존 던의 「님의 침묵」과 한용운의 「님의 침묵」

Abstract

John Donne is the 17th century English metaphysical poet while Han Yong-Un is the 20th century Korean modern poet, with the gap of 300 years between the two poets. For this reason, it is not easy to find out some similarities between them. There is also great difficulty in finding out literal evidence to prove their similarities. Some scholars assert that Han is similar to the metaphysical poets in that he seeks the unity of opposite things such as the secular and the divine, but their opinions are only a speculation. Although there is a gap of some 300 years and there is no literal evidence, this paper, in terms of comparative literature, tries to find out similarities between the two poets' works. This study is based on the premise that the idea of Donne's poetry is not very different from that of Han's. Donne's The Holy Sonnets and Han's Silence of Lover are analyzed to support this paper's argument. There are hatred and love, despair and hope, pride and humility, . . . and so forth strongly expressed in their works. Han's Silence of Lover as well as Donne's work is said to have the theme of parting and meeting which is made up of dramatic structure. The speakers of the two poets certainly desire to receive love and comfort from their loved one - God in case of Donne, and Lover in case of Han. In other words, they desperately ask God/Lover for grace because they don’t fear death itself but fear a death which will separate them from God/Lover forever. They have a strong desire for God/Lover’s intervention, but he or she is silent. As a result, silent God/Lover leaves them into spiritual darkness and desperate agony. If so, what is the meaning of disappearance of God/Lover?In this point, this paper tries to explain the relationship between darkness and enlightenment in terms of śūnyata (空思想) of Buddhism. Darkness and spiritual suffering can paradoxically be a way leading to salvation and hope in the end. The sense of estrangement leads them to despair, but darkness or spiritual agony can be actually the mysterious link that will unite him to God/Lover’s grace. In short, the silence of God/Lover may be seen as a sign that he or she is actually at work reordering the life of the speakers as in “dark night” experience. Although God/Lover is thought to be absent in a time of spiritual darkness, he or she exists as a helper in order that the enlightened person may understand the limits of human mind and language.