Poetry in the latter term of 17th century had tended to focus on evaluation of the poet’s works, and the poetry in the former term of 18th century gave first consideration to poetics. Meanwhile, however, the poetry in the latter period of 18th centu...
Poetry in the latter term of 17th century had tended to focus on evaluation of the poet’s works, and the poetry in the former term of 18th century gave first consideration to poetics. Meanwhile, however, the poetry in the latter period of 18th century had a propensity to orchestrate them all. Along with such tendency, Lee Deok-mu(李德懋) held fast to his basic position for critiques in light of evaluation based on realism, equitable posture, and a wide range of data collection, etc. As to criticism regarding poems, he accepted Wang Sa-jeong’s(王士禎) (or Wang Shizhen’s in Chinese) "the idea of poetic charm" and put much value on the transcendence of poetical idea, and implicit meaning according to pictorial images as well, and then he perceived that the transcendence is unworldliness, not as in the stage of detachment.
Although Lee Deok-mu(李德懋) didn’t set forth his theories in relation to critiques of poetry style in earnest, it is obvious that the most significant features of Chongbirok are the critiques of poetry style and its literally grace, so then, in order to grasp the specific aspects, it is necessary to understand the essential nature of the critiques of poetry style and literally grace thereof in a specific manner.
The critiques of poetry style in the former century tended to have a great anecdotal inclination, however, reaching the late Joseon Period, the stylistic and poetic characters therefor were reinforced. This method for critiques put emphasis on the evaluation of the style and the elegance of the literary works in criticizing poetry, in particular, there showed a tendency to apply such factors as the elegance and spirit of the works to evaluation of substantive value of the works, superiority and inferiority, and its distinctive features.
Even though Lee Deok-mu(李德懋) hadn’t left any articles that expressed his theories in relation to poetry style and its literally grace, he used critical remarks or commentary for this purpose as many as 43 kinds of rules, and number of poetry styles appeared there reaches as many as 46. These are commentaries or critical remarks consisting of either two or four letters in general, and acted as independent criteria that exhibited in the process of practicing analytic criticism. Among such comments, the most frequent appearance of comments are the words that combined with the letter “淸”, pronounced “Cheong,” literally meaning, “Clear or Pure.” And also the frequency of appearance of those comments that combined with the letter, “雅”, pronounced “Ah”, meaning “elegant”, is comparatively higher.
The number of comments in line of the letter, “淸” that used in Chongbirok is 11. With a focus on the literal meaning of this letter, “淸”, Lee Deok-mu(李德懋) then made his comments.
This is the criterion when he concentrated on his poetic inspiration and fun after reading the poems. Regarding those comments that comprised words being positioned lower than the second letter, the range of meaning thereof and those things that the words actually connote are different from each other.
The comments in line of the letter, “精”, pronounced, “Jeong”, describing the state of that one’s prowess in works is “highly sophisticated and meticulous,” and such words were used at the time of evaluating a poet’s metaphoric skills and the power of precise description, including contraposition, quotation, and coinage, etc.
Criticism compiled in Chongbirok that evaluated poetry in a specific manner with a focus on the style and literally grace thereof is judged that it has the following three kinds of significances in the history of the criticism of the late Joseon Period:
First, getting rid of the tendency of the poetry collections from the early ages that concentrated on theory of author or comments on theme, he evaluated with a focus on the value of the poet’s work.
Second, having inherited the tradition of the critiques of poetry style and literally grace thereof, he maximized efficiency of poetry criticism by presenting substantial critiques on the subject poems in a diverse manner.
Third, from the perspective of consistency, positivity, and concreteness, etc. of criticism, he showed the most distinctive style.
In light of meaning of such a history of criticism, Chongbirok opened a new horizon of substantial criticism centering on poet’s works, and so, we can evaluate Lee Deok-mu(李德懋) that he had built up his reputation as the most realistic critic with on-site inspiration.
17세기 후기의 시화는 작품의 品評을 위주로, 18세기 전기의 시화는 詩論을 위주로 하였던 데 대하여, 18세기 후기의 시화는 이를 조화시킨 경향을 띠었다. 이런 추세 속에서 이덕무는 광범위...
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