Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Note on the text
- Korean dynasties
- Glossary
- East Asia
- Principal places in works discussed
- Introduction
- 1 Language, forms, prosody, and themes
- 2 From oral to written literature
- 3 Hyangga
- 4 Silla writings in Chinese
- 5 Koryŏ songs
- 6 Koryŏ writings in Chinese
- 7 Early Chosŏn eulogies
- 8 Early Chosŏn sijo
- 9 Early Chosŏn kasa
- 10 Late Chosŏn sijo
- 11 Late Chosŏn kasa
- 12 Chosŏn poetry in Chinese
- 13 Chosŏn fiction in Chinese
- 14 Chosŏn fiction in Korean
- 15 P'ansori
- 16 Folk drama
- 17 Literary criticism
- 18 Early twentieth-century poetry
- 19 Early twentieth-century fiction by men
- 20 Early twentieth-century fiction by women
- 21 Late twentieth-century poetry by men
- 22 Late twentieth-century poetry by women
- 23 Late twentieth-century fiction by men
- 24 Late twentieth-century fiction by women
- 25 Literature of North Korea
- Bibliography
- Suggestions for further reading
- Index
10 - Late Chosŏn sijo
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Note on the text
- Korean dynasties
- Glossary
- East Asia
- Principal places in works discussed
- Introduction
- 1 Language, forms, prosody, and themes
- 2 From oral to written literature
- 3 Hyangga
- 4 Silla writings in Chinese
- 5 Koryŏ songs
- 6 Koryŏ writings in Chinese
- 7 Early Chosŏn eulogies
- 8 Early Chosŏn sijo
- 9 Early Chosŏn kasa
- 10 Late Chosŏn sijo
- 11 Late Chosŏn kasa
- 12 Chosŏn poetry in Chinese
- 13 Chosŏn fiction in Chinese
- 14 Chosŏn fiction in Korean
- 15 P'ansori
- 16 Folk drama
- 17 Literary criticism
- 18 Early twentieth-century poetry
- 19 Early twentieth-century fiction by men
- 20 Early twentieth-century fiction by women
- 21 Late twentieth-century poetry by men
- 22 Late twentieth-century poetry by women
- 23 Late twentieth-century fiction by men
- 24 Late twentieth-century fiction by women
- 25 Literature of North Korea
- Bibliography
- Suggestions for further reading
- Index
Summary
Several seventeenth-century literati poets wrote sijo sequences, including Ko Ŭngch'ŏk (1531–1605), Chang Kyŏngse (1547–1615), Kim Tugyŏn (1555–1637), and Yi Tŏgil (1561–1622). Topics ranged from morality and reclusion to national crisis (especially among those who had fought against the Japanese invaders) and love of the king.
A group of four songs by Cho Chonsŏng (1554–1628), entitled “Calling a Boy,” devotes itself to picking herbs, viewing fish, tilling a field, and returning home drunk.
Boy, lead a cow to the northern village,
let's taste new wine.
My face is rosy with drink,
I'll return on cowback in the moonlight.
Hurrah! I am a Fu Xi tonight,
ancient glories at my fingertips.
Wine has made the speaker a Fu Xi, the legendary Chinese cultural hero. Tao Qian (365–427) called wine a “care-dispelling thing” serving to “exorcize all our concerns” and liberating us from life. It is a leveler that makes a sage or an immortal. Wine is associated with the moon, flowers, and friends, as well, as in the following sijo by Yi Tŏkhyŏng (1561–1613):
The moon hangs in the sky, bright, full.
Since the dawn,
It has met wind and frost.
Soon it could sink.
But no, wait, and shine on
the gold cup of my drunken guest.
When the poet asks the moon to “shine on / the gold cup of my drunken guest,” he has in mind a famous poem by Li Bo, “Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon,” where the revered Chinese poet says: “I raise my cup to invite the moon to join me; / It and my shadow make a party of three.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A History of Korean Literature , pp. 203 - 227Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003