This research was conducted to understand the discourse structure of the poetry of the late 1930s with a focus on the works of Baek, Suk, Lee, Yong-ak and Oh, Jang-hwan. It reviewed the characteristics of the discourse the three poets adopted, specifi...
This research was conducted to understand the discourse structure of the poetry of the late 1930s with a focus on the works of Baek, Suk, Lee, Yong-ak and Oh, Jang-hwan. It reviewed the characteristics of the discourse the three poets adopted, specifically persona, speech and aesthetic consciousness. Personas serve as the anchor point from which subjects’ attitudes toward the world can be understood. Speech is a verbal means that personas rely on to participate in and respond to the world. Discourse by subjects is based on their understanding of the world. Therefore, discourse in poetry can be viewed from the perspective of dialogues. The selection of persona is related to internal reasons and social conditions that justify the selection.
This thesis is composed of five parts; Chapter 1 is the introduction, and Chapters 2, 3 and 4 are the main part. Chapter 2 reviews personas, and Chapter 3 looks at speech. Chapter 4 explores awareness of reality and aesthetic performance.
To set up a theory, Chapter 2 looks at the relationship between poets and personas. In psychoanalysis, subjects are incorporated into the orders of the others through splitting. Similarly, personas are the by-products of the process of incorporation. This part takes a close look at the personas of the poetry of Baek, Suk, Lee, Yong-ak and Oh, Jang-hwan who are children, adults (guardians) and young men, respectively. The personas that the three poets adopted are, in and of themselves, special events in their implication, and the adoption of personas should be considered as expansion of poetic significance. Baek, Suk used children as his personas to look at the times of suffering with affection. Lee, Yong-ak used as personas adults who are either guardians or those who try to escape from their hometown, expressing both criticism of and sympathy for the reality. The personas in the poetry of Oh, Jang-hwan are young men, representing agony and resistance. Assuming that sorrow and agony are the typical features of young men as immature subjects, the young personas’ response to the pessimistic reality was denunciation and exposure, through which they tried to resist the corrupt world.
Chapter 3 reviews the speeches that the three poets employed. Baek, Suk used the techniques of scene-making, through which the poet used self-indicative speeches intended to reveal alienated internal subjects. In his works, Lee, Yong-ak used indirect speeches. Indirect speeches, or free indirect speeches, are a meta-use of language that develops from two subjects of discourse talking to each other. Indirect speeches, which are a type of quotation, have three tiers in his works based on the distance between subjects of discourse and the others: direct quotation, indirect quotation and speeches where the words of the others are completely incorporated. This type of speeches came from the solidarity and sympathy that the poet felt toward those who are alienated from society. The type of discourse common in the poetry of Oh, Jang-hwan is direct speeches, specifically apostrophes and imperatives. His critical views of the world and progressive beliefs about the future that underlie such views made his personas keep calling poetic objects and use imperatives in discourse.
Chapter 4 finds out the discrepancy between awareness of reality and aesthetic performance through a sense of time. The poetry of Baek, Suk moved from a sense of alienation to fundamentalism. A sense of alienation was noticeable when his poems described the present time, and pursuing roots through memories of the past can be considered as the poet’s conscious efforts to overcome such circumstances. The works of Lee, Yong-ak clearly reveals criticism and sympathy, which shows that the poet’s aesthetic goals are realistic. Two ways to endure and survive the reality are having hope and sympathy. The poetry of Oh, Jang-jwan showed the spirit of denial and resistance. Denial and resistance, in and of themselves, appear to have a causal relationship. However, his poetry lost its unique power when radical progressivism, which was the basis of denial and resistance, was pursued. The poet’s aesthetic characteristic lies in the discourse of agony and resistance itself.
This thesis establishes the introduction of new personas and speeches by looking at the poetry of Baek, Suk, Lee, Yong-ak and Oh, Jang-hwan. Most notably, new types of aesthetic performance to embrace issues of the reality showed that they have the possibility to help endure dark days.