Xuân Diệu

Ngô Xuân Diệu (February 2, 1916 - December 18, 1985) more commonly known by the pen name Xuân Diệu, was a prominent Vietnamese poet. A colossal figure in modern Vietnamese literature, he wrote about 450 poems (largely in posthumous manuscripts), several short stories, and many notes, essays, and literary criticisms.

Life

He was born in Gò Bồi, Tùng Giản commune, Tuy Phước District, Bình Định Province, Vietnam (maternal homeland). His father was Ngô Xuân Thọ, a teacher, and his mother was Nguyễn Thị Hiệp. He studied in Qui Nhơn, Huế, and later Hanoi (1938-1940). He obtained a degree in agricultural engineering in 1943 and worked in Mỹ Tho for a while before returning to Hanoi.

He was a member of the literary movement Tự Lực Văn Đoàn (Self-sufficience literary group) and one of the leaders of the Thơ Mới (New Poetry) movement. Representative works he wrote during this period include: Thơ Thơ (Poetry poem, 1938), Gửi Hương Cho Gió (Perfume Flies with the Wind, 1945), and the short story Phấn Thông Vàng (Golden Pine Pollen, 1939).

In 1943, he joined the Viet Minh and became one of the leading poets writing to promote resistance against the French.

In his whole life, he did not marry and died a bachelor. Many people believe that he is was homosexual, as shown through his many poems about love dedicated to various men. These poems include Tình trai (Boy love, about the love between Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine) and Em đi (You leaving, dedicated to a younger man whom he's shared a house for several years). In his memoirs published in 1993, the writer Tô Hoài confirmed the many stories of Xuân Diệu being reprimanded while in the Viet Minh for his indiscretions with other men.

Works

Throughout his career, Xuân Diệu had been variously known as a romantic poet, "the greatest poet among the new poets", and "the king of love poems" (he himself dubbed Hồ Xuân Hương the sobriquet of "the Queen of Nôm poetry."

His poetry collections Thơ thơ and Gửi hương cho gió are regarded as his masterpieces. They glorify love, life, happiness, and love of life. By that, he also grorified youth, spring, and nature as the cradle for love. He also grieved for the passing of time, the precariousness of life and showed thirst for everlasting life.

His works are often studied by secondary school students in Vietnam.

External links

• Xuân Diệu poetry
• Xuân Diệu poetry collection
• On the phone - translated to English