Seo, Jungju(1915~2000), the most famous Korean poet, has the outstanding ability to transform his real and imagined experiences he wish to send into aesthetical aspects. We pays much attentions on images in the poetry that are transformed through th...
Seo, Jungju(1915~2000), the most famous Korean poet, has the outstanding ability to transform his real and imagined experiences he wish to send into aesthetical aspects. We pays much attentions on images in the poetry that are transformed through the poet's imagination, when we study or read poetry. Image, with the help of the rhythmic element, is the pivotal principle of poetry, leads to the sensitive experience on the object by appealing to the hearer's/reader's sensitivity. The study on image, therefore, plays great role to clarify the poet's consciousness. In the poetry of Seo, Jungju there appear many women, who are performing as a beacon light to understand his poetic world.
In this study I try to search the poetic ego on women Seo, Jungju shows, through which I find out the archetypal image on woman and its changing aspect in his poetry. The poetic works I take as an object of my study are from ≪The Collection of Flower Snake(花蛇集)≫ to ≪The Myth of Jilmajae(질마재 神話)≫, in which I mainly study the changing moment of woman's image. Above all, in his poetic works I focus my interest in how to change the woman into various images. And in main body of this dissertation I study the process of changing woman's image in ≪The Collection of Flower Snake≫, ≪The Way to Heaven(歸蜀途)≫, ≪The Ode to Shilla(新羅抄)≫ and ≪The Myth of Jilmajae≫.
Seo, Jungju uses the wide scopes of women from Sunnae(순네) to Maria of Magdalene, irrespective of space, time, race and creed, whose images shows us sensual or innocent impression and, in some sense, willingly give us some mystic impression.
Firstly, Finding Gasinae(가시네) Concealed in Passion in ≪The Collection of Flower Snake(花蛇集)≫ : The poet, in his first poetical work, ≪The Collection of Flower Snake≫, casts away anxiety and unrest in his younger days through a sensual woman called Sunnae. In <Flower Snake(花蛇)> he shows the sensual desire through Sunnae and flower snake as a substitute for the triangular relationship among Adam, Eve and snake, which means the western literary element may give a great impact on him.
Secondary, Making Nunim(누님) by flower and light in ≪The Way to Heaven≫ : In ≪The Collection of Flower Snake≫ the main color took control of the poetic work is red, while green is the dominant color in ≪The Way to Heaven≫. Green symbolizes the openness such as life, hope and daily lives, which implies the contributive and stable image that is quite different image from the closed and physical desire in ≪The Collection of Flower Snake≫. The most important image in the poetry of Seo, Jungju is Nunim, and he describes Nunim, flower and green light as a traditional Korean woman image, furthermore, as a maternal space with the image of endurance and abstinence.
Thirdly, Rebirth of the Shilla woman in History in ≪The Ode to Shilla≫ : The main interest Seo, Jungju focuses in his ≪The Ode to Shilla≫ is the pursuit of eternity based on Buddhism in Shilla. He resurrects the old Shilla woman and imposes the spirituality on her, which is supposed to be the expansion of his poetic sphere. In ≪The Ode to Shilla≫, the eternity his poetic ego pursues shows the harmony among the history, the myth and the religion, through which he tries to show the circular aspect between life and death and the eternity. I find, in ≪The Ode to Shilla≫, the changing the image of women from the woman as the image of basic instinct to that of Korean traditional woman, furthermore to that of the Shilla woman who has the basic spirit of Shilla.
Fourthly, Pursuing the woman into the Nature in ≪The Myth of Jilmajae≫ : ≪The Myth of Jilmajae≫ is the poet's early native place and the source for his poetic energy. Seo, Jungju shows this work in his 60th birthday and in it he reveals his desire for returning ≪The Myth of Jilmajae≫ from the long outcast life of his own. By returning to the myth and the nature he dreams the renewed relationship between man and nature. In this work there appear many women grandmother, mother, Almoe(알뫼), Hanmul(한물), and the widow called Seolmakdong's (설막동) mother, they all have the dualistic characteristics of the divinity and the snobbism. But they all have the ability to harmonize these dualism. The poet's early image of woman, Sunnae, the image of the basic poetic ego turns into the image of production, the sherman in Jilmajae. The woman of sloth and sexuality is changed into the woman of the basic instinct and physicality of man who reflects the harmony with nature in ≪The Myth of Jilmajae≫.
As a result of my study, I sum up my research. Sunnae in ≪The Collection of Flower Snake≫ symbolizes the poet's sexual desire in his youth. And he writes ≪The Way to Heaven≫ that implies his psychological stability at home from the long period of outcast life, creating the Korean traditional woman, Nunim. This image of Nunim is expanded in the Buddhism and the history of Shilla in his later work, ≪The Ode to Shilla≫. In ≪The Way to Heaven≫ Seo, Jungju's main interest is to overcome the reality and transcend into the eternity. Through this changing image the poet accepts the positive side of life by demolishing the borderline between the sacred and the profane. His circular image of woman starts from Sunnae in <Flower Snake> through Nunim to the Shilla woman and returns to the women in ≪The Myth of Jilmajae≫.