Nguyen Du - The Tale of Kieu

It is necessary to keep in mind his historical and social background in order to understand both Nguyễn Du and his main work, The Tale of Kieu (Vietnamese Truyện Kiều), which was based on an earlier Chinese work known as Kim Vân Kiều and was originally titled Đoạn Trường Tân Thanh (lit. new accents of a heart-rending song).

The Tale of Kieu was written under a pen-name as the story was quite critical of the basic tenets of Confucian morality. It is a tragic tale of two lovers forced apart by the girl's loyalty to her family honor. Nguyễn added his own pain and guilt over the self-betrayal of his own code of honor, and the result is one of the greatest masterpieces of Vietnamese literature.

In Vietnam, the poem is so popular and beloved that there are allegedly illiterate peasants who know the whole epic by heart and can recite it without a mistake.