Nguyễn Du
Vietnamese poet (1765-1820) · Vietnam · On the map · Writers · Lived 1766 to 1820 · aged 54
Nguyễn Du, courtesy name Tố Như and art name Thanh Hiên, was a poet and scholar-official, widely acclaimed as one of the most important writers of Vietnamese literature.
Nguyễn Du is read about 299 times a day, in 32 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 13 November 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 121 days, one point a day.
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Photos 12
A Đại Việt delegate to the Qing court in 1761. The mandarin robes worn by Du's family would have been similar to this.
Armies of the Trịnh lords, depicted in an 18th-century painting at the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts.
Qing portrait of Nguyễn Huệ, also known as Emperor Quang Trung.
A paddy field in Quỳnh Côi, Thái Bình, the homeland of Du's wife, in 1928.
Nguyễn Ánh, later known as Emperor Gia Long.
Depiction of a đào nương (ca trù performer) playing the lute (đàn đáy) from the 18th century.About this person
Fluent in both Literary Chinese and the Nôm script then used to transcribe the Vietnamese language, Du left behind a prolific body of works that demonstrates a mastery of various poetic forms, from Vietnamese adaptations of Tang-dynasty styles to folk forms such as song thất lục bát and lục bát. His most well-known work is Truyện Kiều, a novel-in-verse now considered to be the masterpiece of Vietnamese literature.
