1 Nam Phong [South Wind], 112 (Dec. 1926), p. 559; Hãn, Hoàng Xuân, Thi Văn Việt Nam [Vietnamese Poetry and Prose] (Hà Nội: Sông Nhị, 1951), pp. 149–51Google Scholar; Khánh, Đinh Gia, ed., Văn Học Việt Nam — Hợp Tuyển Thơ Văn Việt Nam, Tập II: Thế Kỷ X — Thế Kỷ XVII [Vietnamese literature — Anthology of Vietnamese poetry and prose, vol. 2: 10th–17th centuries] (Hà Nội: NXB Văn Hóa, 1962), p. 583Google Scholar; Hiểu, Đỗ Đức et al. , eds., Từ Điển Văn Học [Dictionary of literature] (Hà Nội: NXB Khoa Học Xã Hội, 1983) I: 306Google Scholar.

2 It is among the earliest surviving poems written in a Vietnamese demotic, i.e. non-Sinitic, prosodic mode. I have discussed the beginning of such poetry in Taylor, K.W., ‘Developing vernacular: New forms of Vietnamese poetry in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries’, in Qian, Nanxiu, Smith, Richard J. and Zhang, Bowei, eds., Rethinking the Sinosphere (Amherst, NY: Cambria, 2020), pp. 297–327Google Scholar.

3 Taylor, K.W., A history of the Vietnamese (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), pp. 241–2, 258–63, 316–17, 342–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 For biographical information about Hoàng Sĩ Khải, see: Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn Thư 大越史記全書 [The complete book of history of Great Viet] (Hà Nội: NXB Hhoa Học Xã Hội, 1998); Bản Kỷ 本紀 [Basic records](hereafter TT):17, pp. 11a–12a; Thọ, Ngô Đức, ed., Các Nhà Khoa Bảng Việt Nam, 1075–1919 [Vietnamese examination laureates] (Hà Nội: NXB Văn Học, 1993), p. 405Google Scholar; Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, pp. 138–9; Thắng, Nguyễn Q. and Thế, Nguyễn Bá, Từ Điển Nhân Vật Lịch Sử Việt Nam [Dictionary of Vietnamese historical personalities] (Hà Nội: NXB Văn Hóa, 1993), p. 254Google Scholar; Đinh Gia Khánh, Văn Học Việt Nam, p. 574; Hiểu, Đỗ Đức et al. , Từ Điển Văn Học [Dictionary of literature] (Hà Nội: NXB Khoa Học Xã Hội, 1984), vol. II, p. 306Google Scholar; Giáp, Trần Văn, Tìm Hiểu Kho Sách Hán Nôm: Nguồn Tư Liệu Văn Học Sử Học Việt Nam [Research on the Hán Nôm Archive: Source materials for Vietnamese literature and history] (Hà Nội: Thư Viện Quốc Gia, 1970 and 1990), II, pp. 87–8Google Scholar.

5 TT: 19:7b.

6 On double-seven-six-eight prosody, see Taylor, ‘Developing vernacular’, pp. 298–9: Thông, Hùynh Sanh, The heritage of Vietnamese poetry (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979), pp. xxxi–xxxviiGoogle Scholar. For an example of the construction of Nôm characters, see the Appendix below.

7 Ngô Đức Thọ, Các Nhà Khoa Bảng, p. 770. Nghĩa, Trần and Gros, Francois, eds., Di Sản Hán Nôm Việt Nam: Thư Mục Đề Yếu [Vietnam's Hán Nôm legacy: Annotated bibliography] (Hà Nội: NXB Khoa Học Xã Hội, 1993), I: 456 and III: 679Google Scholar.

8 Trần Nghĩa and Gros, Di Sản, items numbered 793, 1716, 3936, 4022, 4923, and 4024.

9 Thọ, Ngô Đức, Nghiên cứu Chữ Huý Việt Nam Qua Các Triều Đại [Research on Vietnamese taboo characters through the dynasties] (Hà Nội: Publication du Centre de l’École Française d'Extrême-Orient au Vietnam, 1997), pp. 171, 382Google Scholar. Notice the exuberant addition of vịnh; the Nôm graph variation for thời came from suppression of 時 as a taboo character in the nineteenth century because it was part of an emperor's name.

10 AB.195, p. 52. Whether this ‘now’ refers to Ngô Đình Thái's time in the 19th century of the Nguyễn dynasty or to the time in which the introduction was written during the previous Lê dynasty is not exactly clear, but it is reasonable to assume that it indicates Ngô Đình Thái's time because this ‘now’ 令 contrasts with the ‘now’ earlier in the introduction that refers to ‘the beginning of the present dynasty’ 始令朝, cited above.

11 Taylor, K.W., ‘The literati revival in seventeenth-century Vietnam’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 18, 1 (1987): 1–23CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

12 Nam Phong, Dec. 1926, pp. 555–9.

13 Nam Phong, Dec. 1926, p. 555.

14 Phê, Hoàng, ed.-in-chief, Từ Điển Tiếng Việt [Dictionary of the Vietnamese language] (Hà Nội: Trung Tâm Từ Điển Ngôn Ngữ, 1992), p. 871Google Scholar.

15 Đinh Gia Khánh, Văn Học Việt Nam, pp. 574–98.

16 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, pp. 138–53.

17 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, pp. 138–9.

18 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, pp. 149–50.

19 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 138; Đỗ Đức Hiểu, Từ Điển Văn Học, p. I:306.

20 Nguyễn Q. Thắng and Nguyễn Bá Thế, Từ Điển Nhân Vật, p. 254.

21 Ngô Đức Thọ, Các Nhà Khoa Bảng Việt Nam, pp. 394–415.

22 Ibid., p. 267.

23 From manuscript AB.522 (Institute for Hán-Nôm Studies in Hà Nội); see Appendix A for Vietnamese Nôm and alphabetic versions of these lines.

24 紀昀, Ji Yun, Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目提要 [Gems in the storehouse of rhymes] (Shanghai: Shangwu yin shuguan, 1933), pp. 2809–10Google Scholar.

25 AB.522, p. 1.

26 See Appendix B1 for Vietnamese alphabetic transcription.

27 Hoa, Diệp Đình and Sơn, Nguyễn Văn, ‘Làng Thủ Đô: Dương Kinh Nhận Xét Dân Tộc – Khảo Cổ Học’ [The capital village: National and archaeological consideration of Dương Kinh], in Những Phát Hiện Mới Về Khảo Cổ Học Năm 1996 [New archaeological discoveries in the year 1996] (Hà Nội: NXB Khoa học Xã hội, 1996), pp. 492–4Google Scholar.

28 TT, 15:69b.

29 Đinh Gia Khánh, Văn Học Việt Nam, p. 585 n. 16. giải, Ngô Tất Tố, dịch và chú [translator and annotator], Kinh Dịch [The classic of changes] (T.P. Hồ Chí Minh: NXB T.P. Hồ Chí Minh, 1995), pp. 213–24Google Scholar.

30 See Appendix B2 for Vietnamese alphabetic transcription of lines 49–53.

31 Đinh Gia Khánh, Văn Học Việt Nam, p. 587 n. 29.

32 TT, 16:9b.

33 I am indebted to Trần Khải Hoài for pointing out this clue for dating the work.

34 See Appendix B3 for Vietnamese alphabetic transcription of lines 285–304.

35 As discussed above, this line in some manuscripts reads: ‘Long-lasting rule of Trịnh lords and Lê sovereigns for ten thousand years.’ I attribute this line to the Lê-dynasty revisers and commentators in the time of Trịnh Tạc in the mid-17th century. See Appendix B3.

36 See Appendix B4 for Vietnamese alphabetic transcription of lines 317–24.

37 Lines 318–20 refer to the Thiên Bao (天保) poem in the Book of poetry, expressing wishes for the ruler's posterity (James Legge, The Chinese classics, 2nd ed., vol. IV, pp. 257–8): ‘Like the moon advancing to the full,/ Like the sun ascending to the heavens,/ Like the age of the southern hills,/ Never waning, never falling,/ Like the luxuriance of the fir and cypress — / May such be thy succeeding line.’

38 Three wishes the people of Hoa Phong (Hua Feng) made to Yao, the sage ruler in antiquity: longevity, wealth, and many sons. Đinh Gia Khánh, Văn Học Việt Nam, p. 597 n. 139.

39 Refers to the Chung Ti (螽斯) poem in the Book of poetry, which uses the metaphor of swarms of locusts to indicate wishes for the sovereign to have many descendants (Legge, The Chinese classics, vol. IV, pp. 11–12).

40 Lạc Long, ‘Dragon Lord’, was considered to be the progenitor of the Vietnamese people; his consort gave birth to an amniotic sac containing 100 sons. TT, Ngoại Kỷ, I:2a.

41 Dror, Olga, Cult, culture, and authority: Princess Liễu Hạnh in Vietnamese history (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2007), pp. 36–7, 55–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

42 AB.522: 1a–2a.

43 This appendix, based on the AB.522 text, is offered in support of the analysis in this essay and as an example of how Nôm characters were created from Hán (literary Chinese) characters.

44 Nam Phong, Dec. 1926, p. 555, has ‘chịu’.

45 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, pp. 139–40: manuscripts A and B are the same as this; manuscripts C and D have ‘trêu người bỡ ngỡ’; in his transcription, Hoàng Xuân Hãn renders the last two words as ‘mờ ợ’.

46 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, pp. 139, has ‘thửa’.

47 Nam Phong, Dec. 1926, p. 555, has ‘cớ’.

48 Nam Phong, Dec. 1926, p. 555, and Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 140, have ‘vàng’.

49 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 140: manuscripts A and B are the same as this; manuscripts C and D have ‘nọ tô nọ’.

50 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 140, has ‘khoi’.

51 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 140, has ‘trường’.

52 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 140: manuscripts A and B are the same as this; manuscripts C and D have ‘Chung Qùy sao khéo mạc hình’.

53 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 140, has ‘Bùa đào’.

54 Nam Phong, Dec. 1926, p. 555, has ‘điểm’.

55 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, pp. 148, 150, prefers ‘phát’; his manuscript A has ‘phút’ and his manuscripts C and D have ‘Trời chẳng riêng một tơ một phút’. His manuscript B does not contain the passage.

56 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 285, has ‘thoắt’.

57 Nam Phong, Dec. 1926, p. 559, has ‘Tràng-an’.

58 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, pp. 148, 150: manuscript A is the same as this; manuscripts C and D have ‘chen chân’.

59 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 149, has ‘thì’.

60 Nam Phong, Dec. 1926, p. 559, has ‘hay hảy’; Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 149, has ‘hày hẩy’.

61 Nam Phong, Dec. 1926, p. 559, has ‘thiều-quang’.

62 Nam Phong, Dec. 1926, p. 559, and Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 149, have ‘chợ’.

63 Nam Phong, Dec. 1926, p. 559, has ‘đặt’.

64 Nam Phong, Dec. 1926, p. 559, and Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 149, have ‘liễu’.

65 Nam Phong, Dec. 1926, p. 559, and Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 149, have ‘thủa’.

66 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 149, has ‘ngươi’.

67 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 150, apparently follows the Nam Phong version for this line in his transcription; the three manuscripts in his possession that contain this passage (A, C, and D) have: ‘Ấu vàng vững đặt thánh-quân muôn đời’.

68 Nam Phong, Dec. 1926, p. 559, has ‘Hàu’.

69 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 149, has ‘thỏa’.

70 Nam Phong, Dec. 1926, p. 559, has ‘Đức tề’; Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 149, 150: manuscript A has ‘Đức tày’; manuscripts C and D have ‘Phúc tày’.

71 Nam Phong, Dec. 1926, p. 559, has ‘Trúng-tư’.

72 Nam Phong, Dec. 1926, p. 559, has ‘đầy dẫy’; Hoàng Xuân Hãn, Thi Văn Việt Nam, p. 149, has ‘dẫy dẫy’.