정한모 시의 숭고 시학적 의의 - ‘어둠’과 ‘아가’ 이미지를 중심으로 -

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to concretize the ontological imagination and aesthetic characteristics of the duality in the poetic imagery of Jeong Han-mo, by examining the discourse on the 'sublime' within the history of aesthetics. To this end, the study focuses on how key images in Jeong's poetry, such as "darkness" and "baby," are represented. Jeong's poetry does not depict a unilinear and unidirectional transcendence where negative images like "darkness" are replaced by positive ones like "baby." Instead, it reveals an aesthetic tension that constantly oscillates between the potentiality and negativity of "darkness" and the primal vitality and fragility of "baby." This tension is what generates the unique resonance and vitality in Jeong’s poetry. The concept of the sublime, established by Kant and further refined by Nancy as an aesthetic of the artwork, serves as an appropriate theoretical framework to interpret this. According to Nancy, the sublime emphasizes the movement of transcendence and the leap of a subject confronting a boundary, but it recognizes this not as a fixed state, but as a continuous movement. In other words, it does not affirm the enjoyment of a utopia beyond the negative boundary, but rather aims toward the opening of existence that can only be mediated through the boundary. For this, the subject must return to the place of the real, which is in contact with the boundary, despite the imaginative temptation to transcend it. From the perspective of the sublime, the duality in Jeong Han-mo’s poetry can be seen as the product of a firm will that dreams of transcendence while simultaneously facing the darkness and limits that render it impossible. This, in turn, is identified as the fundamental source of the emotional impact conveyed by his poetry. Previous studies have either viewed this duality in Jeong’s poetry as negative or considered it secondary, but this research sees it as a crucial aspect that reveals the depth of his poetic consciousness, which relentlessly pursued the "endlessness of beginnings." By analyzing the core images of "baby" and "motherhood" in Jeong Han-mo’s poetry, this study sheds focused light on this aspect.