Gianh River in the poetry of our predecessors

(QBĐT) - In the river system of Quang Binh , Gianh River has the most number of places. Gianh River is the longest, deepest and widest river. Gianh River has the most mountain passes, waterfalls, branches and sandbanks. In the whole country, Gianh River is the longest divided river, the place where the most fierce battles took place. Therefore, in the Middle Ages, many poets took Gianh River as a source of inspiration. Some prominent names include: Le Thanh Tong, Thai Thuan, Nguyen Du, Cao Ba Quat, Phan Huy Ich, Nguyen Khuyen, Tung Thien Vuong... Poems written by ancient people about Gianh River each have their own unique characteristics. If I could choose 3 favorite poems, I would choose: Linh Giang Hai Mon Lu Thu (Le Thanh Tong), Qua Linh Giang Ngu Thanh (Thai Thuan) and Do Linh Giang (Nguyen Du).

On the way to conquer the South, after stopping at the mouth of the Roon River, inspired to compose the poem Di Luan Hai Mon Lu Thu , King Le Thanh Tong and his ship continued to move to the mouth of the Gianh River. Here, the king composed the poem Linh Giang Hai Mon Lu Thu (Rest at the mouth of the Linh River).

Original Chinese text: The mountain treasure returns to the sea and sways/The ancient pine trees in Bo Chinh stand in the wilderness/The village of Tinh Ha is a quiet village with a small house/The new bamboo in Triet Pho pass is a story/The wind blows on the woman's head, she loves to sing softly/The people are all precious and the words are strange/The holy man's teachings spread far and wide/The wind blows on the outside world.

I paraphrase: “ Mountains and seas are vast/Since ancient times, Bo Chinh has been a frontier area/Thatched roofs embrace the villages/Bamboo flags cover the riverside gardens/Girls from the source show off their wasp waists/Country people's voices are so strange that they can't understand anything/No matter how far the frontier is, we still go/To preserve the country, no matter the hardships .”

The first four verses only describe the village scene along the Gianh River with thatched roofs, green bamboo hedges, rustic, familiar, simple, nothing special. The weight of the poem is concentrated in the last four verses. The girl from the source shows off her wasp waist, at first reading it seems normal, but thinking carefully, we can see some unusual points. This detail tells us that King Le Thanh Tong and the conquering army stopped at the Gianh River for quite a while, so they had the opportunity to go upstream Linh Giang to observe, to explore , to admire.

With a “discerning eye”, the author discovered: The girls of the upper Gianh River “showed off their wasp waists” and implicitly compared the natural beauty of the village girls of the upper Gianh River with the beautiful concubines dressed in fancy clothes. The word “khoa” (meaning to show off) proves that the village girls of the upper Gianh River at that time were aware of their physical beauty.

This also proves that the Gianh River upstream countryside more than 600 years ago was famous for its beautiful girls. The author also discovered: Dan dieu quych thatt ngu thu ly (The country people's voices are so strange that I can't understand anything ). The two concluding lines: Ky nam thanh hoa hoanh nhu vien/Khang han phong cuong ngoai dao vi . ( No matter how far the border is, I will still go/The country is protected, no matter the hardships) show the king's will in the work of preserving and expanding the territory .

The second poem I chose is Qua Linh giang ngua thanh (Passing the Linh river by chance, becoming a poem) by Thai Thuan. Poet Thai Thuan was born in 1440 (year of death unknown), passed the doctoral exam in 1475, and served as an official under the Le Thanh Tong dynasty. Thai Thuan's poetry was new, unique, and famous at the time. In his poem An gia (The Hermit), there are two extremely modern lines: Dong giang dieu nguyet vong qui Han/Chi linh canh van lac khu Tan (The moonlit scene on Dong river, forgetting to return to the Han king/Plowing the clouds on Chi mountain, happily escaping the Qin dynasty ).

Recently, poet Hoang Vu Thuat went “fishing for wind”. More than 500 years ago, poet Thai Thuan went “fishing for the moon”. Not only “fishing for the moon”, poet Thai Thuan also worked hard to “plow” the “clouds”. Don’t think that ancient poetry is not modern. Because of such poetic talent, when establishing the Tao Dan Association, King Le Thanh Tong appointed poet Thai Thuan as Deputy Commander. The poem Qua Linh Giang Ngu Thanh was composed by Thai Thuan just a few years after the poem Linh Giang Hai Mon Lu Thu by Le Thanh Tong. The original Chinese text: Linh Giang, Giang Thuy Vong/Thanh Hieu Lo Trung Kinh/Bach Lo Trieu Thon Tuc/Thanh Son Vu Hidden/Yen Chung Khu Da Hoa/Thao Nhi Duong Quang Hoa/Thien Giao Tuy Nhan Tinh .

I paraphrase: “ Looking up at the Gianh River water/Early passing the old road, the sky is blue/The tide has swallowed the foot of the dike/The mist still hides the distant hills/The field fire releases smoke/The grass surrounds the hamlets along the river/The sun rises, revealing the dawn/Causing the eyes to be drunk and awake immediately ”. The special feature of this poem is the art of using verbs and personification. These are the verb “thôn” (the tide swallows the foot of the dike), the verb “hưng” (the mist still hides the distant hills), the verb “chưng” (the field fire releases smoke) and the verb “nhiều” (the grass surrounds the hamlets along the river), making the landscape of the Gianh River extremely vivid, both real and illusory. The author is so absorbed in watching that he suddenly wakes up when the sun rises from the sea.

The third poem I chose is Do Linh Giang (Crossing Gianh River) by Nguyen Du. The original Chinese text: The flat sand has reached the end of the river, the sky is covered with water/The vast waves of ancient autumn have passed/A new look at the new cliff leads to the great sea/The boundary of past dynasties is in the middle of the river/The three armies' old green leaves are no longer yellow/The defeated soldiers of a hundred battles lie on the green grass/The natives who came from the north do not have to be separated/Twenty years ago, this was my same continent .

I paraphrase: “ Long beach, water mixed with sky/Autumn brings smoke and waves, nostalgic for the old wharf/Looking up at the distant sea gate/In the middle of the border line as if just recently/The ramparts are desolate, yellow leaves are flying/Hundreds of wars, bones filled the river/Do the people of the North bank know/Thirty years ago we were in the same continent ”. The main points of this poem fall into two real lines and two argument lines. After Ly Thuong Kiet defeated the Champa (1075) and established two new continents south of Ngang Pass, Gianh River was named Linh River (Linh Giang - meaning sacred river).

But it was not until the Trinh-Nguyen war that lasted more than two hundred years (1570-1786) that the name Linh Giang was truly fulfilled. The struggle for interests of feudal groups caused a scene of fratricidal killing. Therefore, crossing the Gianh River, the poet's heart was heavy with sadness. The author seemed to hear thousands of unjust souls screaming. The author summarized a tragic historical period of the country in two thoughtful verses: " The ramparts were desolate, yellow leaves were flying/Hundreds of wars, bones filled the riverbanks ". These two verses, together with the verse " The corpses of hundreds of families should be the merit of one person" in the "Eulogy for Ten Kinds of Living Beings" , partly expressed the anti-war ideology of the great poet Nguyen Du.

The Giang River is a river filled with legends, a historical river, with a beauty that is both poetic, majestic and mysterious. That is why the Gianh River has forever been an endless source of inspiration for poets from the past to the present.

Mai Van Hoan

Source: https://www.baoquangbinh.vn/van-hoa/202501/dong-song-gianh-trong-tho-cua-cac-bac-tien-boi-2224095/