신석정 문학에서의 소년의 의미

Abstract

Shin Seok‐jeong’s early poems express the Oriental world view, but from poems in the middle period, he shows the influence of realism. On the other side of his poetry is Korean modern history. This study examined symbolic poetic diction representing temporality by period and, through this, analyzed how Shin Seok‐jeong’s poetic world is changed through his perception of the realities. Shin Seok‐jeong’s changed perception of perception of time clarifies aesthetic subjects. ‘Daybreak’ and ‘Baby (Offspring)’ appearing his early poems mean time for preparing the future. Time consciousness in early poems is materialized into boy consciousness in mid‐period poems. The boy consciousness symbolizes the history of thought in Shin Seok‐jeong’s literature, and is also the inner speaker. In addition, it is a product of the consciousness of returning and the will to overcome the realities. Through boy, Shin Seok‐jeong attempts to return to the days of innocence and to see hope. ‘Becoming a Boy’ after the Korean War is the poet’s best choice for implementing Utopia. He tries to reestablish his anxious ego through cultivating the pure spirit of ‘boy (baby).’ This process achieves the dialectic growth of self recognition. Boy (consciousness) is allegorical in that it reflects the cruel realities symbolized by adults’ world, and is realistic in that it shows the absence of a pure and ideal past. Moreover, it becomes a dialectic signifier in that it establishes self recognition by change and denial through time.