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Analysis essays on the four-panel painting in the poem "Việt Bắc" by To Huu - Sample 1
To Huu is the most outstanding political lyrical writer in Vietnamese literature. His works always closely follow every event, every historical milestone of the nation. "Việt Bắc" is a summary of the resistance against the French, expressing his joy and pride in the nation's victory. However, behind the historical events, "Việt Bắc" also contains beautiful, emotionally rich verses describing nature, known as the four-panel painting. It can be considered as one of the most important highlights, contributing to the success of the work.
The four-panel painting is excerpted from lines 43 to 52 of the work. This is the most distinctive part, which can stand alone as an independent piece. The section consists of ten lines divided into two parts: the first two lines summarize the dominant emotion in the excerpt, which is nostalgia; the remainder depicts the beauty of the four seasons, corresponding to four pairs of six-eight meter lines. The style of painting in sets of four panels is a highly favored technique in medieval literature. By using this form, To Huu once again infuses a strong sense of nationhood into the work.
The work begins with a winter scene:
Green forest, bright red banana flowers
High pass, the sun illuminates machetes at the waist
Nature is depicted with the distinctive dark green of the vast jungle, and against that deep green background, To Huu uses the technique of adding fine details, introducing the image of "green forest, red banana flowers". Although just a single flower, its red hue brightens the entire space, dispelling the cold feeling of Viet Bac's winter. The laborer appears in a strong posture, standing alone against nature without being overshadowed by it, but rather rising above in the stance of the universe's master. Here, nature seems to echo to highlight the human image, as the sunlight reflects off the blades, creating a sparkling beauty, naturally unarranged.
The spring scene is depicted by To Huu with utmost clarity and purity:
Spring days, apricots bloom white across the forest
Remember those weaving hats, each bamboo strand they hone
The highlight of the painting is the pure, elegant white of the apricot forest, a characteristic flower of the Northwest mountains. Though the painting is predominately white, it doesn’t create a monotonous feeling, because the author verbizes "white" with "bloom" to make readers feel the color is dynamic, spreading from a point across the painting. Thus, despite its simplicity, the painting is exceptionally lively. Corresponding to the natural beauty is the beauty of Viet Bac’s laborers. With skillful, talented hands, they hone each bamboo strand, showcasing their artistic prowess, proficiency, and simplicity.
The summer scene’s beauty is depicted with characteristic sound and color:
Cicadas chirping the phach forest turns yellow
Recall a girl picking bamboo shoots alone
The sound of cicadas bustling and joyful; the warm yellow color envelops the entire space. The author excellently uses the word "turn" to describe the process of color change. This process is rapid, sudden, and very surprising. "Cicadas chirping, the phach forest turns yellow" is a line that evokes many associations. It can both mean that the cicadas chirp in the phach forest, turning it yellow, and that the cicadas’ song causes the phach forest to turn yellow, which illustrates the vibrant, fullest vitality of nature. The human figures continue to labor diligently. The young girl appears alone but doesn’t evoke sadness or solitude, as there is harmony with nature at its peak and utmost beauty.
The last painting is the autumn scene, with the moonlight spreading everywhere:
Autumn forest, the moon shines peace
Remember someone’s heartfelt, faithful song
The moon is a timeless poetic theme, and the autumn moon is at its roundest and most beautiful. Describing the moon in the resistance base of Viet Bac, the author recreates a peaceful, quiet atmosphere. The beauty of the moon is not solely the beauty of nature but also symbolizing peace. The human image is explored through the cultural activity of the Viet Bac people: the duet singing, songs full of sentimentality and faithfulness.
Using the traditional six-eight meter verse form achieves an exemplary level. The evenly paced lines, along with the rhyming effect, give the stanza a musical quality. The images, though not elaborate, are carefully chosen to demonstrate both simplicity and subtle beauty.
The four-panel painting is the most outstanding stanza in the poem "Việt Bắc". If horizontally cut, the stanza is a panoramic painting of Viet Bac’s four seasons. If vertically cut, one can see the beauty interwoven between nature and the people of Viet Bac. The stanza also showcases To Huu’s skillful writing and refined poetic language.
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Analysis essays on the four-panel painting in the poem "Việt Bắc" by To Huu - Sample 2
"Việt Bắc" – a lengthy narrative poem in the six-eight meter form, consisting of 150 lines of poetry, evokes emotions that soar vast and overwhelming. The poem was composed in October 1954, on the day Hanoi was liberated. Through the poem, To Huu passionately speaks of the relationship with Viet Bac, the revolutionary and resistance sentiments.
The following ten lines, excerpted from lines 43 to 52 in the poem "Việt Bắc", express deep and lasting remembrance towards Viet Bac:
"When I return, you remember me,
...
Remember someone’s heartfelt, faithful song".
The first two lines are a question-and-answer exchange of "I", the resistance cadre heading to the plains, asking "do you remember me". Even when returning, even when apart, one's heart still passionately connects with Viet Bac: "I return, I remember the flowers and people". The repetition of "I", "remember" signifies steadfast loyalty. This nostalgia is aimed at "flowers and people", directed at the natural landscape and the beloved people of Viet Bac:
"When I return, do you remember me,
I return, I remember the flowers and people".
The frequent appearance of "you – I" in the poem, as well as in these two lines, beautifully portrays the intertwining sentiments between pairs, and the emotional tone becomes tender and evocative, reminiscent of duet singing from yore. This is the sentimental tone and national character in To Huu’s poetry.
The next eight lines, each couplet narrates a specific nostalgia for a particular scene, a specific person in the four seasons: winter, spring, summer, autumn.
Remembering the winter, one recalls the "green" of Viet Bac's forests, the "bright red" of banana flowers like flames illuminating the green woods. Remembering the people going to the fields "machetes at the waist" in a strong and heroic posture on a high pass "the sun reflects...". The machete of the field-goer reflects "the sun’s brightness", evoking emotion:
"Green forests, bright red banana flowers
High pass, sun reflects machetes at the waist".
The "green" of the forests, "bright red" of banana flowers, the sparkling brightness of "the sun reflects" from the machete; these colors harmonize, highlighting the latent, powerful vitality of Viet Bac’s nature, and the Viet Bac people who master nature, life in the resistance. To Huu discovers the spiritual strength from the collective ownership brought by the revolution and resistance. The laborers stand heroically on "high passes" filled with sunlight and wind. The labor crowd on campaign leaves "footsteps cracking stones and sparks flying". The soldiers go to battle carrying the invincible strength of a new era:
"Mountains cannot press on the shoulders marching forward
Camouflage leaves rustle with mountain winds".
("Rising to the Northwest")
Remembering Vietnam’s spring is recalling the apricot flowers "blooming white across the forest". The word "white" is an adjective transformed into a complement "blooming white across the forest", evoking an immense, pure white world of apricot blossoms spreading across all Viet Bac's forests. To Huu’s skillful use of words brings to mind Nguyen Du’s poetic line depicting a spring’s dreamy, pure charm in "The Tale of Kieu":
"Young grass stretches to the horizon,
White pear branches dotted with a few blossoms".
Thinking of "apricots blooming white across the forest", remember the artisans weaving hats "sharpening each bamboo strand". "Sharpening" implies polishing up those fine bamboo strands. Only with skillful, patient, meticulous hands can they "sharpen each bamboo strand" to weave hats, caps for the resistance, so the soldier goes on campaign with "the star on the gun muzzle pals with bamboo hat". The hat weaver represents the artistic beauty, inventive nature of Viet Bac population. Viet Bac’s spring is worth remembering:
"Spring days apricots bloom white across the forest,
Remember those weaving hats, each bamboo strand they hone".
Remembering Viet Bac is recalling summer with cicadas’ chirping, creating a forest song, the yellow hue of the phach forest, remembering the young girl picking bamboo shoots alone amidst the bamboo, cassava, and bamboo forests:
"Cicadas chirping, the phach forest turns yellow,
Recall a girl picking bamboo shoots alone".
A masterful use of the word "turn". The cicadas seem to pour down "turning" and rushing summer days, making the phach forest more yellow. Xuan Dieu also had a verse using "turn" in a similar sense: "The sky turns jade green across each leaf..." (Poetry charm – 1938). The line "Recall a girl picking bamboo shoots alone" is distinctive and rhythmically rich. There’s an internal rhyme: "girl" rhymes with "picking". Furthermore, there’s alliteration with the consonants "m": "shoots – alone – picking". These lines are full of musicality and artistry, crafting a beautiful and joyous artistic space, filled with color and sound. "The girl is not lonely while picking shoots alone", for she’s laboring amidst the forest music, gathering shoots to "nourish soldiers" supporting the resistance. The girl picking shoots is a youthful, lively figure in To Huu's poetry.
Remembering the summer, then remembering Viet Bac’s autumn with an unending nostalgia, remembering the mountain moon, remembering the singing:
"Autumn forest, the moon casts peace,
Remember someone’s heartfelt, faithful song".
The past moon "gold casting leg water trees embrace yard shadow". The Viet Bac moon in Uncle Ho's poetry is "moon entwined with old trees, shadows with flowers". The resistance cadre heading to the plains remembers the Viet Bac moon amidst the autumn forest, the moon "casting" through the green forest canopy, the moon serenely colored with poetic "peace". "Someone" is an indefinite pronoun, "remembering someone" means recalling everyone, all the Viet Bac people rich in faithfulness, who sacrificed themselves for the revolution and resistance.
The stanza teems with affectionate remembrance. The tender emotions deeply permeated both the scenery and people's hearts, the ones staying and leaving, the self-remembering and the mutual memory. Such sentiments are heavily laden with profound gratefulness. Time will pass, but the faithful and heartfelt songs will forever engrain like a bright red mark in people’s hearts.
The stanza reveals the beauty of an exceptional four-panel painting, rich in national character. The resistance against French colonialists began in the winter of 1946, culminating in October 1954 with Hanoi’s liberation – To Huu also expresses a longing for Viet Bac across the four seasons: winter – spring – summer – autumn, flowing with the historical tide. Each season possesses a unique beauty brimming with vitality: the green of forests, the bright red of banana flowers, the white of apricot blossoms, the yellow of phach forests, and the blue moon of peace. Viet Bac’s nature in To Huu’s poetry is immensely charming with a classical beauty. The people mentioned are not fishermen, woodsmen, farmers, or herdsmen, but farm-goers, hat-weavers, bamboo shoot-picking girls, and those singing songs of faithfulness. All reflect the admirable qualities of Viet Bac people: industrious, mastering nature and life in work, patient, skillful, artistic, youthful, optimistic, committed, and loyal to revolution and resistance.
A sweet, profound, and tender poetic voice encircles the reader's soul. The nostalgia expressed in "Việt Bắc" and in this stanza showcases the beautiful quality of To Huu’s poetic style: the citizen lyrical nature and national character, a blend of classical and contemporary tones.
Rich, evocative imagery. An artistic space full of vitality, with lines, sounds, colors, and light, symmetrically and harmoniously structured, leaving a profound impression in our souls as Uncle Ho wrote: "The scenery of Viet Bac’s forest is truly beautiful..."
Authentic poetry "is image, is human image..., from a visible will awaken boundless invisible" (Nguyen Tuan). This stanza evokes deep love for Viet Bac, pride in Vietnam’s land and people. The stanza "continues to resonant a steadfast heart", for us to cherish and recall the relationship with Viet Bac, the resistance sentiments.
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