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Hồ Xuân Hương Quotes

Hồ Xuân Hương was a Vietnamese poet born at the end of the Lê dynasty. She grew up in an era of political and social turmoil – the time of the Tây Sơn rebellion and a three-decade civil war that led to Nguyễn Ánh seizing power as Emperor Gia Long and starting the Nguyễn dynasty. She wrote poetry using chữ nôm , which adapts Chinese characters for writing demotic Vietnamese. She is considered to be one of Vietnam's greatest classical poets. Xuân Diệu, a prominent modern poet, dubbed her "The Queen of Nôm poetry". Wikipedia  

✵ 1772 – 1822
Hồ Xuân Hương photo
Hồ Xuân Hương: 7 quotes0 likes

Famous Hồ Xuân Hương Quotes

“Sisters, do you know how it is? On one hand,
the bawling baby; on the other, your husband
sliding onto your stomach,
his little son still howling at your side.
Yet, everything must be put in order,
Rushing around all helter-skelter.
Husband and child, what obligations!
Sisters, do you know how it is?”

Hồ Xuân Hương

"The Condition of Women"
Spring Essence (2000)

“I see it up there in the corner of my eye:
the General's tomb standing all alone.
If I could change my fate, become a man
of heroic deed, couldn't I do better?”

Hồ Xuân Hương

"At the Chinese General's Tomb"
Spring Essence (2000)

“Praise whoever sketched this desolate scene.”

Hồ Xuân Hương

"Autumn Landscape", line 2
Spring Essence (2000)

“Nirvana is here, nine times out of ten.”

Hồ Xuân Hương

"Spring-Watching Pavilion", line 8
Spring Essence (2000)

“My body is white; my fate, softly rounded,
rising and sinking like mountains in streams.
Whatever way hands may shape me,
at center my heart is red and true.”

Hồ Xuân Hương

"The Floating Cake" (a metaphor for "woman")
Spring Essence (2000)

“To hell with the fate that makes you share a man… You slave like the maid, but without the pay. If I had known how it would go, I think I would have lived alone.”

Hồ Xuân Hương

As quoted in Vietnam Past and Present: The North, ed. Andrew Forbes and David Henley (Cognoscenti Books, 2012)

“Look, and love everyone.”

Hồ Xuân Hương

"Autumn Landscape", line 7
Spring Essence (2000)

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