Society

Vietnam Poetry Day: Contributions of Nghe An poets

Van Thang • DNUM_BCZACZCACF 11:55

Many people still believe that Vietnam Poetry Day was inspired by the poem "Nguyen Tieu" that President Ho Chi Minh composed on the full moon night of January, the year of Mau Ty (1948) in the middle of the Viet Bac resistance base, full of poetry and heroism. However, if we look deeply into the history of national literature, we will see that the spirit of Vietnam Poetry Day existed long before that, at least since the Tran Dynasty...

Van Thang• 12/02/2025

Many people still believe that Vietnam Poetry Day was inspired by the poem "Nguyen Tieu" that President Ho Chi Minh composed on the full moon night of the first lunar month of the year of Mau Ty (1948) in the middle of the Viet Bac resistance base, full of poetry and spirit. The poem has become a symbol in revolutionary poetry, and is also closely associated with the event of Vietnam Poetry Day, which was first held on the full moon night of the first lunar month in 2003 at the Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam. However, if we look deeply into the history of national literature, we will see that the spirit of Vietnam Poetry Day existed long before that, at least since the Tran Dynasty, the clearest evidence of which is the story of the famous scholar Ho Tong Thoc who composed hundreds of poems on the full moon night of the first lunar month, recorded in the book Nam Ong Mong Luc.

Nam Ong Mong Luc - good stories about Vietnamese talents

Mr. Mong Luc is a work by Ho Nguyen Trung - the son of King Ho Quy Ly, a man of letters and a talented intellectual. This book was written while he was living in exile in China after the fall of the Ho Dynasty, carrying with it many memories and stories about the talented and heroic people of Vietnam.

This work can be considered a memoir, recording stories about prominent figures in Dai Viet history, not only in terms of achievements but also in terms of talent, education and personality. Among them, one of the characters mentioned is Ho Tong Thoc, an outstanding scholar, historian and poet during the Tran Dynasty.

It is thanks to Nam Ong Mong Luc that we know a special story. We would like to record the original text, as well as the translation as follows:

Through the above story, we see that on the night of the Lantern Festival, Ho Tong Thoc wrote poems, drank wine and became the center of attention of the contemporary literary community. This event not only shows his outstanding talent, but also shows that under the Tran Dynasty, on the full moon nights of the first lunar month, Vietnamese people had special occasions to honor poetry, where poets gathered, composed and drank together. Although there was no official “Vietnam Poetry Day” like today, it can be said that the night of the Lantern Festival at that time carried the spirit of a “poetry day”, when literature and poetic talent were promoted and praised.

The story of Ho Tong Thoc in the book Nam Ong Mong Luc mentioned above is not only a poetic anecdote, but also a testament to our nation's tradition of loving poetry, a tradition that existed hundreds of years before Vietnam Poetry Day was officially born.

Therefore, although Vietnam Poetry Day was officially established in 2003 under the decision of the Vietnam Writers Association, and although Uncle Ho's poem "Nguyen Tieu" has had a profound influence, it is necessary to recognize that since ancient times, Vietnamese poetry has had a solid position in the hearts of the nation, and has been respected and honored even during the first festivals of the year such as the Nguyen Tieu night.

Nghe An people and their contributions to literary history

A special feature in the flow of Vietnamese literary history is the presence of people from Nghe An, people with a strong spirit, strong will but also full of poetry, talent and spirit. Both the famous scholar Ho Tong Thoc and President Ho Chi Minh were politicians, historians, writers and poets from their homeland Nghe An.

When mentioning Ho Tong Thoc, people not only remember a talented politician and poet, but also an outstanding historian. He was a person who made great contributions to recording and preserving the history of Vietnam. During the Tran Dynasty, when the awareness of national history became increasingly important, Ho Tong Thoc left behind historical works of great value, typically the "Viet Nam The Chi", helping future generations better understand the history of the country. Not only were they simple records, but his historical books also demonstrated a strong national spirit, promoting the identity and spirit of Dai Viet before the Northern dynasty. In particular, he was the first person to call our country "Vietnam".

Ho Tong Thoc was not only a dry historian, but he was also a profound, generous, talented person, with an artistic soul. On bright moonlit nights of the first lunar month, he sat in the middle of a wine party, improvised poetry, and wrote hundreds of poems that amazed people. He did not compose just for fun, but each verse contained the depth of knowledge, philosophy, and erudition of a Confucian scholar. Ho Tong Thoc's talent for poetry and wine became legendary, recorded in Nam Ong Mong Luc, making his reputation spread far and wide, not only as a historian but also as a rare literati.

More than 500 years later, Vietnamese history saw the appearance of another son of Nghe An, also a poet - an intellectual - an outstanding leader, that is Ho Chi Minh. If Ho Tong Thoc used his pen to write history and compose poetry at literary parties, then Ho Chi Minh used poetry to record an entire revolutionary journey, to convey great ideas, to awaken the national spirit. President Ho Chi Minh's poetry, especially those written in Chinese characters, have a classical poetic style, crystallized from the Confucian tradition; but it does not stop there, in each sentence, readers not only see the beauty of nature, of East Asian culture, but also feel the strong revolutionary spirit, the iron will of a great leader.

From the poems in "Prison Diary", the verses expressing the unyielding spirit, to "Nguyen Tieu", where the bright full moon of January blends with the spirit of discussing military affairs - Ho Chi Minh's poetry is the connection between poetry and politics, between literature and the fate of the country.

Both Ho Tong Thoc and Ho Chi Minh were geniuses of Nghe An, possessing both profound intelligence and poetic souls. One recorded history with the pen of a historian, the other wrote history with his own verses in the midst of the nation's struggle. The two men, though separated by centuries, are both symbols of the spirit of Vietnamese culture: intelligence - talent - spirit - patriotism, qualities that have made Nghe An famous and enriched the country's literature.

The presence of both Nghe intellectuals in the history of Vietnamese literature is not a coincidence. Nghe An - with its rich culture, tradition of studiousness and indomitable spirit - has produced many outstanding writers and poets, contributing to the glory of the country's literature.

Vietnam Poetry Day was officially celebrated in 2003, but its spirit existed long before that. If Ho Chi Minh's poem "Nguyen Tieu" contributed to the inspiration for the birth of this day, then the event of Ho Tong Thoc writing poetry on the night of Nguyen Tieu in the Tran Dynasty also showed that since ancient times, Vietnamese people have had a day to honor poetry like that.

After all, Vietnam Poetry Day is not a new event, but a continuation of a long-standing tradition - a tradition in which people who love literature and love their country always gather, read poetry, compose and praise the national spirit. And on that journey, the children of Nghe An like Ho Tong Thoc and Ho Chi Minh are the bright torches, adding motivation for Vietnamese poetry to forever exist, develop and shine.