서정적 변모의 궤적 -박목월의 시세계- = The Changes and Continuity Of Mogwol`s Lyric Poetry

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Together with Kim Sowol, Pak Mogwol is the most alluring lyric voice among twentieth century Korean poets. Throughout his life Pak Mogwol persists in giving direct expression of personal emotion without occasional lapses, for instance, into political protest poems or self-degrading prose works. There is a sense in which he could safely be defined as the foremost lyric poet of his time. Despite his unswerving fidelity to lyricism, his poetry shows certain changes as well as continuity. His early poems are devoted to depicting the serene rural landscapes and mountain scenery pervaded by a sense of peace and tranquility. Delicate musicality and deceptive classic simplicity characterize his early poems. For his early works Pak was criticized as escapist. It is, however, worth recalling that his idealization of nature is a kind of subjective expression of a social antagonism. It is worth noting in this connection that his early poems were mostly written during the Japanese occupation. As a middle-aged poet his interests and preoccupation were mainly concerned with a predicament of being a poet in bad time for lyric poetry. A sense of isolation and incapability in the struggle for survival pervades quantities of his poetic works. They are, however, free from the depressing pessimism owing to the paradoxically edifying elements of lyric poetry. A sense of approaching death qualifies poems in his later years. Towards the end of his life he becomes more and more meditative. At the same time his poems grow concrete and dry to the point of prescription. What is remarkable is that his poetry as a whole makes him a consummate master of lyric poetry. So long as lyric poetry draws attention from readers, the poetry of Pak Mogwol will be appreciated by the discerning poetry lovers.