근대 시학을 향한 김억의 모색과 도정* ―1930년 전후 문예론과 시형론(詩形論)을 중심으로

Abstract

In the history of Korean poetry, Kim Eok's literature, which pioneered free verse through translations and creations of Western symbolist literature, has been evaluated as turning toward a Joseon-style and traditional direction around 1925, and "A Brief Study of the Forms of Classical Poetry" has been discussed as a representative example of this change. This study examines Kim Eok's literary consciousness and the process of his exploration of the essential value of art and poetry and symbolist poetry, which have been evaluated in a limited way while being studied in relation to Joseon-nation-tradition around 1930, and has moved toward the establishment of modern poetics. For this discussion, I have listed Kim Eok's major critical writings written from the mid-1920s to 1930 and briefly explained their contents, thereby presenting literary characteristics that are not limited to Joseon-style ideology. Kim Eok asserted the essential value of art and the independent value of its subgenre, poetry, and this perception differentiated him from the national literature school, such as KAPF and especially Joo Yo-han and Lee Gwang-su, who advocated utilitarian themes. Kim Eok ensured practicality by asserting that ‘Joseon’ literature is not a restoration of tradition or the nation, but rather a literature that emphasizes the contemporary nature of Joseon today, containing its reality, thoughts, and emotions. In addition, the connection with symbolism is also widely shown in critical writings such as theories on poetry, theories on writers, and theories on works, showing that symbolism was still an important factor influencing Kim Eok’s literary consciousness. In particular, the exploration of rhythm, musicality, and sentiment, which he presented as the motivation for writing the theory of formal poetry, was also revealed in the ‘Theory of Poetry’ of Doi Kouchi’s ‘Preface to Literature’, which Kim Eok referred to, and we can read the similar consciousness of the two writers based on symbolism. And Kim Eok was inspired by the creations of Western symbolist poets to find the possibility of modern folk songs expressing Joseon’s emotions, and he quickly recognized that the change from free verse to formal verse was a global cultural phenomenon that appeared equally in Western symbolism as well as in Joseon. This fact is another significant literary historical point in the acceptance of Korean symbolism. As described above, Kim Eok pondered over a common poetic form to express Joseon’s emotions while moving between Western symbolism and traditional folk songs since the mid-1920s, and this process was the process of his search and efforts toward establishing modern poetics, leading Joseon’s modern poetry through Western symbolism since the 1910s.