孤山 漢詩의 空間과 美的 特質

Abstract

This paper examines poetic spaces in the classical Chinese poems of Korean poet Kosan (孤山) Yun Seon-Do (尹善道). Particular attention will be paid to their aesthetic features and literary significance. Three topographical features of the poetic spaces will be discussed. First, rivers and the sea will be discussed and the ways that they represent a transitional space from this world to the other world and from the real to the ideal. Such images allow poets to make a cathartic outpouring of their sorrows and concerns for secular society. Mountains and the countryside are the second pair of features examined. They represent a communicative space between natural objects and self. Poets may address themselves directly to objects; this is understood as a communicative process which allows the poet to achieve harmonious unity with nature. Lastly, forest groves play the role of agent and imbue poetic sentiments with transcendental meaning, thus conveying an image of those things which are hard to convey in the natural world. While living in the Honam (湖南) region, he was actively involved in writing poetry despite his conservative Neo-Confucian world view. His poems are characterized by an expression of unrestrained spirit and romantic imagination which stand in contrast with the staid mainstream Confucianism of that time. The poems struggled with a somber reality filled with contradictions and absurdity but they did not yield to it. Instead, they confronted the real world and resisted social conventions. Therefore, their poems achieved a strong individuality and unrivalled sensitivity.