Poems from Korea

From the Earliest Era to the Present

Peter H. Lee

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9780367279240
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000477900
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Regional Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

The Koreans, according to the Chinese chronicles, are 'the people who enjoy singing and dancing' and who regaled their gods with dance and song. Since then poetry has been an essential part of Korean life and has been regarded as the highest of the arts. In this first comprehensive anthology of Korean poetry in English, first published in 1974, Peter Lee has selected and translated a wide variety of poems ranging from the Silla Dynasty in 57 BC to the middle of the twentieth century. The poems chosen reflect not only the native Korean tradition, but also the great tradition of Chinese poetry. They often possess a deep lyrical quality, many are rich in religious overtones or derive their beauty from contemplation of nature and through many of the poems runs the feeling of the closeness of Korean life to the earth.

THE YI DYNASTY

1392–1910

Wŏn Ch’ŏn-sŏk

[c. 1401–1410]

He became a chinsa (“Doctor in Letters”) in the early part of the fourteenth century, but soon left the capital and lived hidden in the country, because the royal court was upset with political upheavals toward the end of the Koryo dynasty.

Rise and fall is a destiny turning;

The palace site is overgrown with weeds.

Only a shepherd’s innocent pipe

Echoes the royal works of five hundred years.

Stranger, keep back your tears

In the setting sun,

Hwang Hŭi

[1363–1452]

He served as Chief State Counselor for eighteen years at the beginning of the Yi dynasty. Quiet and broad-minded, handsome and brilliant, he was loved by the people as a wise statesman.

Spring has come to a country village;

How much there is to be done!

I mend a net and

A servant tills the fields and sows;

But who is to pluck the sweet herbs

That grow on the back-hill?

In the valley of jujubes red and ripe,

Chestnuts burst open and fall.

Crabs move and mutter in the mud,

They crawl in the rice paddies.

Let’s buy a sieve and strain new wine,

Drink, and test the season’s joys.

Kim Chong-sŏ

[1390–1453]

Statesman, general, and historian, Kim Chong-sŏ passed the civil service examination in 1405. From 1443 on, he—as governor of northern provinces—often subjugated the Jurchens. Climbing on the top of Mt. Paektu on the Korean-Manchurian border, he sang this heroic poem:

Wintry winds punish the dead branches,

The moon hangs high and cold over the snows.

On nights like this I pace the fortress walls,

My mighty sword in hand.

Alas, nothing opposes me; only

My fierce voice shakes the land.

Sŏng Sam-mun

[1418–1456]

One of the Six Martyred Ministers of King Tanjong (1441–1453–1455–1457). When King Sejo (1417–1456-1468) forced the abdication of his young cousin Tanjong, Sŏng and others plotted the latter’s restoration. They were punished with death, and their beloved sovereign also died a cruel death in his place of exile. In a crucial moment, the poet expressed his determined loyalty to the memory of his lord.

Were you to ask me what I’d wish to be

In the world beyond this world,

I would answer, a pine tree, tall and hardy

On the highest peak of Mt. Pongnae,

And to be green, alone, green,

When snow fills heaven and earth.

I scan Mount Shou-yang,

Lament the sages, Po I and Shu Ch’i.¹

They would rather have starved to death

Than pluck the wild bracken here:

Even though it is an innocent weed,

Does it not grow in the usurper’s soil?

Chŏng Kŭg-in

[1401–1481]

He passed the final civil service examination in 1453 but retired to a country village when Sejo usurped the throne from his young cousin. He was awarded the posthumous title of Minister of Rites.

HYMN TO THE SPRING

What do you think of this life of mine,

You who are buried in red dust,¹

Do I match the dead in love of nature?

I am not the only man beneath the skies:

But the pleasures of the hills are mine.

In a thatched hut before a stream,

Among the dense thickets of pine and bamboo,

I play host to the winds and the moon.

Winter left us yesterday; look,

Peach and apricot blossoms in the sunset.

Willows and plants are green in the rain.

As if in marks of a chisel,

As if in strokes of a brush, the hand

Of the Creator is everywhere, gay and extravagant.

The graceful birds in the wood

Drunk with spring time, flirt and sing.

Nature and I are one; the same pleasure

As I go out through the brushwood door,

As I sit in the arbor, as I walk and recite.

Days pass quietly among hills and waters;

But flavor is there—who knows it better than I!

Let’s climb a hill, friends, go to the sea;

Today, walk on the green grass,

Tomorrow, bathe in the I R...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface to the Second Edition
• Preface
• Introduction
• The Silla Dynasty (57 B.C.-A.D. 935)
• The Koryŏ Dynasty (918–1392)
• The Yi Dynasty (1392–1910)
• Twentieth-Century Poetry
• Notes
• Select Bibliography
• Index of Authors
• Index of First Lines