LookAtVietnam – Well-known Vietnamese poet Te Hanh, a representative of the progressive Tho Moi (New Poem) Movement, passed away yesterday in Ha Noi at the age of 88.

Poet Te Hanh passed away at the age of 88.

Te Hanh, whose real name is Tran Te Hanh, was born in the central province of Quang Ngai’s Binh Son district in 1921.

At the age of 15, Te Hanh went to study in Hue city where he met and discussed poetry with the Tho Moi group of poets. He became a member of the movement which led to a golden age for Vietnamese poetry. Hanh’s contribution to the movement was considerable, and many of his poems are still popular today. His most famous works include Nhung Ngay Nghi Hoc (Out-of-School Days) and Que Huong (In My Village).

Te Hanh’s poetry first came to public attention in 1944, when he published his Hoa Nien (Age of Bloom) collection. After the August Revolution of 1945, his poetry gained fullness and depth.

The simple and sensitive poems of Te Hanh bring, as he himself has said, “a note of tenderness to the overall tune of Vietnamese poetry”. After moving to the North in 1954, he spoke of his love for his native southern land, which was then occupied by US forces. He also wrote many eloquent verses about the struggle for national reunification. His patriotic poems include the collections Long Mien Nam (Heart of the South) 1956, Tieng Song (The Sound of Waves) 1960, Di Suot Bai Ca (To Song’s End) 1970, and Theo Nhip Thang Ngay (With the Passing of Days and Months) 1974.

Te Hanh’s great contributions to national literature earned him the Ho Chi Minh Prize in 1996.

Writer Dao Thang, Chief of the Staff Office of the Viet Nam Writers Association, said the association and his family are planning Te Hanh’s funeral.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News