Jeong Ji-yong, often romanized in literature as Cheong Chi-yong (; 20 June 1902 – 1950), was a

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

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English poetry This article focuses on poetry from the United Kingdom written in the English language. The article does not cover poetry from other countries where the English language is spoken, including Republican Ireland after December 1922. The earliest ...

who "opened a new horizon of poetic possibilities through chiselled expression, tempered sentiments, and precise

visual imagery A mental image is an experience that, on most occasions, significantly resembles the experience of 'perceiving' some object, event, or scene, but occurs when the relevant object, event, or scene is not actually present to the senses. There are ...

" according to the scholar of

Korean poetry Korean poetry is poetry performed or written in the Korean language or by Korean people. Traditional Korean poetry is often sung in performance. Until the 20th century, much of Korean poetry was written in Hanja and later Hangul. History The pe ...

, Brother Anthony.

Life

Cheong Chi-yong was born in Hagye-ri,

Okcheon Okcheon County (''Okcheon-gun'') is a county in North Chungcheong Province, South Korea. Climate Okcheon has a humid continental climate (Köppen: ''Dwa''), but can be considered a borderline humid subtropical climate (Köppen: ''Cwa'') using the ...

Chungcheongbuk-do North Chungcheong Province ( ko, 충청북도, ''Chungcheongbuk-do''), also known as Chungbuk, is a province of South Korea. North Chungcheong has a population of 1,578,934 (2014) and has a geographic area of located in the Hoseo region in the s ...

, on June 20, 1902. He attended Whimoon High School and graduated from Japan's

Doshisha University , mottoeng = Truth shall make you free , tagline = , established = Founded 1875,Chartered 1920 , vision = , type = Private , affiliation = , calendar = , endowment = €1 ...

with a major in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

. While studying at

Whimoon High School Whimoon High School () is a private high school in South Korea, located in Daechi-dong, Seoul. It is one of the oldest high schools in South Korea. History Whimoon High School traces its beginnings to the opening of ''Kwangsung-Euisuk'' in 19 ...

, he published the literary magazine ''Bulletin'' (''Yoram'') with contemporaries like Park Palyang. In 1926, he began to concentrate exclusively on composing poetry and his piece "Cafe France”"(Kape peurangseu) was published in ''Hakjo'' magazine. Later in life, Jung was active as an associate of Pak Yong-chol's ''Poetry'' (''Simunhak'') magazine, and taught at Whimoon High School. After Liberation, he taught at

Ewha Womans University Ewha Womans University () is a private women's university in Seoul founded in 1886 by Mary F. Scranton under Emperor Gojong. It was the first university founded in South Korea. Currently, Ewha is one of the world's largest female educational ins ...

, edited the ''

Kyunghyang Daily News The ''Kyunghyang Shinmun'' or ''Kyonghyang Sinmun'' is a major daily newspaper published in South Korea. It is based in Seoul. The name literally means ''Urbi et Orbi Daily News''.

'', and was a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Korean Writers Federation (Joseon Munhakga dongmaeng). In 1950, at the onset of the Korean War, he was detained by the Government Preservation Department, and then transferred to

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...

Prison, where he is believed to have died.Source-attribution, "Seo Jeongju" LTI Korea Datasheet available at LTI Korea Library or online at: http://klti.or.kr/ke_04_03_011.do#

Work

Cheong Chi-yong is considered among the most important poets to emerge from the

modernist movement Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

in Korea, in fact he has been described as "the first modern Korean poet." In 2007, he was listed by the Korean Poets' Association among the ten most important modern Korean poets. His poetry can be divided into three stages. The first stage, which took place around 1925 to 1933, is characterized by the poet’s sensual imagist work, which often focused on the sea. Beginning with his 1933 poem Phoenix (Bulsajo) and ending in 1935, the poet composed religious poetry influenced by his Catholic faith; this second period served as a transition period between his early sensous poetry and his later more traditional poetry. After his "Ongnyu Village" (Ongnyudong) and "Guseong Village" (Guseongdong) in 1941, his poetry evinced predominance of Eastern thinking in its aesthetic. After his 1934 poem "A Different Heaven" (Dareun haneul) and "Yet Another Sun" (Tto hanaui dareun taeyang), Jung discarded the religious tendency of his earlier work. After nearly four years of absence from writing, he arrived at a mentality that sought to overcome the pains of reality, as seen in "Ongnyu Village", "Mountain Peak" (Bong), and "Guseong Village".

Works in translation

* ''Distant Valleys: Poems of Chŏng Chi-Yong. translated by Daniel A. Kister''. (1994) * ''Cheong Chi-yong cheonjip'' he Collected Works of Chŏng Chi-yong Seoul. (1988) * "Eight Poems of Chong Chi-yong" ith translations by Daniel A. Kister ''Korea Journal'' 30 (2): 39~51. ''includes "Dahlias."'' (1990) * "The Early Poetry of Chong Chi-yong" ith translations by Daniel A. Kister ''Korea Journal'' 30 (2):28~38. (1990) * Eine andere Sonne (정지용 시선) * ''Nostagia'' (향수): ''Poems of Chung Ji-yong'' ranslated by Insoo Lee and Sung-Il Lee (2017)

Works in Korean (partial)

Poetry * The Collected Poems of Jung Jiyong (Jung Jiyong sijip) (1935) * White Deer Lake (Baengnokdam) (1941) * The Collected Works of Jiyong (Jiyong siseon),(1946) Prose * Literary Reader (Munhak dokbon) (1948) * Prose (Sanmun) (1949)

Secondary material

* Jin A Moon, "A Study of Chong Chi yong's Poetry" (abstract in English) 청람어문학, 8권, 단일호, 시작쪽수 250쪽, 전체쪽수 56쪽 http://www.papersearch.net/KissShop/search/Sh_se_DetailView.aspx?strAtclKey=220342

Tribute

On 17 June 2019, on Jeong Ji-yong’s 117th birthday, he was honored with a

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References

;Notes ;Citations

External links

Jeong Ji-yong literary officer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeong, Ji-yong Korean writers 1902 births 1950s deaths 20th-century Korean poets Korean male poets 20th-century male writers Doshisha University alumni Whimoon High School alumni