The objectives of the study were to analyze and find out about what may be recognized as the first all-female poetry circles in our literary history, known as SamHoJeong, and its Sino-Korean poems. This circles was organized during the 19th century an...
The objectives of the study were to analyze and find out about what may be recognized as the first all-female poetry circles in our literary history, known as SamHoJeong, and its Sino-Korean poems. This circles was organized during the 19th century and comprised of five individuals characterized by their status as concubines or mistresses during the late Choseon dynasty. How these women, Kim Keum Won, Kim Kyeong Chun, Park Juk Seo, Kyeong San, and Kim Un Cho, were able to meet freely at the bower called SamHoJeong to share their poems and enjoy relative independence during an era when social autonomy were restricted for women, and what quality their Sino-Korean poems had are appraised over four chapters.
In Chapter 1, the Sino-Korean poems by Kim Keum Won, Park Juk Seo, and Kim Un Cho, which have been fortunate to survive, are introduced as objects of the study. In doing so, one addresses 26 Sino-Korean poems by Kim Keum Won, which are listed in The HoDongSeoRakGi, 166 Sino-Korean poems by Park Juk Seo, which are listed in The collection of Juk Seo's poems, and 334 Sino-Korean poems by Kim Un Cho, which are listed in The collection of Un Cho's poems, making objects of a total 526 Sino-Korean poems.
Chapter 2 examines in detail The HoDongSeoRakGi, which plays a significant role in understanding the social environment that gave rise to the formation of the SamHoJeong poetry circle, the lives of the female poets and many aspects about the poetry circles. The formation of the SamHoJeong has a significant meaning in that a group of women were able to form a cultural arena only for women within an environment that there had been only men-oriented cultural arena. Furthermore, it is an outstanding aspect that the strong bond among the women resulted in the formation of female poetry circles .
In Chapter 3, the world of poetry of the SamHoJeong is further studied with respect to the development of the poems and their characteristics. The poems are first categorized by subjects of love, natural scenery, social interactions and personal inner conflicts, and further distinguished by their awareness of reality and efforts to overcome the limitations of reality.
Three female poets, Kim Keum Won, Park Juk Seo and Kim Un Cho, of the SamHoJeong acknowledge that they are unable to influence the social institution and status that limited their beings and overcome such problems. So they never lament or exclaim to refute the reality that they are faced with. However, through their works they are expressing their longing for their loved ones and their real-life conflicts which come from social restrictions they have to accept, overcoming the realities placed upon their status in the society through their activities at SamHoJeong. They refined and enjoyed their poetic talents in relatively carefree lives, and accepted the reality dispassionately as it was.
Chapter 4 looks into the phase of the times on the SamHoJeong poetry circles. The SamHoJeong was an area that allowed Kim Keum Won, Kim Kyeong Chun, Park Juk Seo, Kyeong San, and Kim Un Cho to unfold their poetic talents to their heart’s content and live in harmony with the spirit of the era in which they were born and the desirable mind. Thus, the five female poets of the SamHoJeong would have enjoyed their everyday lives with poetic talents by forming a new cultural arena, not women's living room or kisaeng's room, only for women within a culture centered on men. Furthermore, the reason for promoting the revival of SamHoJeong can be found in the illustration of the strong bonds formed among these women of the Choseon dynasty. Considering that women of this period were restricted from forming relationships with individuals other than their family members, the fact that the women of the SamHoJeong were able to form social relationships with each other and have active social activities together is an evidence that the SamHoJeong poetry circles merits recognition from a new perspective. It is considered that the SamHoJeong poetry circles is precedence for a new chapter in female literature field in our literary history regarding literature penned by women.
To summarise, this article focuses on the Sino-Korean poems listed in The HoDongSeoRakGi by Kim Keum Won, The collection of Juk Seo's poems by Park Juk Seo, and The collection of Un Cho's poems by Kim Un Cho. The poems have been analyzed and characterized by subject matters. On the basis of the result, the understanding of the social and historical phase of the SamHoJeong poetry circles was analyzed. Despite aspirations to include analysis of all works by Kim Keong Chun and Kyeong San, the compositions listed in the HoDongSeoRakGi by Kim Kyeong Chun and the works by Kyeong San were excluded from the study since they cannot be classified as Sino-Korean poems, and there are no surviving works by Kyeong San. A further study is expected to find out about the excluded works.