Thế Lữ

Thế Lữ (June 10, 1907 – June 3, 1989; born Nguyễn Đình Lễ or Nguyễn Thứ Lễ) was a Vietnamese poet and author. He became known as one of the pioneers of the Thơ Mới Movement with several critically acclaimed and popular poems. He was a founder of Tự Lực Văn Đoàn and worked as a journalist, critic and editor for the newspapers Phong Hóa and Ngày Nay.

After 1937 Thế Lữ changed his interest to drama. He joined Viet Minh's side during the First Indochina War. After the war he continued drama activities and is credited for professionalizing the Vietnamese drama scene. He was awarded People's artist in 1984 and Ho Chi Minh Prize for culture in 2000.

Early life Thế Lữ was born in Hanoi. His original name was Nguyễn Đình Lễ, later changed to Nguyễn Thứ Lễ because he was the second son (thứ means 'latter'). When he was 10, his elder brother died after which, his name reverted to Nguyễn Đình Lễ. Later on, he changed his name again to Nguyễn Thứ Lễ.

Thế Lữ is wordplay on his birth name Thứ Lễ. Thế Lữ, which means 'wanderer of life'.

Sometimes he used the nickname Lê Ta, created from his name: Lễ -> Lê ~ -> Lê Ngã -> Lê Ta.

As a Christian, his mother was not endorsed by his father's family. He lived away from his mother and met her only a few times each year, which is the reason why motherly love became one of his fixations. His life in the mountainous Lạng Sơn served as source material for some of his novels.

From the 1960s Thế Lữ stopped acting and directing (even though he still worked as an organizer), to translate foreign dramas, and consulted and encouraged new actors and directors.

He retired in 1977, then moved to Ho Chi Minh City to live with his first wife and children in 1979. He died of old age there on June 3, 1989.

Works Poetry Thế Lữ published more than 50 poems, mostly before 1945. His earlier poems are considered iconic poems of the Thơ mới movement.

Theme Thế Lữ was the first escapism artist in Vietnam. His poems reveal his love of beauty in sound and scenery,

Innovation Thế Lữ was credited as a major innovator in Vietnamese poetry. Due to his rationality, the unit in Thế Lữ poetry is not a single verse but a piece of poetry structured like French grammar. Compared to old poetry, which is often condensed, his poetry often emphasizes redundancy and expresses logic. For this reason, he often used "bridging", commonly found in French poetry that binds the verses into a circuit. His style is not refined, and was improved by later poets. His more mystery oriented works featured a recurring detective named Lê Phong.

Drama He was both an actor and a director. He acted in 26 roles and directed or co-directed about 50 plays.

Thế Lữ required actors to act realistically to convince the audience.

Music In 1946, Thế Lữ wrote the lyrics to "Xuân và tuổi trẻ" in memory of its composer La Hối, who was executed by the Japanese the previous year.