THE QUALITIES OF AN EMPEROR IN THE IMAGE OF THE TOAD – A NEW ARTISTIC PERSPECTIVE IN MEDIEVAL VIETNAMESE POETRY

Abstract

Vietnamese medieval literature, spanning nearly a thousand years, achieved brilliant successes, one of the most remarkable being Nom literature, primarily Nom poetry ((the traditional Vietnamese script). Medieval Vietnamese Nom poetry flourished from the 15th century with famous authors, such as Nguyen Trai, Le Thanh Tong, and Tao Dan Poetry Group, and later reached its peak in the 18th century with Nguyen Du, Doan Thi Diem, Ho Xuan Huong… Le Thanh Tong and Tao Dan Poetry Group left behind a representative collection of Nom poems, including Hong Duc national pronunciation poetry collection. In this collection, besides expressing emotions about natural phenomena and historical figures, the authors also focused on themes familiar and commonplace in Vietnamese rural life. One particularly noteworthy poem is "Thiem thu", which describes a toad. But what is special here is that the author has impressively portrayed the image of the toad from its appearance and characteristics, and from a cultural perspective, the toad has embodied the noble qualities of an emperor.