New Poetry Movement (
Vietnamese
Vietnamese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia
** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam.
* Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam
** Overse ...
: ''Phong-trào Thơ-mới'') was a literary movement in 1930s
colonial Vietnam
French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...
, abandoning the stylized forms of Chinese-influenced poetry in
Hán-Nôm for free verse in Latin-alphabet
Quốc ngữ
The Vietnamese alphabet ( vi, chữ Quốc ngữ, lit=script of the National language) is the modern Latin writing script or writing system for Vietnamese. It uses the Latin script based on Romance languages originally developed by Portuguese mis ...
.
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History
The initial impetus was the result of exposure to French poetry, and failures in attempts to translate
Verlaine
Verlaine (; wa, Verlinne) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium.
On January 1, 2006, Verlaine had a total population of 3,507. The total area is 24.21 km2 which gives a population density of 145 inhabitan ...
or
Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fro ...
into the old Chinese-derived poetry forms. Since the 1950s most poetry in Vietnam is written in
free verse
Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French ''vers libre'' form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech.
Definit ...
. The New Poetry Movement did not just depart from Sino-Vietnamese poetic forms and script, it also introduced more lyrical, emotional and individualistic expression. This poetic movement was contemporary with, and inter-related with, the French
realism
Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to:
In the arts
*Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts
Arts movements related to realism include:
*Classical Realism
*Literary realism, a move ...
-inspired realist novels of the
Tự Lực văn đoàn ("Self-Strengthening Literary Group").
Among the poets of the "New Poetry," Nguyễn Khắc Hiếu, better known by pen-name
Tản Đà, (1889–1939) was one of the transitional poets between the old and "New." In terms of literary criticism, Hoài Thanh (1909-1982) was the first to make a systematic comparison of the Tho Moi movement with Western poetry.
[Viet Nam social sciences 1999 "Here, for the first time Hoai Thanh made a systematic comparison of New Poetry Movement with Western poetry. He pointed out the influence of French poetry on Tho moi, an important influence besides the influence of the tradition ..."]
References
{{reflist
Literary movements