A Hundred Love Poems From Old Korea
Publisher: Global Oriental
Published: October 31, 2005
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 135
ISBN-13: 9781901903294
Subjects: Poetry texts & anthologies; Translations into English; Korean poetry; Poetry; Zen poetry, Korean; General; History and criticism; Asian; To 1900
Description: "Korea's traditional love poetry is little known in the Western world; indeed, such is the speed of change within Korea today that very few Koreans know much about their love poetry either. The poems run the gamut of the Korean classical genres: hanshi, that is, poems in Chinese characters; hyangga and koryo kayo, the earliest Korean vernacular forms - a unique part of Korea's literary heritage; and the two Choson dynasty vernacular forms, shijo and kasa, the former a short lyrical song form, often compared to the Japanese haiku but actually very different, and the latter an unusual essay-song form for which English poetry has no equivalent.

A commentary links the poems against the background of dynastic upheavals, ideological changes and fluctuations in poetry practice."--Jacket.