Trinh Hoai Duc's Nom Poetry

In the Can Trai poetry collection, on Dong Nai weekend, there is an introduction to a poem called Quat xa tao ti, a place name in old Binh Phuoc , the 10th poem in Gia Dinh tam thap canh, a part of the Can Trai poetry collection. In addition, Trinh Hoai Duc also has 18 poems written in Nom script, called Nom poetry.

Literary fairness aside, Trinh Hoai Duc's Nom poetry cannot be compared to the works of Mrs. Huyen Thanh Quan or the "queen of Nom poetry" Ho Xuan Huong, and is even less impressive than the Nom poetry of King Le Thanh Tong in the 15th century. However, Trinh Hoai Duc's 18 Nom poems are said to have been composed by him when he was an envoy to the Qing Dynasty when King Gia Long had just ascended the throne, and the poems were written in the form of a series of poems, also known as a series of rhymes. Different documents have not determined whether Trinh Hoai Duc's 18 Nom poems are in the Bac su thi tap or Di su cam tac. Perhaps because they are Nom poems, later generations classified these 18 poems in the Di su cam tac section of his literary career. As for Bac su thi tap, there are many poems he wrote in Han characters, often called Han characters poems.

For reference, in the Bac Hanh Thi Tap, Nguyen Du composed in Han script while Trinh Hoai Duc wrote in Nom script. The two men were considered contemporaries. Nguyen Du had a poem dedicated to Ngo Nhon Trinh in Gia Dinh Tam Gia which was also introduced on Dong Nai Weekend.

18 Nom poems composed by Trinh Hoai Duc during his diplomatic mission to the Qing Dynasty were written in the form of a continuous poem/continuous rhyme. Specifically, the last two words of the concluding sentence in the Tang Dynasty poem, Seven-word Eight-line (7 words, 8 lines) were used as the first two words of the opening sentence (theme). All 18 poems had no title, only numbered from 1-18. For example, poem 1 has two concluding sentences: "Now I meet an old friend and show my sorrow/ Here I miss him, there I look sadly" then the two words "sadly looking" open poem 2: "Sadly looking, I must try to please him/ In the month of Ty, on the day of Dan, I arrive at Uc Mon".

Lesson 2 ends with the sentence: "Eventually everything will be blackened" and lesson 3 begins: "How can I think about it when it is blackened?". And so, lesson 17 ends with: "But I worry that the times are still not peaceful" and lesson 18 begins: "When they are not peaceful, what should I do?"

Trinh Hoai Duc's poetry is rich in love for his homeland and country, specifically praising 30 beautiful scenes in Gia Dinh. Particularly in Nom poetry, written in Nom script, with more specific Vietnamese pronunciation, he also expressed the loyalty and patriotism of a follower of Lord Nguyen Anh, who later ascended the throne as Gia Long, from the beginning.

In Tang Dynasty seven-word eight-line poetry, people often pay attention to two pairs of real lines 3, 4 and argument lines 5, 6.

A high proportion of Trinh Hoai Duc's 18 Nom poems express this content, such as poem 2:

A thousand miles of grace is as deep as the sea,

The heavy meaning of the mountain is overwhelming.

Under heaven, no one is not a servant of the lord,

On earth everyone has wife and children.

Lesson 3 has 2 argumentative sentences (sentence 5, 6):

The full moon's face is covered by clouds that have not yet lifted,

The salty sea of love is hard to mix with water.

Trinh Hoai Duc's Nom poems also contain stories of everyday life and because he was a first- or second-rank mandarin of the royal court, he:

The clouds cover the sky, missing you

The vast water flows in the sea waiting for the king

(Lesson 6)

Or:

Lightning hero when parting

Show loyalty and righteousness to the subjects

(Lesson 12)

Tran Chiem Thanh

Trinh Hoai Duc's Nom poetry is known through Gia Dinh Tam Gia compiled by Hoai Anh and in this book there is often a footnote that says "there are other books that copy...", temporarily called different versions. There are many cases where Nom characters are similar but have different sounds, not to mention errors in the engraving and printing process... The sentiment and gesture worth noting is that Trinh Hoai Duc went to the Qing Dynasty as an envoy, wrote poems in his mother tongue to express his feelings, that is the legacy of previous generations.

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/dong-nai-cuoi-tuan/202510/tho-nom-trinh-hoai-duc-00a022d/