Hồ Xuân Hương
poet · Vietnam · 1772?–1822?
A Vietnamese woman poet. She wrote in her own language rather than in classical Chinese, and is known for poems that speak of a woman's lot through everyday things. Little about her life is certain.
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early 19th century · A woman's lot, spoken through a white rice dumpling with red sugar inside, boiled floating in water. The wording of the third and fourth lines varies between editions.
My body is white, and it is round; seven times up, three times down, I drift in the water. Big or small, that is up to the hand that shapes me, but still I keep my heart of red.
Thân em vừa trắng lại vừa tròn, Bảy nổi ba chìm với nước non. Lớn nhỏ mặc dầu tay kẻ nặn, Nhưng em vẫn giữ tấm lòng son.
“Bánh trôi nước” (The Floating Dumpling) · in Dương Quảng Hàm, Quốc văn trích diễm (1925)
1 in 100 Billion · The social network of those who came before us