Poetry
Azaleas
진달래꽃
Kim So-wol · 1925
Synopsis
A collection of one hundred and twenty-seven poems arranged in sixteen parts, most of which had appeared in magazines and were revised for the volume. They revolve around the departed beloved, solitude and waiting. The title poem, in four stanzas of three lines, gives voice to someone about to be left: the speaker promises to let the other go without a word, to gather armfuls of azaleas on Mount Yak, in Yeongbyeon, and strew them along the path, and asks the other to tread on them lightly.
Context
The volume appeared in December 1925 from Maemunsa, in 234 pages under a woodcut cover; it was the only one its author published in his lifetime. The title poem had appeared in July 1922 in Gaebyeok, presented as a folk poem; for the book, words and rhythm were revised to follow the seven-and-five-syllable measure. The Encyclopaedia reads in it either the traditional lament of lost love, restrained and tearless, or a will to move beyond the resignation of the colonial years, and regards the book as the most widely read modern collection in the country's literature.
Who it is for
Short, rhythmic poems, to be read aloud, translated into French in 1998 and into English in 2007.
Prizes and reception
The library of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea lists eleven books translated under the title of the poem.
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