The Land of October Revolution in To Huu's Poetry

Russia - the land of the October Revolution was an important and consistent theme in many works of the great poet To Huu.

The poem “The Old Servant” was composed in June 1938 when the poet was just 18 years old. The work is like a dialogue, when the author talks to the old servant about a promised land, although far away but the speaker firmly believes it is real: A place with no king, no mandarin/ No filthy people/ No slaves/ Living in pain and misery.

And the conversation ends with a dream of a miserable person:

He said: Not far?/ - Russia? / - Yes, that country./ And opened his mouth happily/ He sat dreaming of Russia...

Just two months later, in the poem titled “Hope”, the first verse is a joyful praise of Soviet Russia, when comparing the birth of the great country with the birth of a person, the author himself: The Soviet Union bloomed three years before my life / Twenty springs of wet green hair / How many have started the journey / I put them all in a trunk with a bare back / Oh, so much joy! Bustling on thousands of paths / Four corners of the world and following thousands of footsteps / Like me, all the young people / Walking lightly in the wind full of light / Hands picking rich colors like a hundred hooves / The road is fragrant like honey on a summer afternoon / The space is pink like a dream / The heart sings tender words…

Bolshevik Party leader VI Lenin announced the establishment of the Soviet government at the All-Russian Congress of Soviets on November 7, 1917 at the Smolnya Palace, immediately after taking over the Winter Palace. Photo: Internet

This verse and the whole poem is a joyful, vibrant song announcing good news to everyone, to the Vietnamese people living in the shackles of slavery.

And 30 years later, in 1958, when half of Vietnam had enjoyed independence and freedom, poet To Huu set foot in the Soviet Union, visited the house where Lenin lived and composed the long poem "With Lenin". This can be said to be To Huu's best poem when writing about the great leader of Soviet Russia.

The free-form poem begins with a story about a gentle visit, not at all noisy but full of deep emotions and respect: Lenin's house, in Gorky/ When I arrived/ Lenin seemed to have just left/ He was very busy:/ Day by day/ Endlessly/ People followed in front of the Kremlin/ Hoping to see Lenin/ In a moment of silence.

The poem is like a poetic memorial about one of the world's leading revolutionaries of the 20th century. And it ends with selected details, very real, very ordinary and also resonant with emotions: I still see Lenin/ Normally healthy/ In the middle of the Russian winter/ Carrying wood to build a house with the workers./ And this afternoon before he hurried away/ He still heard/ Krup-skai-a/ singing/ Reading the page of the book/ “Love of life”

History, as we know, continues to pass by, but poetry, in successful works, still remains, often defying time and life's changes, including many poems by To Huu.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/van-hoa-du-lich-van-hoc-nghe-thuat/van-hoc-nghe-thuat/202511/xu-so-cach-mang-thang-muoi-trong-tho-to-huu-18d1796/