Kim Suyeong was a Korean poet.

Life

Kim Soo-young (1921–1968) was a

Korean poet 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 ...

and

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

whose poetry explored love and freedom as poetic and political ideals. Kim was born in Gwancheol-dong,

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

on November 27, 1921. After graduating from the Sunrin Commercial High School, Kim departed for Japan to study at the Tokyo University of Commerce. He returned to Korea in 1943 to avoid the conscription of student soldiers in Japan. A year later, he moved to Jilin, Manchuria with his family and taught at the Jilin High School. At this time, Kim was also heavily involved in theatre work. Upon Korea's Independence in 1945, Kim returned to Seoul to work as interpreter and eventually transferred to the Department of English at Yonhui University as a senior though he eventually turned down this position. He was conscripted by the North Korean Army and became a prisoner of war. He was eventually released to the

Geojedo Geojedo or Geoje Island (also McCune–Reischauer: Kŏje Island) is the principal island of Geoje City, on the southern coast of Gyeongsangnam-do province, South Korea. It is joined to land by two bridges from nearby Tongyeong. Gohyeon is t ...

Island Prisoner-of-War Camp in 1952, where he worked as an interpreter for the director of the hospital, and for the U.S 8th Army. Kim, who taught English at Sunrin Commercial High School later in life, began working for ''Weekly Pacific'' (Jugan taepyeongyang) and ''Pyeonghwa'' Newspaper after returning to Seoul in 1954. The following year, Kim retired from his work and began a poultry farming operation from his home, in order to devote himself to poetry, translation and literary criticism. He published a poetry collection entitled ''Play of the Moon'' (Dallaraui Jangnan), for which he received the first Poet's Association Award. He died on June 16, 1968, after being struck by a bus while in

Work

Kim's literary orientation became clear when he led other young Korean poets in "The Second Half," a group dedicated to redirecting Korean poetry away from the traditionalism and lyricism of the early 1950s by confront social concerns by using language in a new way. Among the innovations were the use of

surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

, abstraction,

prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the f ...

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...

and

profanity Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...

in Kim's poems. Kim's early poems were in a Modernist style, though later he changed directions, using everyday language in addressing social issues. Many are political, either overtly or by hidden implication. According to the scholar of Korean literature, Brother Anthony of Taizé, Kim's significance and impact only really took place after his death. He only published one volume of poetry (in 1959). Shortly before his death, he wrote a theoretical article which sparked a lively debate. Perhaps his best-known poem is "

Grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

". The Kim Soo-young Contemporary Poetry Award is named in his honor.

Publications

* ''Dalnara-ui jangnan'' (A Game Played in the Moon), published in 1959, was the only book of poetry he produced in his lifetime. * ''The Complete Works of Kim Su-young, Vol.1 (Poems)''.'' '' Minumsa Publishing Group 2003, 394p, .

Translated works

* * Kim Soo-Young (2005) ''Jenseits des Rausches. Gedichte.'' (translated by Kang Yeo-Kyu and Uwe Kolbe) Edition Peperkorn: Thunum. * Kim Soo-Young (2001) ''Der Wächter der Wolke: ausgewählte Gedichte''. (translated by Kim Miy-He and Sylvia Bräsel) Edition Peperkorn: Thunum. * Brother Anthony , translator and editor (2001) ''Variations: Three Korean Poets''. Cornell East Asia series ; 110.

Works in Korean (Partial)

* Grass (poet) * One day while leaving the old palace * waterfall

Awards

* The

Society of Korean Poets Award The Society of Korean Poets Award(hangul : 한국시인협회상) is the oldest prize in Korean literature. The Society of Korean Poets reviews the annual collection of poems published and selects winners annually. The winner was named Kim Soo ...

for Poetry, 1958 (first recipient) * The

Kim Suyeong Literary Award The Kim Suyeong Literary Award is a literary award established in 1981 by Minumsa in honor of the South Korean poet Kim Su-yeong Kim Suyeong was a Korean poet. Life Kim Soo-young (1921–1968) was a Korean poet and translator whose poetry ...

was established 1981 in his honor * In 2007, he was listed by the Korean Poets' Association among the ten most important modern Korean poets.

References

Bibliography

* ''Variations: Three Korean Poets'' - Kim Su-Young, Shin Kyong-Nim, Lee Si-Young. Translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé and Young-Moo Kim. Cornell East Asia Series, No. 110. 2001 Bilingual CEAS Edition, 328 pages. 1-885445-10-5. * ''Kim Su-Yong, Cent poèmes'', translated into French and introduced and annotated by Kim Bona; introduction by Laurent Grisel; preface by Jean-Paul Michel. William Blake & Co. Edit., 2000. 192 pp. . * Paik Nak-chung, "The Poetry of Kim Su-yong; The Living Kim Su-yong," ''Korea Journal'', winter 1999.

External links

literary officer website
* Selected poems in English translation: http://www.sogang.ac.kr/~anthony/SelectedPoems.htm * Discussion of the poet in French: https://web.archive.org/web/20070927230028/http://www.poesieschoisies.net/le_poete.php?V=45,,,poeme,11,,2-88340-022-9,,2,,, * Discussion of the poet and two others in their stylistic and political setting: https://web.archive.org/web/20050225234417/http://www.sogang.ac.kr/~anthony/Sheffield.htm
Translation of Kim's "Watchman of the Clouds"

Three of Kim's poems in English translation:

Ten of Kim's poems in English translation
* British and American influence on Kim's poetry: https://web.archive.org/web/20110722134225/http://ref.daum.net/item/554537 (summary of Korean journal article) * On Kim's poetic response to political conditions: http://www.dbpia.com/view/ar_view.asp?arid=495397 (summary of Korean journal article) * On Kim's view of poetry
(summary of Korean journal article)
* Hong Jung-sun, "Poet Kim Su-young, Still Controversial," ''List, ''vol. 12, autumn 2013 ''at ''https://web.archive.org/web/20131102035510/http://www.list.or.kr/articles/article_view.htm?Div1=4&Idx=1218 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Su-yeong 1921 births 1968 deaths South Korean male poets 20th-century South Korean poets Society of Korean Poets Award winners 20th-century male writers Road incident deaths in South Korea