AustLit

‘Thơ Con Cóc', (the Poem of a Frog), is regarded by many Vietnamese readers as one of the most well-known, yet terribly written, poems. This essay argues that despite its reputation, the poem might in fact be a 'good' poem because every Vietnamese reader remembers it. It is a poem of contradictions: it is serious, solemn, but at the same time, nonsense. This essay argues that this poem does not portray a frog; instead, it represents the very concept of nonsense itself.