박목월 시에 나타난 童心 指向性

Abstract

From Innocence to Experience in Mok-Wol Park’s Children’s Poetry This paper aims to demonstrate through the investigation of the themes of nostalgia and family the significance of Mok-Wol’s children’s poetry in understanding his later poems. There are two types of nostalgia in Mok-Wol’s poetry: one is the nostalgia for the rural world the other is the nostalgia for childhood. Considering most of Mok-Wol’s childhood was spent in a rustic town, these two types of nostalgia are closely related to each other, and consequently, many of his poems based on his own childhood evoke nostalgic feelings for rural places and nature. The nostalgia for the rustic world and childhood is an important theme not only in Mok-Wol’s children’s poetry but also in his later poems. In his early poetry, Mok-Wol connects the nostalgia for the rustic world and childhood to the veneration of Korea’s traditional lifestyles and values. In his later poetry, however, nostalgic sentiments for rural life and childhood take a more radically different form: the emphasis on familial bonds. Although Mok-Wol also deals with the theme of family in his children’s poetry, his treatment of the theme of family in his later poetry is different in that it reflects his own experience as the head of his family and puts forward the image of a responsible father who takes care of his family in pain and ordeals. The treatment of the theme of family in Mok-Wol’s later poetry is also differentiated from that in his children’s poetry in that it emphasizes through the representation of his childhood memory of his own mother the loss of the ideal of traditional motherhood brought about by urbanization. My analysis of the themes of nostalgia and family brings a new perspective on Mok-Wol’s poetic vision by illustrating how his children’s poetry lays groundwork for his later poems.