| The Tale Of Kieu |
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| 19th century poems | |
| vietnamese literature | |
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The Tale of Kiều is an epic Poem in Vietnamese written by the 18th Century writer Nguyễn Du ( 1766 - 1820 ), widely regarded as the most significant work of Vietnamese Literature . The original title in Vietnamese is ''Đoạn Trường Tân Thanh'' (斷腸新聲, lit. "Painful New Voices"), but it is better known as '''''Truyện Kiều''''' (傳翹, lit. "Kiều Story"). Nguyễn Du made use of the plot of ''Kim Vân Kiều'' (金雲翹), a story written in Classical Chinese , to convey the situation at the end of the 18th century. The ruling Lê Dynasty was controlled by the ''Trịnh'' lords in the north and the ''Nguyễn'' lords in the south. While the Trịnh and the Nguyễn were fighting against each other, the Tây Sơn rebels overthrew the Lê Dynasty in 1778 . Nguyễn Du was loyal to the Lê Dynasty and hoped for the return of the Lê king. In 1802 the Nguyễn lord, Nguyễn Ánh , made an end to the Tây Sơn reign forming the new Nguyễn Dynasty . Nguyễn Ánh (now Emperor Gia Long ), wanted Nguyễn Du to join the new government. He had no choice, though he was still loyal to the Lê Dynasty. His situation is analogous to the situation of the main character in The Tale of Kiều. The work had been translated to English in its entirity at least twice, one with extensive footnotes by Huỳnh Sanh Thông (ISBN 0300040512) and one for the general reader by Vladislav Zhukov (ISBN 1740761278). In 3,254 verses, written in '' Lục Bát '' (6/8) meter, the poem recounts the life, trials and tribulations of Thúy Kiều, a beautiful and talented young woman, who had to sacrifice herself to save her family. She unwittingly sold herself as a Prostitute to save her father and younger brother from jail. The original text was written in Vietnamese using the vernacular Chữ Nôm script. Below are the first 6 lines of the prologue written in modern Vietnamese Quốc Ngữ and translated into English. Most Vietnamese speakers know these lines by heart. Quốc ngữ:
English translation:
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