Poetry—Korea
The history of poetry in Korea is long and varied, with different genres prevailing in the different political and cultural periods. Throughout much of Korea's history, writers of poetry tended to be of the aristocratic class, government officials for whom the ability to write poetry was an indication of their upbringing and their ability to serve their nation well. Folk beliefs, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Western thought have all, in turn, exerted a strong influence on Korean poetry.
Korean traditional poetry on the whole can be characterized as being centered on the self, through which the reader can relate to his or her own experiences and proceed to discover their universality. Because of its Buddhist and Confucian underpinnings, Korean poetry tended to be transcendent, seeking the ultimate in freedom, liberation, and wisdom. The subject matter tended to be concrete objects or events—a gnarled pine, spring rain, night on the river—and written spontaneously. Traditional poetry also tended to be related to nature and to deal with it conceptually. With roots reaching back to ancient animism, something in nature was not viewed merely as a physical object but rather as a medium through which a universal essence could be captured. This romance with nature remains embodied in the poetry of today.
This page contains 201 words.
Poetry—Korea article
Read the rest of this article.
This article contains 1,593 words
(approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page).
Order our Korean poetry Article
