한국 현대시와 종교적 상상

Abstract

One of the most crucial problems of the world that human beings face in the early 21st century is the collision of civilizations. The religious struggle lies in the background of the collision of civilization. The war between the US and Iraq represents the confrontation between the Christian and Islamic civilizations. The struggle between Christianity and Islam is considered one of the controversial issues in the world since the Crusade in the 13th century. The struggle between the two seems to go to extremes without any clue to the solution. In this context, modern Korean poetry of the 20th century shows a good example in that it successfully surmounted the ordeals and adversities by accepting its traditional Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, while receiving the newly introduced Christianity. It would be a hopeful message that in this age of the collision of civilizations a variety of religious consciousness deeply rooted in the mind of the Koreans has explored the road to inter-survival based on the recognition of co-existence and reconciliation. Whang Dong Ghu’s poetic quest which is developed around Buddha, Jesus and Wonhwo(元曉) is worthy of mention in that it strives to enhance the religious struggle toward dialectic synthesis without being absorbed in any particular religion. T. S. Eliot said that Dante was a poet of depth and height, while Shakespeare was a poet of variety. Eliot’s ultimate poetic theme was that of religious salvation and eternity like Dante’s. The examples of human variety can be found in the poetry of Suh Jung Ju and Go Eun. When it comes to the depth of religious theme in relation to the poetic depth and height, it is rather hard to deepen the width of discussion even though it includes Kim Ji Ha and Whang Dong Ghu.