Letteratura coreana 1

청산리벽계수(靑山裏碧溪水)야

Do not boast of your speed, O blue-green stream running

청산리 벽계수(靑山裏碧溪水)야 수이 감을 자랑 마라

by the hills:

일도창해(一到蒼海)하면 돌아오기 어려우니

Once you have reached the wide ocean, you can return no more.

명월(明月)이 만공산(滿空山)하니 쉬어간들 어떠리

Why not stay here and rest, when moonlight fills the empty hills?

- By Hwang Chini.

- Background: she was very famous, and a man came to Seoul. He was sure he could resist her and went to meet her. She dedicated this song to him.

- 2 meanings it looks like she’s talking about nature, but she is also talking to him:

Blue: his name, blue-green stream.

Orange: Hwang’s pen name, moonlight.

- The stream goes fast, but once it gets to the ocean, it can’t come back, so she asks him to stay in the moonlight = she tells

him to enjoy the moment because once he goes away he can never have her again.

동지(冬至)ㅅ달기나긴밤을 I will cut in two a long November night and

동지(冬至)ㅅ달 기나긴 밤을 한허리를 베어내어. Place its half under the coverlet, sweet-scented as a spring

춘풍(春風) 이불 아래 서리서리 넣었다가. breeze.

When he comes I shall take it out, unroll it inch by inch, to

어론님 오신 날밤이어든 구비구비 펴리라 stretch the night.- By Hwang Chini.

동지- = day in lunar calendar. It’s the winter solstice, the longest night of the year.

- She wants to have more time with her lover, so she says that if she could cut the longest night, she would add the time when her lover is with her.

서리서리 구비구비.

- Traditional Korean words: and

Another kisaeng was Maech’ang (“Plum Window”).

Kyerang (“Laurel Lady”, 1513-1550) Under a shower of peach blossoms we parted in tears,

이화우(梨花雨) 흩뿌릴 제

울며잡고 이별(離別)한 임 clinging to each other.

추풍낙엽(秋風落葉)에 저도 날 생각는가. Now autumn winds scatter leaves, are you too thinking of me?

천리(千里)에 외로온 꿈만 오락가락 하노 매. A thousand miles away, only my dreams come and go.

21- Flow of time: they departed in spring in the first line and in the second line she wonders if he’s thinking about her in fall. In the third line she talks about the mental distance between her lover and her.

She’s heartbroken and alone, but she still loves him. 20/03/2020 (recupero)

Kasa- Originating as song lyrics written to a prevailing kasa tune, it is characterized by a lack of stanzaic division and variable length, a tendency toward description and exposition, and, at times, also lyricism and the use of balanced parallel phrases, verbal and syntactical.

Often likened to the Chinese fu (= rhymeprose, or rhapsody, typical of the Han dynasty), it emerged as a new genre toward the middle of the

fifteenth century (early Chosŏn period). - Organized by certain patterns: the seasonal pattern, the rhetoric of argument or complaint. - Form of Kasa - Unlimited length (they might be transition works from verse to prose) the kasa writer was able to introduce more description and narration, employing such techniques as syntactic and semantic parallelism, contrast, repetition, variation, and the piling up of similes (they contain more lines compared to sijo). - Line of 3, 5, 4, and 3/4 syllables in the kasa composed by literati. - Line of 4, 4, 4, and 4 in the commoner's and women's kasa. - Categories of Kasa 1. Kasa by literati (both officials and Confucian scholars): the main theme is nature, some of them are poems of exile, they also focus on the Confucian values. 2. Kasa by women: they talk about the hardships of being a woman, but they also had an educational purpose, they were written by the mothers for the daughters. 3. Kasa by commoners: hard life and complaints tosociety and government. 4. Religious Kasa: Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. 5. Kasa in the end of Chosŏn period: after the victory of Chosŏn against the foreign forces. Chŏng Kŭgin (1401–1481) - The first Chosŏn kasa writer, he wrote “Sangch'un kok” (In praise of spring). - Name of the collection of his works: Puruhŏnjip not only kasa but also kyonggi-ch'e ga. - Purhuhŏnga (1472): Song of no Worries (kyonggi-ch'e ga style, not kasa). Chŏng Ch'ŏl (1537–1594) - He was also a sijo writer, but he's more famous as a kasa writer. - Pen name is Songgang. - Poet, statesman, scholar, and author of 5 kasa and 79 sijo included in the Songgang kasa (PineRiver anthology). - “The wanderings”: - His first kasa work. - Journey from Seoul to the inner part of Diamond Mountains. - He contemplates and describe the magnificence of the scenery. - The poem's impelling rhythm comes from a mixture of colloquial and learned. a controlled language characterized by balance, parallelism, antithesis, and symmetry.

It can be divided into 4 parts:

1. Explain the process/journey of his appointment as a governor of Kwandong (Gangwon).
2. Description of a magnificent view of Inner Diamond Mountains.
3. Description of the view and his sightseeing in Outer Diamond Mountains and the east coast.
4. Singing his appreciation for the arts comparing to playing with the Taoist hermit in his dreams.

Both Confucian and Taoist values:

• Confucianism: he's loyal to the king and wants to be a good governor.
• Taoism: appreciation of nature, he wants to merge with it.

An extravagant celestial creator! What abundance of strange forms!
Some fly, some dash – some stand, some soar – 3 4 3 4
as if planting lotus, as if bundling white jade,

Repetition of nandŭt helps creating the rhythm. Scrupulous care,
as if sifting the Eastern Sea from its bed, as if heaving up the North Pole!

the felicitous arrangement

of sound, and the repetition of as if (nandŭt) enable the reader to experience nature's intricate and consummate artistry as vividly as possible.

Lofty Height Viewing Terrace and lonely Cave Viewing Peak 4 3 4 4 shoot into the blue and speak to the Maker from eons constant and unbending.

- "Sa miin kok" and "Sok miin kok"

= Hymn of Constancy and Continued Hymn of Constancy.

 Historical poetry Ch'ungsin Yŏnju Chisa, = Songs expressing admiration towards the monarch.

They were written when the poet was forced to retire from court and spend several years in the countryside.

1. Hymn of Constancy (Sa miin kok), also called Love Song

He compares his constancy towards the king to the behavior of a faithful wife longing for her husband. He borrowed the voice of a woman's voice to express his longing and loyalty for the king he won't forget the loyalty to his king, even if he is far away, like the woman  will not forget her loved one.

Structure:

Banished from the Moon Palace (where fairies live) to the earth (where common people live). Changpyŏng Plum blossoms and the dusky moon. II The constant Wanted to send the plum blossoms to the Spring loyalty to the king beloved. Making of clothes for the beloved and the contrast between a splendid room and the loneliness due III The sincerity  Summer toward to the king to the beloved’s absence outside everything is beautiful and colorful but she is alone. Wild geese, the moon and stars, and frost. IV Wanted to send a bright moon to my beloved and The hope of wise Autumn hope it makes his world always bright like a rule of the King daytime. 23 A tall bamboo at sunset, the long nights, cold quilt, and harp. Worries on the V The speaker is alone in the long winter night, and king and Winter she can't fall asleep even if she wants to see a loneliness dream of her beloved. She would rather die, become a bee or a butterfly, An unwavering VI and sit on a flower tree, then

put the scent on her heart (loyalty) forConclusion beloved. the kingFrom the conclusion:Better to die and become a butterfly. (3 4 3 4)Stop at each flower, rest upon each branch, (3 4 4 4)with scented wings, And light upon his cloak. (3 3 4 4)He may not remember me: yet I will follow him. (3 6 5 3)The structure is not very strict.

The speaker wants to become a butterfly to be able to reach him. She wants to follow him and leave her scent on him. It's a metaphor for the speaker's deep love, which represents the deep loyalty for the king.

2. Continued Hymn of Constancy (Sok miin kok)

Very important because it used a lot of pure Korean expressions and words.

A dialogue between two fairies, one of them was sent to earth because she lost the lord's favor.

Woman A: I think I saw you at the Lord of Heaven. Why were you here?

Woman B: Oh, I lost my king's favor. My sins are so heavy. It was the Creator's fault...!

Woman B: I am so worried. I really wish I got some news.

About him

Woman A: There there. Don't think about it.

Woman B: I went to the hill and the clouds and mist bothered me. I went to the river and the wind and waves were strong, and there was no boatman... Oh...! I am so lonely, and I cannot help worrying about him. I'd better become a waning moon and shine on him...!

Woman A: Lady, rather become a nasty rain instead...

Hŏ Ch'ohŭi (1563–1589)

- Early Chosŏn period: not many female writers.

- Pen name: Nansŏrhŏn.

- Elder sister of Hŏ Kyun, author of the first vernacular narrative tale in Korea.

- Unhappy marital life and died very young (26) her brother was very sad and brought her works to the Chinese court she became very popular in China and Japan.

- 2 kasa: Kyuwŏn ka ("A woman's sorrow") and Pongsŏnhwa ka ("Song of Balsam Flowers").

1. Kyuwŏn ka ("A woman's sorrow")

The plum trees by my window, how many times have they fallen?

The winter night is...

bitter cold, and snow, or some mixture, descends.
Long, long is a summer’s day, and a dreary rain comes too.
And spring with flowers and willows have no feeling for me.
When the autumn moon enters my room and crickets chirp on the couch,
a long sigh and salty tears in vain make me recall the past.
It is hard to bring this cruel life to an end.
Subjects: the seasons that deepen her sorrow, intensify her agony.
o […]
Leaning on the balustrade, I gaze at the path he took –
Dewdrops (= metaphor of her tears) glitter on the grass, evening clouds pass by,
and birds (= self-projection) sing sadly in the green bamboo grove.
Numberless are the sorrowful; but can there be anyon