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Pak Mok-wol
Pak Mok-wol (Korean: 박목월, 6 January 1916 – 24 March 1978) was an influential Korean poet and academic.
He was born Pak Yeongjong on January 6, 1916, in Moryang Village, Seo-myeon, Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, in present-day South Korea, to parents Pak Jun-pil (박준필; 朴準弼) and Pak In-jae (박인재; 朴仁哉). He had a younger brother and two younger sisters. He graduated from Keisung Middle School (today Keisung High School) in Daegu in 1935. He lived in Tokyo from April 1937 until late 1939, during which period he devoted his time to writing. From September 1939 to September 1940, he had several of his poems published in the magazine Munjang. Afterwards, due to increasing wartime censorship by the Japanese colonial government, he continued writing privately but did not publish any further poetry until after the liberation of Korea. He was married to Yu Ik-sun (유익순; 劉益順), with whom he had four sons and a daughter.
Pak taught at various schools including Keisung Middle School and Ewha Girls' High School beginning in 1946, before joining the faculty of Hongik University as an assistant professor in 1953. In 1961 he took up a position as associate professor at Hanyang University (at which a statue was erected in his honor), and in 1963 he became a full professor there. He was later named the dean of the university's College of Humanities. In 1966 he was elected to the National Academy of Arts of the Republic of Korea (Yesurwon). He was a board member of the Society of Korean Poets from its founding in 1957, and was chosen as the society's chairman in 1968. He died on March 24, 1978, at his home in Wonhyoro-dong, Yongsan District, Seoul.
Pak Mok-wol began his career as a member of Cheongrok-pa (the Blue Deer school), a group of three poets who also included Cho Chi-hun and Pak Tu-jin, all named after the 1946 anthology in which they appeared. Although they differed in style, their work largely had its basis in natural description and human aspiration. The body of Pak Mok-wol's work at this time established a new trend in Korean poetry, one that attempted to express childlike innocence and wonder at life through folk songs and dialectal poetic language.
Among such poems, "The Wayfarer" (나그네) is notable and was set by the musician Isang Yun as the last in his early song book Dalmuri (A Halo, 1950).
강나루 건너서
밀밭길을
구름에 달 가듯이
가는 나그네
길은 외줄기
남도삼백리
술 익는 마을마다
타는 저녁놀
구름에 달 가듯이
가는 나그네
Across the ferry
by the path through the corn
like the moon through the clouds
the wayfarer goes.
The road stretches south
three hundred li
every wine-mellowing village
afire in the evening light
as the wayfarer goes
like the moon through the clouds.
After his experiences during the Korean War, Pak's work shifted in style. Now he strove to incorporate the pain, death, and even monotony of daily existence into his poetry without maintaining a standard of sentimental and lyrical quality. His poetry collections, Wild Peach Blossoms (Sandohwa) and Orchids and Other Poems (Nan. Gita) encapsulate his artistic aim to depict the shifting human response to both the joys and sorrows of life. His later poems, however, represent a return to the use of vivid colloquial language as the medium through which to express the color and vitality of local culture.
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Pak Mok-wol
Pak Mok-wol (Korean: 박목월, 6 January 1916 – 24 March 1978) was an influential Korean poet and academic.
He was born Pak Yeongjong on January 6, 1916, in Moryang Village, Seo-myeon, Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, in present-day South Korea, to parents Pak Jun-pil (박준필; 朴準弼) and Pak In-jae (박인재; 朴仁哉). He had a younger brother and two younger sisters. He graduated from Keisung Middle School (today Keisung High School) in Daegu in 1935. He lived in Tokyo from April 1937 until late 1939, during which period he devoted his time to writing. From September 1939 to September 1940, he had several of his poems published in the magazine Munjang. Afterwards, due to increasing wartime censorship by the Japanese colonial government, he continued writing privately but did not publish any further poetry until after the liberation of Korea. He was married to Yu Ik-sun (유익순; 劉益順), with whom he had four sons and a daughter.
Pak taught at various schools including Keisung Middle School and Ewha Girls' High School beginning in 1946, before joining the faculty of Hongik University as an assistant professor in 1953. In 1961 he took up a position as associate professor at Hanyang University (at which a statue was erected in his honor), and in 1963 he became a full professor there. He was later named the dean of the university's College of Humanities. In 1966 he was elected to the National Academy of Arts of the Republic of Korea (Yesurwon). He was a board member of the Society of Korean Poets from its founding in 1957, and was chosen as the society's chairman in 1968. He died on March 24, 1978, at his home in Wonhyoro-dong, Yongsan District, Seoul.
Pak Mok-wol began his career as a member of Cheongrok-pa (the Blue Deer school), a group of three poets who also included Cho Chi-hun and Pak Tu-jin, all named after the 1946 anthology in which they appeared. Although they differed in style, their work largely had its basis in natural description and human aspiration. The body of Pak Mok-wol's work at this time established a new trend in Korean poetry, one that attempted to express childlike innocence and wonder at life through folk songs and dialectal poetic language.
Among such poems, "The Wayfarer" (나그네) is notable and was set by the musician Isang Yun as the last in his early song book Dalmuri (A Halo, 1950).
강나루 건너서
밀밭길을
구름에 달 가듯이
가는 나그네
길은 외줄기
남도삼백리
술 익는 마을마다
타는 저녁놀
구름에 달 가듯이
가는 나그네
Across the ferry
by the path through the corn
like the moon through the clouds
the wayfarer goes.
The road stretches south
three hundred li
every wine-mellowing village
afire in the evening light
as the wayfarer goes
like the moon through the clouds.
After his experiences during the Korean War, Pak's work shifted in style. Now he strove to incorporate the pain, death, and even monotony of daily existence into his poetry without maintaining a standard of sentimental and lyrical quality. His poetry collections, Wild Peach Blossoms (Sandohwa) and Orchids and Other Poems (Nan. Gita) encapsulate his artistic aim to depict the shifting human response to both the joys and sorrows of life. His later poems, however, represent a return to the use of vivid colloquial language as the medium through which to express the color and vitality of local culture.