Han Mac Tu

Han Mac Tu

Hàn Mặc Tử (September 22, 1912 - November 11, 1940) was a Vietnamese poet. He was born Nguyễn Trọng Trí, at Lệ Mỹ Village, Đồng Hới District, Quảng Bình Province. His pen names included: Minh Duệ, Phong Trần, Lệ Thanh, and finally Hàn Mặc Tử, by which name is known today. He grew up in a poor family, his father having died when he was young. He showed poetic talent at a young age. When he met Phan Bội Châu, he received encouragement and praise that made him well-known. He contracted leprosy in 1937, and was finally hospitalized at Quy Hòa Hospital in September 1940, where he died two months later.

His many poems addressed to real or fictive women - in the manner of Giacomo Leopardi in the West, for example - remain popular, and he is known as a love poet in Vietnam. His poems on folk subjects are also well-known.

Read more about Han Mac Tu:  Poetry, Collections, Poetry in English

Famous quotes containing the word han:

    We all desiren, if it mighte be,
    To han husbandes hardy, wise, and free,
    And secret, and no niggard, ne no fool,
    Ne him that is aghast of every tool,
    Ne none avaunter, by that God above!
    Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)