Celebrating Choonwon's poetry at 100th year of 'Mujeong'
By Choi Yearn-hong
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“Three Poets’ Siga Collection"
Famous novelist Choonwon Lee Kwang-soo became the father of modern Korean literature at the turn of the 20th century. “Mujeong,”first published as a seriesin a daily newspaper in 1917, was not only his first novel but also the first in modern Korean literature. In celebration of the centennial year since the publication of “Mujeong,” George Mason University is hosting the Centennial Symposium on Mujeong, which will also showcase the writer’s lesser known poems. While Choonwon’s poems are not as celebrated as his novels, his mark on the poetry world is no less significant.
Before writing “Mujeong,”he cowrote the first modern Korean poem with Yukdang Choi Nam-sun, and continued poetry writing until his tragic death from the Korean War in 1950. Poetry was inseparable from his life. He wrote more than 234 poems. This year, his handwritten poems were discovered and published by the Sogang University Korean Literature Program, compiled by a Japanese scholar and two Korean scholars. Choonwon also wrote many “sijo” poems and children’s songs. He should be rediscovered as a poet. Today, tourists will find or read two of his poems inscribed on monuments— “Nakwhaam” at Puyo, South Choongchung Province, and “Haewooddae” at Pusan, the southernmost port city. I translated “Haeundae,”which means “Sea-Cloud-Hill,” for foreign readers.
“Haeundae”
Bright moon on blue waves,
Fresh wind in green mountains,
Bright moon and fresh wind dwell on this seashore pavilion
and my soul and body, dusted from the city, are cleansed.
The sea alone is good.
The mountain alone is good enough.
The village, however, is blessed where the sea meets the mountain.
Bright moon and fresh winds make this village a dreamland.
Lying on the floor, I see the moon over the mountain.
Sitting on the floor, I see the moon over the sea.
Through the Five Islands, a passing fishing boat carries the moon on its mast.
How can I leave this pavilion?
How can I leave this fresh wind and bright moon?
I will enjoy this scene until morning.
Who dares to sleep tonight?
His first poetry book, “Three Poets’ Siga Collection,” was cowritten with fellow poets JooYo-han and Kim Dong-hwan and published in 1929. His first solo poetry book, “Choonwon Siga Collections,” was published in 1940. “Siga” means poems and songs. His third poetry book, “Sarang,” was posthumously published in 1955. “Sarang” means love.
Korean literary critics clustered his poems into three different and evolveing stages: the first stage, 1910-1918; the second stage, 1919-1930; and the third and last stage, 1930-1950.
The first stage of modern Korean literature was represented by Choonwon and Yukdang Choi Nam-sun, who opened a new era of literature under the Japanese colonial rule. In this first stage, Choonwon wrote 16 poems and Choi wrote 61 poems. Choi and Choonwon were the most prolific in the Shinchesh style of poetry, which was quite different from what was then the traditional style of poetry.
The second stage poems emerged in the “Three Poets’ SigaCollections,” cowritten with the two other poets mentioned above and published in 1929 . This second stage of poetry was a result of a turbulent time in his life after he wrote the first Korean Declaration of Independence in Tokyo on Feb. 8, 1919, when he was a student at Waseda University. The Korean students’ independence movement in Japan sparked the Korean Declaration of Independence on March 1, 1919, in Korea. He escaped arrest by Japanese police three days before the February 8 Declaration and joined the exiled Korean government in Shanghai led by Syngman Rhee, Ahn Chang-ho and Kim Koo, among other patriotic Korean leaders. He returned to Korea after experiencing the disappointing operation of the exiled government.
He published his poems in new literary Korean magazines in Korea at the time, such as the Chinju (Creation) in 1919-1921, Kaebyuck (New Dawn) in 1921 and Chosun Mundan (Literary Stage), which he founded himself in 1924. In this second stage, he published 49 poems, among them “Mibbum” (“Beauty”), “Dongji” (“Comrade”), and “Boothanjaru” (“My Pen”), and “Chonsun ei San” (Mountains”). His poems, vibrant and energetic and hopeful, were quite different from those of his contemporaries, such as Kim Ok, Hwang Suk-woo, Joo Yo-han, Oh Sang-soon and Park Jong-wha, who indulged in romanticism or nihilism in an age of decadence. Here is my translation of “My Pen.”
“My Pen”
The pen is my eternal gift.
Everyone receives his blessing in this world.
I am blessed with my pen.
I cannot thank my pen,
Even if I write and compose great works.
Dear friends,
Stop for a while in the midst of your hard work
To listen to my story,
My story for you.
Dear pen,
The bright moon and fresh winds make living in this village
like living in a dream.
The “Choonwon Siga Collections,” published in 1940, presented his “sijo poems” along with his free verses, which indicated a return to the traditional style poems with rhythm and condensed words. This book contains 63 sijo poems and 46 free verses were found in this book. During this stage , he was imprisoned for six months owing to his involvement in Korean independence movements, the so-called Sooyang Donguhoe Incident, and spent some periods of time in the hospital owing to the ensuing illnesses. After his recovery, he travelled to the countryside and to various mountain temples. His poems in this stage were centered around Buddhist meditation and chanting, and nature worship, as reflected in such poems as “Mam” (“Mind”), “Moetse” (“Mountain Bird”) and “Yoksaga” (“Historian”). Some were satirical poems reflecting the dark or grey time and place surrounding him.
During the time of Korea’s Liberation, he was based out of his country home in Yangpyoung, Gyeonggi Province. However, the Liberation offered more painful punishments for his so-called pro-Japanese collaborations; he was arrested, tried and freed in November 1949.
Then, the Korean War broke out on June 1950. He was arrested and forced to go to North Korea, where he died in captivity in 1950. His life was tragic despite his great contribution to his country as a writer, educator, patriot and leader. He died at the Cross as Christ. Not many Koreans understand his good conscience and innocence, even in his collaboration with Japanese authorities.
He never wrote a poem justifying and glorifying Japanese imperialism and the colonial status of Chosun.
Between the Liberation in 1945 and the Korean War in 1950, he wrote 113 poems, exceeding the total number of poems he had written to date. Poetry must have been his close companion during this time period. His poetry book, “Sarang,” posthumously published in 1955, includes “Dolbyoge” (“Stone Pillow),”which symbolizes his uneasy life after the Liberation, “Jigoo” (“Earth”) and “Koryo-Jagi”(“Porcelain”).
His poems were free of sophisticated metaphors and modern-day ambiguity. They were simple and conveyed straightforward messages to enlighten his fellow people with poems with traditional “sijo” rhythm, and to inspire people with new hope during the depressing times he endured and witnessed. The poems in the third and last stage must have comforted him more than anything else. These more confessional poems under his stone pillow drew my sympathy and compassion. His poetry was honest to himself. His humane concern for the poor and disadvantaged drew from his real life and reflected in his poems. That is why I am more sympathetic to him.
His poems, as well as his novels, were written in antique and simple languages . His life was not separable from his time and space. We should not review his life and works from today’s eyes.
Dr. Choi is a Washington, D.C.-based poet and writer.