The existing studios on Park Mok Wool's poems for children have proved so far unsuccessful in grasping the literalness in them objectively and synthetically. Either they discussed primarily the significance of his child poetry in the light of history ...
The existing studios on Park Mok Wool's poems for children have proved so far unsuccessful in grasping the literalness in them objectively and synthetically. Either they discussed primarily the significance of his child poetry in the light of history of literature or were inclined to inquire the themes and images in them only fragmentarily and superficially. It is necessary, therefore, to reorient the perspectives upon his child poetry.
The semiotic methodology can be applied to the analysis of Park Mok Wool's poetry for children, so long as it reveals strikingly pictorial characteristic and has strong effect upon his whole poetry in general. Moreover, the above mentioned shortcoming of the previous studios can be overcome by the semiotic approach, through which we can throw light upon its objective and synthetically literariness.
Based upon the semiotics, this study trios to regard the whole text of Park Mok Wool's poems for children as a system of 'the second word', in other words, as a space code system and proceeds to analyze their unique code system. Earth defined the daily word systom(the first word) as apparent word system on ono hand, the poetic word systom(tho second word) as synchronic word system on the other hand. As the code is converted from daily word to the literary word, so according to him, the linear character changes into spatial character, and thus the syntax in the text becomes the word of space code system. Analyzing the text of the ;poems means, therefore, grasping the characteristic of the space code systems constructed by the texts.
In order to make clear the space code systems constructed by the word in Park Mok Wool's child poetry, this study examines how the repeatedly emerging space codes construct a system and produce the poetic meanings. It also trios to find out how the positive and negative poles roach the Harmony through the intermodiating medial code between the two contrasting poles. First, it shows how the heaven, sky, mountain and earth, related with their contrasting elements, construct vertical space code system and produce code values. The resulting values of the space codes can be summarized as below.
1) The sky, earth and stars construct a world of ideal and dream as transcendental spaces. The world, whore beautiful, dreamy children aspire to roach, constructs the upper part of the vertical space code system. The agential code operation of the birds, which are soaring up from the earth, and the trees of dream represents the direction of children's ambition Lowered ideal world. The moon and the stars, placed up in the heaven, deliver bright and genial light to the dark earth, changing it into the world of paradise.
2) The mountain is not only a vertical medial space, which divides and connects the earth up and down, but also a boundary space code, which, as a horizontal axis, divides the horizontal space into the inside and the outside. The mountain is also a fairy tale space, where the distinction between I and The or between varies things disappears. It is a fantasy space, where the reconciliation and harmony with the nature comes true, but a place contrasting with the secular world, where, looking after one's own interest, deceit and conflict prevail.
3) In Park Mok Wool's poems for children the earth is divided into the inside and the outside of the room(houso) such as indoors and the outdoors, homeland and foroignland. The inside and the home are positive spaces with eternal rest and peace. It is the agential code operation of a bird or a drizzle, that reflects the spiritual shift of the speaker toward those spaces.
Meanwhile, the code system constructed with vertical and horizontal axis is converted by the operation of the mediating code, through which the two poles come to a synthesis. Those, which connect the two poles, are snow, rain, sleep, bird and motherhood. The operation of agontial code of those elements is as follows.
1) The agontial code operation of snow and rain reveals the unique aesthetics of Park Mok Wool's child poetry. Coming down vertically from the heaven, they convert the whole earth into the world of paradise. Falling down on the alienated, negative side of the earth, they convert the whole earth into a positive world and make it impossible to distinguish between positive and negative values. Thus, the agontial code operation reflects the poet's affection toward the world. Taking shape of a drizzle, so the rain in Park Mok Wool's poems for children converts the negative space into the positive space or synthesizes the both spaces, while in his poems in general the space acquires negative meaning.
2) The bird is an agontial code, which makes the earthly dream roach the heaven and arouses the nostalgia of the speaker living in a foreign place. The movement of the bird reflects the soaring of children from the reality to the world of ideal and dream, and plants the children's yearning for the ideal place.
3) The sloop is in his child poetry abstract agontial code between the real place and the place of dream. Eye falling asleep, so children move from the reality to the ideal world. And the motherhood is a place for rest and salvation. Children believe that mother is an earthly paradise and mediator realizing their dreams.
Taken as a whole, Park Mok Wool's poems for children are an expression of the deep consciousness aspiring after rest, eternity and bright world. It is also a reflection of the homing will back to the original place, whr-re every distinction between I and The. things and human being disappears. Such place is an archetype of the child's mind and a place for everyone's aspiration. In other words it can be said, that the aspiration after that place is the homing will of the poet to the child's mind.