Form

Luc Bat

Also Known As lục bát
Narrative and Song Forms

Vietnam's native verse form, alternating six-syllable and eight-syllable lines linked by an internal rhyme scheme that carries across each pair of lines, flexible enough to sustain the long narrative poems of Vietnamese oral and literary tradition, most famously Nguyen Du's national epic The Tale of Kieu.

Facts
Place of Origin
Vietnam, oral tradition of uncertain age, first widely attested in written literature from the 15th-18th centuries. 1
Structure
Alternating six-syllable and eight-syllable lines (luc = six, bat = eight), with the sixth syllable of each eight-syllable line rhyming into the following six-syllable line, allowing indefinite extension. 1
Notable Example
Nguyen Du's Truyen Kieu (The Tale of Kieu, early 19th century), Vietnam's national epic poem. 1
Mode
Poetry 2
Connections

Associated With

Form Of Genre

Epic, Genres
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
In the Other Atlases

Original Language

Also in Language Atlas: the original language of this subject.

Source Wiktionary: luc batLead paragraph
Quote, Lead paragraph
is a traditional Vietnamese verse form

Originated In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.

Source Encyclopaedia Britannicatier 1
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
  • Place of Origin: Vietnam, oral tradition of uncertain age, first widely attested in written literature from the 15th-18th centuries.
  • Structure: Alternating six-syllable and eight-syllable lines (luc = six, bat = eight), with the sixth syllable of each eight-syllable line rhyming into the following six-syllable line, allowing indefinite extension.
  • Notable Example: Nguyen Du's Truyen Kieu (The Tale of Kieu, early 19th century), Vietnam's national epic poem.
View the Source
2. Wiktionary: luc bat
  • Etymology 1, definition line
    a traditional Vietnamese poetry with alternating lines of 6 and 8 syllables, whereby the last syllable of a 6-syllable line rhymes with the 6th syllable of the very next 8-syllable line, and the last syllable of an 8-syllable line rhymes with the last syllable of the very next 6-syllable line; the rhyming also has to conform to the matching of trắc or bằng tones
  • Lead paragraph
    is a traditional Vietnamese verse form
View the Source

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