청련 이후백의 시세계

Abstract

Lee Hu Baek is generally recognized as a person who changed the poetic style of the Honam region from that of the Sung(宋) nation to that of the T'ang(唐) nation. His poems were only pure and lyric, just little sticking to the Confucian ideology. He left 103 pieces of poems which can be collectively regarded as a simple painting in the literary artist's style. Lee Hu Baek was an earlier member of the lyric poem school of the Honam region in the 16th century. Started by him and Park Soon, the school was succeeded by Baek Gwang Hoon, Choi Gyeong Chang and Lim Je. Lee Hu Baek wrote quite romantic poems. His poems were so strong in romanticism, that they didn't include works that criticized social absurdities, showed affection towards the people or confessed the sense of regret or repentance. Aesthetically, his poems had two main characteristics. One was a picturesque representation of sceneries and the other, a simple expression of sentiments. Like a roll of black orchid painting, his poems had depictions boldly omitted. Also they were very visual like a drawing. Meanwhile, Lee Hu Baek's poems had two main ideological characteristics. One was a representation of Confucian ethics and the other, a depiction of female sentiments. Among his poems, some of ancient style were used to express Confucian thoughts. They emphasized the practice of both loyalty and filial piety, not just delivering the ideology of Confucianism itself. While, the others of simple style were used to express female sentiments. In the simple poems, the sentiments were spoken by the woman speaker who was recognized as the being of subjective character. By the way, woman speakers appeared in Lee Hu Baek's poems were all depicted in the works just as women who were longing for only love. This indicates that his poems were not able to go beyond the limit of romantic poems under the poetic style of the T'ang nation.