1 INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale 1.1. Until now, there have been many studies, exploring the beauty of Tang poetry; however, it is still a mysterous world. Selecting this research topic, we wish to explore “a fertile land” that contains many interesting things hidden in the vast world of Tang poetry. 1.2. The Poems about the women was interested but so far these studies have not fully agreed on the name, the concept of the connotation, so there are still a few points need to add. In-depth study of this type will help the readers who love Tang poetry have a full and deep look about the rich appearance of Tang poetry. 1.3. Vietnam, as well as some Oriental peoples, has a close relationship with Chinese culture, and in the process of building his poetic language has more or less receptive to the influence of Tang poetry. So this verse studies have also the basis for further research in the subject of poetry and literature in Vietnam. 1.4. Currently, Tang poetry is still taught in the curriculum at many universities, colleges and high schools in Vietnam. With implementation of this theme we hope will add a certain amount of knowledge about Tang poetry, especially on the subject of poetry for practical research and learning and teaching at the current schools. 2. Aims and objectives 2.1. Interpreting the specific factors that make Tang poetry flourish in the poems about the lonely women. 2.2. Studying the characteristics about the content and the art of poetry about the lonely women to strengthen its position and special mark of this type in the system of Tang poetry. 2.3. Affirming the growth and progress in cognitive and emotional development of the Tang Dynasty poet and human life through the exploration of the inner world with many hidden desires and memories of the lonely women. 3. The scientific and practical meaning of the study: 3.1. “The lonely women” is a topic that appears early on Chinese ancient poetry. Just as the subject: Saying goodbye, nature… were mentioned in the previous period, it is especially flourishing in Tang dynasty. There were a lot of famous poets such as Ly Bach, Do Phu, Bach Cu Di, Vuong Xuong Linh who took the topic of the lonely women as the subject compositions and created many valuable works. Therefore, to have a deep awaraness about Tang poetry, it must learn this particular type. 2 3.2. Studying the lonely women in Tang poetry could see a breakthrough in terms of awareness, depth of thought, humanitarian sentiments of the classic poets who lived far from us over a thousand years. On the other hand, in this verse, there are a few directly lyrical subjects, mainly are immersively lyrical subject in “the male poets composing the saying of the women who live in the lonely room” (male poet who wrote the words instead of the situation of the women). In the Vietnamese literature, there are many similar cases; from analyzing this verse may suggest the similarities works in Vietnam. 3.3. When the life of modern man has many things to pay attention, we also realize that the "concerns" of the lonely women are increasingly empathy and sharing. Therefore, exploring the lives of these women through the ancient Tang poems is considered as a way to contemplate the value of human life. 4. Scope of the study 4.1. The scope of the survey text: Regarding the scope of lonely women poetry, we based on how to conceptualize the lonely women (闺妇.) Here, iconic women characters are not the women in common, it is the women who are married (wife). The main features of the character’s inner world with the exquisite melody are plaintive sadness. The root cause of these sentiments bower is the woman has to live in special circumstances such as the couple separated or divorced, or the woman was betrayed, abandoned, lived alone in the lonely room. In limited subject, we synthetize the research with 234 poems about image of the women, from the collection of Tang poems selected and translated in Vietnam. In addition, from some suggestions of research that related to this verse, we consult some of the original Chinese articles in Full Tang Poetry, Banh Dinh Cau (彭 定 求, 1960 全唐 诗 ). 4.2. The scope of the research topic. Researching the lonely women poetry is very wide and it is a meticulous work, so we only focus on very basic issues as: - Content of the key ideas of the lonely women poetry through “decoding” the subject's characteristic lyrical and poetic character. - Characteristic art form of poetry in personality of the lonely woman is an array of topics in Tang poetry. 5. Methods of the study We made this thesis is based on the combination of two approaches: education and cultural poetics in which enforcement approach from the mainstream school. Simultaneously, we use a number of methods: - Interdisciplinary method. - Methods of statistics and classification. - Methods of analysis and synthesis. - Methods of comparison. 3 6. Overview of the study Apart from the introduction, conclusions, references, appendices, the main contents of the thesis are set out in four chapters: Chapter 1: An overview of research issues Chapter 2: The prosperity of the lonely women poems in Tang Dynasty poetry Chapter 3: The subject lyrical of the lonely women poems in Tang Dynasty poetry Chapter 4: The art of describing lonely women characters in Tang Dynasty poetry Chapter 1 AN OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH ISSUES 1.1. Researchs about the lonely women poems in China 1.1.1. About poems The study of the lonely women poems started from Tang dynasty, through the poems - research methods which is the most primitive of Tang poetry. In Tang poetry collections, from large or small poems we can see more or less about the lonely women side, however, just as individual poems as envidence that represents a verse, a period or a particular poet. After that, the compiling this particular recruitment was increasingly richer, by verse or by theme, stage of development, according to the content, by author These recruitment editors can create "infrastructure" for the study of poetry and artistic content. 1.1.2. About the name The poems writing about the lonely women characters often called women plaintive poetry (the women sadness in the private room), also known as the women’s emotion (Emotional in the private room), also the concept of limited women’s missing (wife’s missing). These names are relative, because the feelings of the women not only private, not only resentment, but also the nostalgia, so in their sayings always contained much sorrow and the missing Several poems are classified women plaintive poem was cited when discussing the women’s emotion poetry or the women’s missing poetry and vice versa. 1.1.3. About the content and art Duong Nhu Tuan (Ming dynasty) was the first person who discussed on the content and art of the poems about ladies in boudoirs as a separated theme, which is written in the book "Tang poetry analysis". Although without focusing on typical characteristics of content and art or specific characters in this type of poetry, the writer's comments and annotations on typical poems drew its preliminary aspect. 4 After May Fourth Movement, new scientific methods permeated in China, scholars gradually broke out of the impressive critical comment approach, started revising and editing documents systematically. Thenceforth, there have a lot of wide and deep scientific theses and treatises about Tang poetry, even under the interdisciplinary point of view. The first should be mentioned are the general articles about the woman's life in Tang poetry, in which also mentioned on the life (especially the spiritual life) of the lonely women in boudoirs. Nevertheless, these articles only generalized the women's images in Tang dynasty through Tang poetry macroscopically; their shortages and loss in personal life as well as their personal longings and needs weren't analyzed thoroughly. Some treatises directly studied issues relating to the content and art of the poems about lonely women in boudoirs under the popular name "Chinese gui-yuan poetry" (boudoir lament poetry). However, these researches just considered "lonely women in boudoirs poetry" from objective side, didn't have insightful analyses from subjective side, especially from lyrical subject - a typical prosody of this sort of poetry. We continue developing, contributing and solving the scientific missing points by basing on the suggested and oriented issue during the process of carrying out this thesis. 1.1.4. On typical poets of "lonely women in boudoirs poetry" The image of lonely women in boudoirs came into a lot of Tang poets' works, which helped them write valuable poems in their course of writing. Therefore, while studying typical Tang poets, scholars could easily recognize the important position of the poems about lonely women in boudoirs among their other works. From approached materials, we found that researchers had a united point of view: first, there were a large number of the poets who wrote "lonely women in boudoirs poetry", from Early Tang to Late Tang there were famous poets writing about this topic with lots of valuable poems. It can be recorded that Li Bai and Bai Juyi were the poets who had the greatest number of successful "lonely women in boudoirs poetry" Although these are separated and unsystematic considerations, they still helps readers have a insightful and comprehensive view of Tang boudoir lament poetry. 1.2. Researches on "lonely women in boudoirs poetry" in Vietnam 1.2.1. About selections of poems Like in China, in Vietnam there is not a selection of poems about women in boudoirs. The poems about lonely women in boudoirs only appeared in selections of typical Tang poems, which is associated with specific style of poetry and poets. However, most of famous poems about lonely women in boudoirs were translated into Vietnamese and introduced in Vietnam. Within the range of existing materials, we counted 63 poems about the image of women in boudoirs in Tang poetry being translated and introduced into 5 Vietnam. The existence of poems about lonely women in boudoirs in Vietnamese typical selections of poems helps to affirm its position in Tang poetry. 1.2.2. About content and art of lonely women in boudoirs poetry Tang poetry was introduced early into Vietnam and was noticed to study on the first days they appeared in Vietnam, which is illustrated through its features in the works of Middle Vietnamese poets. From Ly to Tran dynasty, the poem "Khue oan" (laments in boudoir) of Tran Nhan Tong appeared with the similar theme, motif and typical image to the Tang boudoir lament poetry, then there were "Thu thanh" of Nguyen Binh Khiem and "Tale of Kieu" of Nguyen Du. Especially, Dang Tran Con is considered the first person in Vietnam who studied the most widely and deeply Tang poetry about lonely women in boudoirs. Because without in-depth research, he could not absorb creatively the ancient Chinese poetry, especially about Tang poetry to write his immortal work "Chinh phu ngam" (Lament of the soldier's wife). From that point, we have a consideration that when later researchers and scholars studied gloss and commented on "Lament of the soldier's wife", they definitely have an in-depth study about lonely women in boudoirs poetry of the ancient Chinese poetry treasure, including Phan Huy Chu (Lich trieu hien chuong loai chi - Categorized Records of the Institutions of Successive Dynasties), Lai Ngoc Cang, Dang Thai Mai, Hoai Thanh. Especially, in the latest and quite completed research on the relation between "Lament of the soldier's wife" of Dang Tran Con and the ancient Chinese poetry, Professor Nguyen Khac Phi had a meticulous study of the ancient Chinese poetry; poetry about women in boudoirs was included. Therefore, he had insightful interpretation on the reason why with the same topic about war, Tu Fu and Bai Juyi's works have less impression than Li Bai's. Therefore, although without directly dealing with poetry about lonely women in boudoirs, the research documents about "Lament of the soldier's wife" of Vietnamese scholars and researchers brought us precious materials to carry out this thesis. Besides, content and art of lonely women in boudoirs poetry are often mentioned in general introduction about Tang poetry, and specific poets in the selections of poems. Some treatises such as Mai Thi Thanh Loan's (2006) "separation in Tang poetry" mentioned on several poems about innermost feelings of wife and husband in separation; the thesis of Nong Thi Nham (2009) directly studied "Tang poetry about lonely women in boudoirs" in which some aspects of content and art were talked about on the object side - the characters in poems and in the scope of researching 45 translated poems in Vietnam. 1.2.3. Consideration on poems about lonely women in boudoirs of several typical poets in Tang dynasty Like in China, poems about lonely women in boudoirs were usually mentioned when studying about specific poets. Most of the famous poems 6 about lonely women in boudoirs of Li Bai, Tu Fu, Bai Juyi, Wang Changling were translated into Vietnamese and studied in Vietnam. The scholars all remarked that lonely women in boudoirs poetry are one of the topics in which the morality and humanity of the poets were expressed the most obviously. One of the typical representations of this type is Li Bai. Chapter 2 THE POPULARITY OF THE WOMAN-IN-BOUDOIR POETRY DURING THE TANG DYNASTY 2.1. The Tang society with the popularity of the woman-in-boudoir poetry 2.1.1 The society context forming “woman in boudoir” phenomenon 2.1.1.1 War, military rule and warrior’s wife during the Tang dynasty There are a large number of warrior’s wives because of the long war over hundred years during the Tang dynasty. That means there created the need for soldiers, which estimated from Duong Thai Tong to Cao Tong dynasty, the number of soldiers having been appointed reached to hundred millions. In summary, war and military dictatorial policies are the main reasons leading to the present of a large number of warrior’s wives who had to live in loneliness and widowhood during the Tang dynasty. The grief lament of the warrior or warrior’s wife is no longer limited in a family; it becomes the story of Tang society. And truthfully, it also becomes the story in poetry. 2.1.1.2 The development of Tang economy and businessmen’s wives The new noisy urban areas together with traditional industry and trading development reveal the busy trading activities during the Tang dynasty. Therefore, during this period, the number of businessmen (those who sell things) is very crowded. They are from not only noble but also small business (those who run small business) class. Tang territory is very large with tough river or mountain, difficult transportation; which it takes months or even years for distant businessmen to come back home together with leaving a message. As a result, their wives may not live under the deprivation physically but they have to suffer from the torment and misery mentally. The husband is out of home over times, while the wife is lonely and sad in the empty room. Like those who are the warrior’s wives far away, their youth passes meaninglessly when they are waiting. Meanwhile, businessmen are ones who “appreciate profits than separation”, which makes the wife not only suffer the loneliness but also experience the anxiety and fear of being betrayed. That is not only the story of a family but also the remarkable point in this contemporary society. 2.1.1.3 Fame and wealth point of view, traveling style during the Tang dynasty and the wives of travelers, candidates and mandarins 7 Sharing the same condition as wives of warriors or businessmen, the large number of wives of distant mandarins, addicted-to-examination candidates and travelers (those who like traveling everywhere) who have to be on their own in lonely rooms is also a typical feature in Tang dynasty. This is resulted from the open examination policy and the success point of view during the Tang dynasty. During the Tang dynasty, the ways to become a mandarin are mainly from taking part in examinations, convening or participating in shogunates. Then, especially in the most prosperous period under the Tang dynasty, the development and civilization create many opportunities for people to make their ideals come true. However, in order to succeed, many people have to leave their hometown; meanwhile, ways to become a mandarin are not always easy, yet have great difficulties which make it hard to be true. Consequently, their wives, still young majorly, have to suffer the sadness of separation and let their youth pass meaninglessly. Another reason making many young wives live far from their husbands is the traveling style, which is very popular during the Tang dynasty. 2.1.1.4 The social standing of Tang woman generally and abandoned woman specifically The social standing of woman in Chinese feudal society is quite low. Until the Tang dynasty with the society development, the position of woman is raised dramatically. However, the idea of “respecting the men” still remains when man holds every right within a marriage. The law and the rule in society – they all do not protect the woman. In addition, under the Tang dynasty, when the society is prosperous, the economy is developed, the culture is open; man has many opportunities to have outside relations or to travel to many places to broaden their knowledge. Hence, they also have many chances to abandon their old wife in order to seek for new happiness. Although the husband is not far from home, the loneliness always exists; it always obsesses the woman in the lonely boudoir. The story of abandoned woman is popular in ancient Chinese society; it even appears more under the Tang dynasty because of many typical social reasons. It also becomes a social matter which is interested in by many people with progressive outlook including many writers. 2.1.2 The conditions fostering the development of the woman-in-boudoir poetry during the Tang dynasty 2.1.2.1. The development of culture The development of culture with open and tolerant cultural policies as well as the applying of accepting policies in school of thoughts and three religions (Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism) make Tang mental life develop quite freely and can absorb many sides deeply. Being brought up in such a good atmosphere, poets under the Tang dynasty are free to write and to express their 8 emotions and thoughts about life and people. They pack all sounds, images and rhythms of life into their poems. Therefore, such secret feelings of the woman in boudoir like sorrow for being far from the husband, desire for happiness, mournful accusation against the unfairness of the feudal system and rights of man are precisely and deeply expressed in poems which are received much sympathy in society. On the other hand, under the Tang dynasty, the development of examinations, education and culture make the academic standard of society becomes more improved as well as expand the poetry public places. Such a social environment also helps to spread and extend this lonely-woman poetry. 2.1.2.2. Maturation in cognitive and emotional Tang Dynasty poet Tang poets not only collected the traditional cultural values but also received valuable new cultural era, the broad-minded soul, expand awareness, and know how to respect the value of human life, to appreciate women. The living mode of poor Tang artists appreciated penetration, practical experience, writers escape from the court for traveling everywhere, even feeling optimistic in the border areas, battlefield to find out the way of living. With much personal experience, in conclusion, penetrating the real-life deeply, widely and sentiment "man’s best time" of the Tang Dynasty poets made themselves listen, empathize, had the same feeling with the unfortunate lonely women, urged them to write poems on this theme with the deepest and most touching way. That was an important reason for the lonely women poetry to be able to come up with the general public which had stubborn vitality, was widely circulated. 2.2. Lonely women Poetry in Chinese Poetic Flow 2.2.1. Lonely women poetry in Odes If the Classic of Poetry was seen as the original source of Chinese poetry, the Classic of Poetry could also be said as the original source of lonely women poetry. In the Classic of Poetry, the lonely women poetry was mainly concentrated in Style (18 poems) and little elegance (3 poems). The best poems expressed the love remembrance, misery because of the separation in life and parting in death of lonely women in boudoir as Bó Xĩ (Wei Feng); Jun Zi Ú Ỳ (Wang Feng); YinQí Léi (Shào Nán); Juăn Er (Zhou Nán); Ge Sheng (Táng Feng) In the era of the Classic of Poetry, because of the separated couples, the bitterness grievances of many women not only had the cause from the main battle, drudgery. They sometimes must be away by force, live in leading a single life, a cold pillow because of consequences of polygamy: Being abandoned by their husbands. Being the first original poetic collection of Chinese poetry, the Classic of Poetry with a very innocent expression, pure- 9 minded was firstly sketched secret heart lines of the lonely women in boudoir with sorrowful mournful melody. But this melody created specifically beauty for “the lonely women” poetry. 2.2.2. Lonely women poetry in Quin Han Verse Following the bright and pure source circuit of the Classic of Poetry, the lonely women poetry to folk conservatoire Han Dynasty had developed a new step. In feudal society, due to the status of poor women whose economic life depended on the men, her happy or miserable fate was often determined by a good or bad man. Thus, "There were many poems in folk conservatoire talking about the men who had a change of heart, made the women suffer” [4203]. Not only the upper woman classes met that plight but also the normal laborious women were also abandoned by their husbands as fans in the middle of fall. For as the woman in poem Shàng qĩ yídòng yingli mi wú The end of the Han Dynasty poetry, especially in the Old-style Poetry appeared more and lonelier women poems, the poetic inspiration filled with the meaningful compassion. We can say, the lonely women poetry at this period had pretty long strides. The lonely women’s "deep plaintive affection” was expressed by the words both seem natural, rustic and had the highly polished. Moreover, the sense of "separation in life, parting in death" have naturally in the depths of the Classic of Poetry writer soul who was so easy to empathize with the resentment " lonely women’s separation in life and parting in death", making the feelings expressed in a audacious, powerful way, touching people's hearts. Therefore, the sympathetic feeling of folk conservatoire and Classic of Poetry in Han Dynasty imbued with the lonely women poetry at future generation clearly. 2.2.3. Lonely women Poetry in Six Dynasties With an intensely emotional effort liberation, poetry in Qin Han period had poems which were on the subject of lonely women, handed down to future generations; actually, however, taking "lonely women" as the written subject must be composed by Wei Tan Northern and Southern Dynasty period Still emotional characteristic trends: melancholy of the soldier’s wife or the sorrowful joy resentment of women abandoned by their husbands and strong lyrical feature "melancholy" in ancient lonely women poetry age, the poems whose subject was lonely women Tan Wei Northern and Southern Dynasty, had the writer's creative personality strongly. The lonely women Poetry in this period mainly " the male poets composing the saying of the women” (male poet spoke for woman in boudoir), mainly used metaphor, political implications but also had some directly express 10 the confident of women in boudoir. For example, we can see how to express the mood of the character of the Gui qíng poem by Fen Yún also charming, delicate, feminine equally with the theme of female authors Bao Ling Hui or Xie Tiao with Yù jie yuan, a beautiful poem that later Li Bai deeply affected when composing a poem of the same name Thus, the lonely women poetry at Six Dynasties had a breakthrough with new, creativity images and poetic ideas; psychological character was portrayed very subtle, profound. In particular, the objective impersonal narrative way: the character in the first person, the character’s mood world reveals itself in a natural, truthful way. In general, lonely women poetry at the Tan Wei, Northern and Southern Dynasty period made a clear frame, creating good conditions for resplendent development in the Tang dynasty. 2.2.4. The lonely women poetry in Tang Dynasty With the foundation set out by the previous generations, The Tang Dynasty poets expanded the lonely women poems themes and achieved the brilliant achievements not only in content but also about art measures. The number of poets takes “woman in boudoir” as the subject compositions have increased many times previous periods, including the famous poets: Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi, Wang Changling. Right from the first period, the lonely women poems appeared in Tang Dynasty. Although not out of vanity odd style poetry previous period, the poetry lyrics can still realize the breath and mettle of Tang Dynasty poetry. Until Tabernacle, middle Tang Dynasty the lonely women poems have developed and have many brilliant achievements. The number of multiple, profound ideological content advancements, expanding space expression of the poetry, reflected the rich realism and objectivity. Poetry is not only limited in lonely women poetry but also has some social issues, emotional expression deeper escaped from mold the poems about lonely women in the South Dynasty. Many works depict subtle character, virtuosity, clearly expressed personal temperament and different spiritual world of human as: women plaintive poem (Vuong Xuong Linh), XuanTu, Lament Spring, Truong Can Hanh,… (LiBai), the lonely women (Bai Juyi), Lament Spring (Kim xuong Tu), Da dich tu (Thi Kien Ngo). The Late Tang Dynasty, as general style of poetry during this period, mainly the lonely women poetry reflects sadly mournful though. Faced with complex social reality, the poets could not find the way out and tried to find solace and compensation of men and women in love, the theme of the life about the love between men and women become the poet’s aesthetic look. Representative of this type of poetry is Ly Thuong An and On Dinh Quan. In addition, some poets to acquire realistic style of Du Fu, Bai Juyi, Bi Nhat Huu, Do Tuan Hac, Lac Quy Mong,… reflected deep social problems through reflects the tragic destiny of the lower-class women. However, as well as [...]... replaced the word woman in boudoir to express their feelings, the sensitive, the prohibitions cavalry had been publicly revealed 3.3.3 "Tác khuê âm" (Writing on the mind in the lonely room) - The comparisons, metaphors, deposited the mind of male poets "Nam tử tác khuê âm" (male poet spoke for woman in the lonely room) as well as the "I want to say, borrowing this old saying" is a traditional art method,... poem, often with mixed feelings, the appropriate of the subject with the story of characters There are also compositions, lyrical subjects presented in both levels: The lead story and role as in the poem Khuê oán” of the poet Vuong Xuong Linh In the first two sentences, the subject is still in a position lyrical storyteller, but to speak for the last two sentences, starting from the word "hốt kiến" lyrical . publicly revealed. 3.3.3. "Tác khuê âm" (Writing on the mind in the lonely room) - The comparisons, metaphors, deposited the mind of male poets "Nam tử tác khuê âm" (male poet spoke. compositions, lyrical subjects presented in both levels: The lead story and role as in the poem Khuê oán” of the poet Vuong Xuong Linh. In the first two sentences, the subject is still in a position