손곡 이달의 이별시에 대하여

Abstract

This research aims to probe the meanings of farewells and the characteristics of Son’gok Yi Tal’s farewell poetry, as well as the modes of expressions employed in verbalizing the subject matter.
 Good byes appear often in Yi Tal‘s poetry because his poetic self within the work is a ’wanderer’ and a ‘vagabond’. Being unable to settle down and having to leave produces repeated farewells. His poetic self wanders due to warfare and poverty - which compounds the sadness of the good byes. Although this poetic self reflects the actual personal history of Yi Tal, neither the Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592, nor the historical and social contexts of the poet - for instance, of him being a sŏ-ŏl, which impoverished him - are made apparent in the poetry. Rather, farewell is depicted as a yoke of destiny in which no human can free themselves from. His farewell poetry focuses on illustrating the human ‘sorrow’ itself which is sealed inside fate. The decision to select farewell as the subject matter in his works, including yuefu poetry(樂府詩), also comes from the idea that farewell is the most apt subject for a genuine depiction of human sentiment.
 Next, modes of expressions in Yi Tal’s farewell poetry have been inspected in two aspects. The first aspect concerns the characteristics apparent in the use of imagery; in describing the scene - which gives rise to the sentiment of farewell - Yi Tal often employs images of descent and darkness, as well as images of aimless drifting. Another in this aspect is the effective use of acoustic imagery; the sounds that are largely associated with seasons - such as cry of a cuckoo, nightingale, fall cicada, cricket, or a frosty wind - ring through the poems, working to deepen the sentiments of farewell. Following this, characteristics pertaining to composition techniques are discussed. First, Yi Tal juxtaposes farewells with encounters to highlight its sorrowful nature. The joy of the meeting intensifies the sorrow of the parting - and a brief encounter during the war brings sadness rather than delight. The farewells of the past are reminded in a poem about an encounter, and short meetings are followed by long separations. This mode of expression effectively communicates the sorrow of a good bye as a yoke of destiny. Another is to articulate the farewell of tomorrow in the last two lines of the poem; this mode serves to show the restrained sorrow through visualization.
 Yi Tal is an important poet who epitomizes a certain turn that took place in mid Chosŏn era - the turn towards admiration of the Tang poetry style. His works call for a more thorough inspection, especially since the number of the remaining works is scarce. And in doing so, ‘farewell’ is a topic that requires much deliberation because of the weight it carries in his works. Further discussion is warranted on whether Yi Tal’s farewell poetry shows any difference when compared to the farewell poetry of his peers, or the poets of later generations.