KJCKorea
Journal Central

Nature is a very important subject matter in Korean classical poetry. In particular, ‘Ganghosijo’, meaning sijo based on the nature, is considered a representative sijo category in the early Chosun Dynasty. The features encapsulated in the sijo poems describing the nature are recognized to demonstrate the world view of the enjoyers. Even among the sijo poems based on the nature, the features encapsulated in each poem are different one another. Therefore, the features encapsulated depending on the social and temporal environment each author encountered must be interpreted in different ways. In general, the structure of conflict between ‘clean nature and corrupt politics’ is assumed in Ganghosijos and the authors’ political experiences are projected spontaneously in the poems based on the nature. The distinct aspects among different authors are expressed in the poems depending on the authors’ cognition of real world, in contrast to the nature. Yoon Seondo is one of the authors who are assessed to be at the height of Ganghosijo in the sijo history. In his poems, the relationship between the nature and real world are described as critical values neither of which can be abandoned or given up. It should be noted, however, that esthetic inspiration in the nature to which he belonged is expressed more strongly in most poems that he wrote. There are 75 sijo poems of Yoon Seondo that have been handed down, each of which was titled appropriately. <Sanjungshingok> is considered one of Yoon Seondo’s representative poems together with <Eobusashiga>. In this article, the background and structural characteristics of ‘<Sanjungshingok> Series’ are investigated. The oeuvres and significance are also discussed by looking into the aspects of the natural images expressed in the poems. <Sanjungshingok> is identified to be a series of 18 poems, in deference to the framework of 『Gosanyugo』. In order to complement <Sanjungshingok>, <Sanjungsokshingok>, consisting of two poems, is included in ‘<Sanjungshingok> Series’ and investigated together. In general, Yoon Seondo’s sijo poems are recognized to have encapsulated the real nature, not the ideated nature. Each poem included in ‘<Sanjungshingok> Series’ was also titled appropriately. Previous studies have focused mostly on <Manheung> and <Ouga> among the poems included in ‘<Sanjungshingok> Series’. In this study, however, the other poems including <Jomuyo> are also analyzed to investigate the overall structure of ‘<Sanjungshingok> Series’ and the significance of natural images in detail.

Yoon Seondo, Sanjungshingok, natural images, Gosanyugo, Ganghosijo