(1915–2000), Korean poet. Born in Cholla Province, South Korea, So Chongju, Korea's premier twentieth-century poet, studied the Chinese classics in a village school and subsequently attended normal school in Seoul where he was expelled for nationalist activities. In 1936 he won a poetry award from the Tonga Ilbo, a Korean daily newspaper, and helped found the literary magazine Poets' Village— two events that launched his literary career. Active in the formation of the Choson Young Writers Association, he was appointed director of arts in the post-Liberation Ministry of Education. In 1954 he was appointed a member of the Academy of Arts. He returned to his alma mater, Tongguk University, in 1959, where he had a distinguished teaching and creative career, during which he won many major Korean poetry awards, including the Asian Freedom Award (1955), the Korean Academy Award (1967), and the May 16 National Award (1987). Flower Snake (1941), Cuckoo (1948), Selected Poems (1956), Shilla Notes (1960), Winter Sky (1968), Collected Poems (1972), Lessons of Chilmajae (1975), Poems of a Wanderer (1976), and Poems After the Crane Left (1982) are among his best-known collections.
For So Chongju, Korea and its people were like celadon, the celebrated green porcelain. In his poems, he sought a return to a greatness as exceptional as celadon's by re-creating the spirit of Shilla, which he thought represented Korea at its best. His poems are earthy, physical, sensuous, but above all they are exquisitely Korean, informed by an all-pervading Zen awareness.
Further Reading
Anthony of Taize. (1993) Brother: The Early Lyrics of SoChongju. London: Forest.
O'Rourke, Kevin. (1995) Poems of a Wanderer. Dublin, Ireland: Dedalus.
Song, Hason. (1991) Midang So Chongju Yon'gu (Midang So Chongju Studies). Seoul: Sonil Muhwasa.
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