Korean Poetry in Translation Hyangga (Silla c.668-935) Goryeo Gayo (Goryeo c.918-1392) Sijo and Sosal Sijo (Josen c.1392-1910) Kim Sowôl (b.1902) Pak Tu-jin (b.1916) Sources The poems on this page, translated by David R. McCann, Peter H. Lee, Jaihiun Kim, Kevin O'Rourke, and Sammy E. Solberg are from the following sources: The Silence of Love - Twentieth Century Korean Poetry, Edited by Peter H. Lee. 1980 - The University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu. This book is currently in print and can be purchased through amazon.com. A Lamp Burns Low - 101 poems by Sowol Kim - Selected and Translated by Jaihiun Joyce Kim. 1977 - Seongji-Sa Publishing Company, Seoul Korea. This book is currently out of print but you might find copies online at Alibris where I purchased my copy, or at other online stores specializing in rare or out of print books. The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Korean Poetry - Edited by Peter H. Lee, 2002 Columbia University Press. This book is currently in print and may also be purchased through amazon.com. The Book of Korean Shijo - Translated and edited by Kevin O'Rourke. This book is currently in print and available through amazon.com. Classical Korean Poetry Hyangga - from the Unified Silla Dynasty (c. 668-935) "The term "hyangga" (native songs) designates Korean songs as opposed to poetry written in classical Chinese (si). The genre specifically covers the extant twenty-five songs dating from Silla and early Koryo, transcribed in the hyangch'al orthographic system, in which Chinese graphs are used phonetically and semantically to represent the sounds of Old Korean." - Peter H. Lee from the introduction to Hyangga in The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Korean Poetry. Master Wôlmyông (c. 742-765) Requiem for the Dead Sister On the hard road of life and death That is near our land, You went, afraid, Without words. We know not where we go Leaves blown, scattered, Though fallen from the same tree, By the first winds of autumn. Ah, I will polish the path Until I meet you in the Pure Land. Master Ch'undam (c. 742-765) Ode to Knight Kip'a The moon that pushes her way Through the thickets of clouds, Is she not pursuing The white clouds? Knight Kip'a once stood by the water Reflecting his face in the Iro. Henceforth I shall seek and gather The depth of his mind among pebbles. Knight, you are the towering pine That scorns frost, ignores snow. Koryô Songs (The Goryeo Gayo) - from the Koryo (Goryeo) Dynasty (c. 918-1392) "Koryô songs (sogyo) are characterized by a recurrent refrain that reflects their folk and musical origins and their oral transmission. The were performed and transmitted orally until the sixteenth century when music books such as Notations for Korean Music in Contemporary Use (Siyong hyangak po) - the first systematic musical notation, providing both written music and written words - recorded them in the Korean alphabet." - Peter H. Lee from the introduction to Hyangga in The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Korean Poetry. stanzas from Song of the Gong and Chimes Were the pearls to fall on the rock, Were the pearls to fall on the rock, Would the thread be broken? If I parted from you for a thousand years, If I parted from you for a thousand years, Would my heart be changed? stanzas from Song of the Green Mountain Let's live, let's live, Let's live on the green mountain! With wild grapes and thyme, Let's live on the green mountain! Yalli yalli yallasyông yallari yalla Cry, cry, birds, Cry after you wake. I've more sorrow than you And cry afer I wake. Yalli yalli yallasyông yallari yalla stanzas from Ode to the Seasons In October au I'm like a sliced berry. Once the branch is broken, Who will cherish it? Au tongdong tari In a November night au I lie on a dirt floor With only a sheet to cover me. O lonely life, night without you. Au tongdong tari In December I am like au Chopsticks carved from pepperwood Placed neatly before you: An unknown guest holds them. Au tongdong tari Sijo and Sasol Sijo - from the Josen (Chosen) Dynasty (c. 1392 - 1910) "Sijo is a generic term designating a three-line lyric song (translation uses six of more lines) whose tune was standardized in the eighteenth century so that it could be sung to a uniform musical setting. Dating from the fifteenth century, the sijo was the most popular, elastic , and mnemonic of Korean poetic forms. The sijo was sung and transmitted orally and was not written down until the early eighteenth century." - Peter H. Lee from the introduction to Sijo in The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Korean Poetry. Hwang Chini (c. 1506-1544) (sijo) I will break the back of this long winter night, folding it double, cold beneath my spring quilt, that I may draw out the night, should my love return. Prince Inp'yong (1622-1658) (sijo) Don't mock a pine twisted and bent by the winds. Flowers in the spring wind, can they keep their brilliance? When wind blows and snow whirls, you will call for me. Yi Chongbo (1693-1766) (sasol sijo) May my love become an alder tree of Kumsong in Hoeyang, and I an arrowroot vine in the third month or fourth: Like a spider's web around a butterfly, the vine goes round the tree, tightly this way, tightly that, wrongly loosened, properly wound, bound, then loosened from down below all the way to the top, tighty winding round and round without a single gap, and unchanging, day and night, it's coiled around, twisting. Though, in the heart of winter, we bear wind, rain, snow, and frost, could we ever be apart? Modern Korean Poerty Kim Sowôl Born September 7, 1902 in Kwaksan, North P'yongan Province. Died December 24, 1935. "Kim Sowol is the most widely know and popular of twentieth-century Korean poets. The melancholy tone of his poems, most of which were published before he was twenty-five, and his use of traditional, "folksong-style" thematic and metrical elements combine to express poignantly a view of life that is felt to be particularly Korean." - David McCann -- from introduction of his translations of Kim Sowol's poems in The Silence of Love. Azaleas and Long From Now - translated by David R. McCann (from The Silence of Love) Invocation and Man Lives Until He Dies - translated by Jaihiun Joyce Kim (from A Lamp Burns Low) Azaleas When you leave, weary of me, without a word I shall gently let you go. From Mt. Yak in Yongbyon I shall gather armfuls of azaleas and scatter them on your way. Step by step on the flowers placed before you tread lightly, softly as you go. When you leave weary of me, though I die, I'll not let one tear fall. Long From Now Long from now, if you should seek me, I would tell you I have forgotten. If you should blame me in your heart, I would say "Missing you so, I have forgotten." And if you should still reprove me, "I couldn't believe you, so I have forgotten." Unable to forget you today, or yesterday, but long from now "I have forgotten" Invocation O name shattered to pieces, O name vanished into the void. O name without response, O name I will be calling till death. You are gone before I have said What I have carved for you in my heart. O my love, O my love. The sunset burns the western sky. Even a herd of deer sadly weeps, Your name I call Up on a lone hill. I call till sorrow chokes me. I call till sorrow chokes me. But my voice escapes into vast space Between heaven and earth. I will be calling your name till death If I should turn to stone. O my love, O my love, Man Lives Until He Dies How often do I ponder Over what I live for? Innocent of life as it were. Though the stream Empties into the ocean I will not bend Under the weight of Workday cares. Man lives and dies. Yet I pause to think. Like ant Lost in building its shelter In the warm spring sun, I will live Drunk with delight of living. If man is born to live, What should I worry? Man lives till he dies. Pak Tu-jin Born March 10, 1916 in Ansong, Kyonggi province. "He is an accomplished calligrapher and also a connoisseur of stones, the subject of some two hundred poems...Through a skillful use of such elemental imagery as mountain, river, ocean, star, sun and sky, he summons hope for a new life..." Peter H. Lee -- from introduction of his translations of Pak Tu-jin's poems in The Silence of Love. April, Message from the crane, and Self-Portrait - translated by Peter H. Lee and Sammy E. Solberg (from The Silence of Love) April A dagger pointed at me, A cup of poison to be drained, I must embrace you. I shall open my burning heart to you, Digest you till my stomach turns, And walk to heaven at the earth's end. One sun one moon Inextinquishable The timeless flow of water unending Till my soles harden into paws, This naked body will endure your lashes Till flowers bloom everywhere. A Message from the Crane On a deserted islet in the ocean Stay even if the sun sets, and the moon Stay even if winds howl and rain During the day chat with waves At night repeat the names of stars Memorize the names of countless stars Eat grass berries Wet your throat with dewdrops Weave your dress with flowers Inscribe your syllables on the sand Wait there On that lonely island Don't say my words are foolish The words I send to the winds Flying over six oceans I'll bring you back The joy Of wings growing from my shoulders Of my flesh and bones Till that day that morning Wait Self-Portrait Stones, rolling, strike me, Sands, wind-swept, sting me, Waves, swelling, buffet me, Long long aeons of time, Sunlight beats me, Moonlight strikes me, Dark night knocks me, Starlight beats me, Ah, fluttering, falling blossoms, Flower petals pummel me, Winds blast me, A drizzle, shower, sleet pound me, A fine snow, flaked snow, blizzard, Hail pound me, And wrath thrashes me, Doubt, anxiety, Solitude batter me, Despair smashes me, No, it's love that smites me, Endless remorse Endless waiting Craving flail me, Conscience, justice, sincerity break me, Truth, peace, Freedom break me, My own people break me, Timeless beauty Art break me, Jesus of Nazareth, Lord Christ and Father, Thy Word breaks me. * * * * * |
