This is a study on the record of Korean poetry of the early modern westerners. The Protestant missionaries had begun to enter Korea since about the end of the 19th century and they left behind the records of many different areas of Korea as well...
This is a study on the record of Korean poetry of the early modern westerners. The Protestant missionaries had begun to enter Korea since about the end of the 19th century and they left behind the records of many different areas of Korea as well as of their mission activities. Among them, the records of Korea's indigenous poetry are included. This examined the records of Korean poetry of the early modern westerners and how they had viewed Korean poetry.
Korean language was clear indicator to distinguish Korean poetry from foreign ones for the westerners who worked in the early modern Korea. The early modern westerners tried to find Korea's indigenous poetry, so they recorded Korean poetry based on the Korean language and the view of language of Korea. Discussions on Korean poetry of the early modern westerners were made in conjunction with the Korean language.
However, when the early modern westerners started recording the Korean poetry for the first time, the Korean language at that time is not the same as the modern Korean language. The spoken and written language in Korean were so different that they needed to be translated into each other form in early modern Korea and Hangul at that time considered as the unique character of Korea was not so developed a written language as modern one. Chinese as the primary means of recording was recognized as Chinese characters to Westerners.
Modern Korean is a language with unity of speech and writing whereas Korean at that time had been composed of several languages until the early part of the modern times. To be specific, westerners who recorded the Korean poetry in the early modern period viewed the Korean language as divided into the spoken language (口語), Hangul, and Chinese (漢文). Accordingly, this examined the record of Korean poetry divided into the poetry written in spoken language, the poetry in Hangul, and Chinese poetry (漢詩) based on the view of language of Korea of the westerners in early modern Korea.
This examined the "Korean Poetry" by Hulbert (H.B. Hulbert, 1863 ~ 1949) published in 1896 in "The Korean Repository" as a record that westerners found Korea's indigenous poetry in the spoken language at chapter 2. This , also, examined the "A Korean Poem" by Miller (F.S. Miller, 1866 ~ 1937) published in 1903 in "The Korea Review" as a record that westerners found Korea's indigenous poetry in Hangul at chapter 3. In addition, this examined the "Korean Literature" by Gale (J.S. Gale, 1863 ~ 1937) published in 1918 in "Open Court" as a record that westerners found Korea's indigenous poetry in Chinese at chapter 4.
The examination of "Korean Poetry" (1896) by Hulbert in chapter 2 shows us that he introduced Korean literary product expressed in spoken language as Korean poetry. The work Hulbert had presented as an example of Korean poetry was the reconstitution of Korean folklore and folk songs into poetry. Hulbert believed that Korea's indigenous poetry was in the stories passed down orally and songs, and introduced Korean poetry with an emphasis on Korean folk and folklore. This is why "Korean Poetry" by Hulbert was similar with the books of theory of folk in Korea.
The examination of "A Korean Poem" (1903) by Miller in chapter 3 shows us that he tried to find the Korean poetry among the books written in Hangul. The works Miller had presented as examples of the Korean poetry were the Korean songs in the wordbook written in Hangul. Miller believed that Korea's indigenous poetry was in the written Hangul, and introduced Korean poetry with an emphasis on the characteristics of Hangul as a unique character in Korea. The characteristics presented in "A Korean Poem" by Miller were similar with those of theory of Hangul of westerners in the early modern Korea.
The examination of "Korean Literature" (1918) by Gale in chapter 4 shows us that he introduced the Korean poetry targeting the books recorded in Chinese. The works Gale had presented as an example of Korean poetry was a Chinese poem by the writer of the Chinese literature in Korea. Gale believed that Korea's indigenous poetry was in the written Chinese, and introduced Korean poetry with an emphasis on the writers of the Chinese literature in Korea. This is why the characteristics of Korean poetry presented in "Korean Literature" by Gale became similar with the introduction of the writers of the Chinese literature in Korea.
Westerners had tried to record Korea's indigenous poetry and translate it into English. This is why, they believe, only works judged to be Korea's indigenous poetry were worthwhile to be introduced. Westerners' point of view on the Korean language had had a significant influence on finding the uniqueness of Korea's indigenous poetry. Westerners in early modern Korea had tried to find Korea's indigenous poetry in the unique Korean language.
By the early part of the modern times, the Korean language composed of spoken language, Hangul, Chinese came to be integrated into a modern national language (國民語) under the modern view of the Korean language. Spoken and written language were integrated with the unity of speech and writing and the written language has developed around Hangul. With birth of a modern language, the Korean language came to be viewed with a relative concept of state-to-state. By the early part of the modern times, language with multi-layers in the past has been changed into a unified national language to represent Korea.
By 1920s, Korean literary men tried to design the traditional poetry to represent Korea based on a unified national language. The Korean traditional poetry reproduced in the multi-layered language became transformed into the Korean traditional poetry in the one-layered language. The so-called tradition of Korean poetry were newly understood in a unified modern language. This is why Korean literary men has looked into the records of the early modern westerners left behind based on the new view of the Korean language.
Jeong In Seop (鄭寅燮, 1905~1983) is a foreigner who translated 'Sijo', traditional three-verse Korean poem into English in "the Korean Central Daily" in the early modern Korea and mentioned Bishop (I. B. Bishop, 1831~1904), Hulbert (H. B. Hulbert, 1863~1949), Gale (J. S. Gale, 1863~1937). In chapter 5 of this , it is examined how different the records of Korea's indigenous poetry of the early modern westerners in Korea are from Korea's indigenous poetry which has been known to modern Korean literary men.
Modern Korean literary men has examined Korea's indigenous poetry on the basis of the unified modern Korean language. However, the early modern westerners recorded the traditional Korean poetry based the classic Korean language which was a language with multi-layers. This is why the modern Korean literary men have examined Korea's indigenous poetry on the point of view which is different from that of the early modern westerners depending on the language.
Jeong In Seop examined the records of Korean poetry of the early modern westerners in Korea based on Sijo, the newly-understood poetry genre to represent Korea by Korean literary men of the 1920s. However, the genre of 'Sijo' which the early modern westerners recorded as Korea's indigenous poetry was different from that which has been known to the modern Korean literary men because of the difference between the classic language and the modern language.
The early modern westerners in Korea examined 'Sijo, which was divided into several layers depending on the several Korean languages at that time. They did not examine 'Sijo' with the idea of a single literary genre but they examined 'Sijo' from the Korean classical language which had more than two layers. Modern Korean literary men's views on the Korean traditional poetry is different from that of the early modern westerners in Korea.
The records of Korea's indigenous poetry of the early modern westerners in the Korean literary history have significantly showed us the tradition of Korean poetry in a society with multi-layered language. This is why the early modern westerners in Korea showed the part of the tradition of Korean poetry in the society with multi-layered language forgotten by the Korean literary men after the unity of speech and writing.
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