Poetry
면앙정가
Song Sun · 1533
Opening lines
无等山 ᄒᆞᆫ 활기 뫼히 동다히로 버더 이셔
멀리 ᄯᅦ쳐 와 霽月峯이 되어거ᄂᆞᆯ
One spur of Mount Mudeung stretches out to the east,
and, breaking off and running far, rises as Jewol Peak;
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from ko.wikisource.org
Synopsis
From the pavilion he has had built on Mount Jewol, in his native land, a scholar who has left public office first describes the mountain that bears the building, then sweeps his gaze from the nearest to the farthest, from the bamboos to the waters and the ridges, and follows the round of the seasons around his retreat. He says he is busier than at court: he wants to see everything, hear everything, take the wind and welcome the moon, and wonders who will close the door or sweep up the fallen flowers.
Context
The poem, a gasa in hangeul of one hundred and forty-five lines according to Etoday, was composed around 1533 at the Myeonangjeong pavilion, at Jewol-ri near Damyang, which bears the pen name of its author. The record of the Korea Literature Translation Institute places it among the major works of the song of rivers and lakes, in which the retired scholar celebrates nature, and sees in it the origin of the Honam gasa; it is said to have influenced Jeong Cheol's Seongsan byeolgok. The Hankyung reads in it a preface on the mountain, a body that contemplates the seasons and a conclusion that attributes this peaceful life to the king's favour.
Who it is for
A long poem in an old form of the language, to be read slowly; no proper translation in French or English, only anthologies.
Prizes and reception
The Hankyung regards it as a masterpiece, for its repetitions, its gradation and its parallelisms.
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