300064101
• ISBN-13: 978-0300064100
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,958,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening and insightful....beautiful., June 1, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Anthology of Vietnamese Poems: From the Eleventh through the Twentieth Centuries (Hardcover)

This book was actually a textbook for a class on Vietnamese culture and history at the University of Michigan. Since taking the course, I've read it over at least 8 times and continue to find new treasures. I especially adore Ho Xuan Huong, a feminist who wrote humorous, sometimes painfully sad, poetry on sex and her position as a concubine. This is a must-have for Vietnamese-Americans (or I guess anyone)just waking up to the beauty within Vietnamese literature.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The muse lends me her lyre of myriad tunes, her brush of myriad tints...", July 12, 2008

By 

Crazy Fox (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Anthology of Vietnamese Poems: From the Eleventh through the Twentieth Centuries (Paperback)

This impressively extensive anthology is an almost overwhelming monument to a vivid and varied poetic tradition. Spanning about a millennium and featuring 126 individual poets along with over a dozen anonymous works, it includes both narrative poems and lyric poems, and these spanning modern and traditional, folksy and refined, serious and funny, deeply religious and highly sensual, politically strident with fervent patriotism or fiery radicalism and decidedly not--heck, there are even poems about poetry itself.

The translator and editor, Huynh Sanh Thong, has chosen to organize this massive achievement by general theme rather than, say, chronologically or by poet or type of poem. These themes are: Vietnam and China, the Buddhist Ethos, Responses to the West, After the Russian Revolution, Men and Women, Life and Art, the Passage of Time, Peasants Merchants and Scholars, and (last but not least) War and Peace. Some poets are represented by a good many examples of their work spread throughout these themes, though most only get one or two entries. This format has advantages in showcasing differing versified handlings of similar issues, but does make it a bit difficult for each poet to stand out as a single artist. A handy index in the back makes it possible to trace each one, though, and the translation varies sufficiently and appropriately in style and voice so that the works stand out very distinctly rather than running together into a blur. Thong's enormously helpful introduction clearly explains and discusses the history of Vietnamese poetry as well as its particular characteristics and conventions, too, so that all these varied multicolored gems all fit into an overall framework in the attentive reader's mind. Indeed, this intro is a model of clarity and readability even as it delves into levels of meticulous detail enough to satisfy even the most demanding literature student.

For anyone wanting to seriously get to know Vietnam's enormously rich (and hitherto little known) contribution to our world's poetry, this excellent anthology is the perfect foundation. For those with a keener interest in Vietnamese history, too, this book has much to reveal about the emotional reverberations of Vietnam's historical experience through the centuries. And for anyone who just likes fine literature in general, this should make for a rare and delightful find indeed.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece., January 6, 2002

By 

alainviet "alainviet" (Indianapolis, IN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Anthology of Vietnamese Poems: From the Eleventh through the Twentieth Centuries (Paperback)

This is a collection of Vietnamese poems selected and beautifully translated by Huynh Sanh Thong, a 1987 recipient of a MacArthur foundation grant and a Yale University professor.

These poems written by well-known as well as less known poets, by kings and lay people alike from the 11th to the 20th centuries, are thought to represent the essence of the Vietnamese soul. They deal with men, women, life, art, religion, culture, politics, and of course WAR with its tragedy and sorrow. They reflect not only the mood and feelings of the common people but also convey a glimpse of Vietnamese history.

The author is to be congratulated for his life long work in promoting Vietnamese literature and culture.