고려후기 銘詩·挽詩의 특성과 장르적 상관성

Abstract

This study explores the aspects and characteristics of myeongsi (銘詩) and mansi (挽詩), two poetry styles in the late Goryeo dynasty, from the perspective of mourning poetry and examines the issue of their genre correlations. In the late Goryeo dynasty, a number of myeongsi of epitaphs were written and mansi writing was also on the rise. The two styles had commonalities, such as being written after death events and having condolences as a basic property. However, they have different layers of condolences and are in contrast with each other in terms of the perception and image of death. Myeongsi deal with and mainly admires the dead in the public realm, while mansi tell of the dead in a range covering the public realm and personal relationships and focus on the grief of the living. The time of myeongsi is permanent and future-oriented, and its vocabulary and tone are confident and dignified, showing the spirit of ascent. On the other hand, the time of mansi stays and hesitates in the present and its vocabulary and tone tend to be gloomy and descending. The two styles are in contrast to each other in terms of the perception and image of death, as well. Graves and the afterlife are often mentioned in myeongsi, while words related to funeral rituals or funerals frequently appear in mansi. Myeongsi’s view of the world is characterized by accepting but trying to overcome death with efforts that can be made in the realm of humans, such as reputation, feat, descendants and the rules and principles of the sincerity (誠). Mansi are characterized by the expression of futility and despair as to the separation between life and death and a finite life in the face of death and hold a relatively free view of afterlife, such as Taoism. The two styles were in a complementary relationship by playing their respective roles as mourning poems. But the boundary between their respective roles became less clear in the late Goryeo dynasty. This could be the results of such factors as the establishment of funeral rites, the decline of the epitaph culture, and changes in mansi itself, including change into a three-poem series (三首連章体), and the growth of authors’ consciousness. These factors are assumed to have gradually elevated mansi to the mainstream position of mourning poetry.