Yi Bong-hwan (1710~1770) greatly impacted the 18th-century Joseon poetry circles with his individual poetic style. He dedicated himself to poetry all through his life, held poetry appreciation meetings with diverse literati, and led efforts to operate...
Yi Bong-hwan (1710~1770) greatly impacted the 18th-century Joseon poetry circles with his individual poetic style. He dedicated himself to poetry all through his life, held poetry appreciation meetings with diverse literati, and led efforts to operate the poetic association with gyeonghwa geojok (京華巨族, exalted lineages in Seoul), allowing himself to be famous for his poems. He rejected imitation, and pursued individualistic poems, leading such his established poetic style to impact the then and later literati. This study pays attention to the fact that Yi Bong-hwan's real literary world has not yet been revealed specifically, and thus sought to explore his life underlying his literary base and to define the characteristics of his poetic world.
Yi Bong-hwan was a family member of the fifth generation of the famous literatus Yi Chun-yeong. During his youth, he was influenced by senior litarti, inspiring him to decide to become a famous literatus. The most important incident at that time was that he met Jo Jae-ho. He participated in Jo Jae-ho's poetic coterie, allowing him to build up abundant cultural experience and cultivate his literary talent. After that, at 38, in 1747, he participated in Joseon's diplomatic mission to Japan. This is also an important incident for him. As seoeol (庶孼, illegitimate lineage), he was frustrated, but he had a good opportunity to exercise his talent. Afterwards, he was further reputed as a literary man, broadening his human network with gyeonghwa geokjok. At 51, in 1760, he had an opportunity to travel to Beijing, allowing him to have more opportunities later to travel overseas. This led him to have new experience and also to examine his identity and life again. Later returning to Joseon, he socialized only with certain groups of people, dedicating himself to composing poems.
In this thesis, the characteristics of the poetry world of Yi Bong-hwan are examined from the three aspects of his attitude to respond to the reality, representation of natural scenes, and his aesthetic view. First, Yi Bong-hwan, as Seoeol status, was frustrated with his limits in the real life, making him negative and critical. Rather than responding critically to that reality, he sought after a self-satisfaction and lofty mental world. This attitude was revealed in the form of quest for hermit spirit and natural scenes. Second, he toured nearby mountains in Seoul and its vicinity to depict real natural scenes. He faithfully represented real scenes but ultimately tried to depict inherent principles in natural objects from which he wanted to learn the spirit of natural beauty. He encountered Nature with the attitude of practicing Zen, and tried to connect his poetic mind with Buddhist mind. He valued an insightful experience of the targets through poetic inspiration. He also tried to confirm the original character and fundamental principle of being from Nature. This was expressed as cheongi (天機, the profound secrets of Nature), and he confirmed that the principle of nature creation was equality, omnipresence, and flexibility. Third, maehwa (梅花, Korean apricot flower) is a major poetic subject matter in his works. He enjoyed the culture of appreciating pot-planting of apricot with his colleagues. In composing apricot-related poems, he observed objects contemplatively and tried to depict something fundamental beyond outward appearance. In this regard, his poetic view and natural view were greatly influenced by thoughts of yeok (易, change). He continued to see the ever changing appearance of flowers not their static appearance. He tried to depict the apricot flower by finding the recovering tremendous power of life from there. He also sought the nobility and loftiness of the apricot flower. He tried to overcome his frustration in reality by pursuing self satisfaction through the flower. Fourth, a fresh sense and delicate expression can be found in Yi Bong-hwan's poems. He did not follow established norms, but mastered a wide range of poetic styles, and tried to write poems of his own style through self satisfaction and change. He also studied an array of literary trends of the early Ming and the late Qing of China, and became open-minded. He warned imitation and highly appreciated peculiar and original writings. His works depicted natural scenes and objects, and people's daily life specifically and sensuously. Specifically, Yi Bong-hwan's poems were characterized by detailed insights into and detailed depiction of delicate feeling and movement of objects, sensuous expression geared toward freshing sense, a skilled utilization of allusion, a delicate ability to compose language, and originality. These allowed him to establish an individualistic poetic style.
Yi Bong-hwan, as a seoeol, dedicated himself to composition of poems all through his life, and established his own world of poetry. He led the then poetic circles and created a new poetic style, and also influenced the poetic literature of Yi Deok-mu, Bak Je-ga, etc.