栗谷의 主氣論的 文學觀과 詩世界 = Yul-gok's Viewpoint of Literature and World of Poems based on the philosophy of Ki-Princilal

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This thesis is an inquiry into the literature of Yul-gok(栗谷) Yi I(李珥) who led the thoughts and culture of choson along with T'oegye(退溪) Yi Hwang(李滉). Studying the literature of Yul-gok, who constituted one of the two major flows of confucianism, will help understand both the major and minor literary laws of the Neo-Confucian Literati around his time. Yul-gok is not only as a great Neo-Confucian scholar, but also as a distinguished politician and poet.
Yul-gok was a philosopher who emphasized ki as much as i, so followers of the Yongnam school that was associated with T'oegye's school of 'the faction of the i-principal (Churip'a; 主理派)' named Yul-gok's followers as 'the faction of the ki-principal' (Chungip'a; 主氣派). Yul-gok emphasized the priority of ki in metaphysics and ethics. On account of 'the theory of Four beginnings and Seven emotions controversy (四端七情論)', then, two different schools of thought, the Chu-rip'a and Chugip'a factions, emerged within the Korean Ch'eng-Chu school(程朱學), each of which underwent further development for three more centuries in the hands of successive thinkers.
Obviously, Yul-gok's interpretation is significantly different from T'oegye's, according to which the Seven(七情) is never inborn moral qualities like the Four. For T'oegye, the Seven is conditional, short-lived, and 'precarious' expressions of our physical and psychological feelings and desires. On the whole, Yul-gok emphasizes the relationship of continuum between the Four(四端) and the Seven(七情) in the context of addressing not only the inseparability and complementarity of i and ki in all feelings, but also the ethical link of good and evil. To emphasize a concrete way of emotional integration, he utilizes a nondualistic approach and definitely affirms the link between the Four and the Seven in the sense that their fundamental difference relates to the issue of whether feelings are expressed and harmonized properly.
As we shall see in his Four-Seven thesis, Yul-gok criticized T'oegye's Four-Seven thesis, especially his emphasis on principle; in challenging his senior's philosophy, he emphasized the status and role of ki with respect to both learning and self-cultivation. For Yul-gok, 'the original essence of i ' refers to the oneness of i ; however, " it moves by riding on ki (氣發理乘)." In other words, principle must be discussed both ontologically and phenomenalistically, without neglecting one or the other aspect. From a standpoint of concrete phenomena, "unless there is ki, i has nothing to depend on; unless there is i, ki has nothing to lean to."
Commenting on his poem, Yul-gok argues that " i and ki are originally united" and "those who want to separate them into two do not understand the Way" Yul-gok also formulates an original theory of his own: “i is penetrating and ki is limited(理通氣局)" What Yul-gok is indicating here is that i is the reason for the manifestation of ki and that it plays the role of riding on the activity of ki, nourishing and transforming all cosmic phenomena. The cosmic production and transformation is possible only by ki.
Since Yul-gok's thoughts which attach greater importance to ki , the concertizing and energizing element as opposed to i, the formative element, is understood a meaningful task to study what roles he played in literature. Yul-gok uses various terms to expound the form of combination between Tao and literature(道本文末, 文以載道, 文以形道). And they all emphasize the greater importance of Tao(道). He uses the term 'shaping Tao through literature(文以形道)' for the first time, suggesting that the literature should embody the substance of Tao. This is related to his philosophy in which he values ki, the concertizing, more material element. He conceives that the most idealistic combination of Tao(道) and literature(文) is the state in which Tao(道) based on practical element is accumulated deep inside oneself and flows out naturally. To attain such an ideal state, he indicated that 'the great ki (氣之大)' should be accomplished first in literature.
In such a theory of literature, he admitted the importance of poetry by saying that rhetoric is the essence of living words, and that poetry is the most outstanding among them. He suggested that the poetry should be directed toward securing depth and width that combine both 'the matters of men(人事)' and 'the heavenly Tao(天道)'. He also demanded one should attain 'the generous state of mind and euphemism(優柔忠厚)' to ultimately reach 'the uprightness of cultivated disposition(性情之正)'. By the term, generous state of mind and euphemism(優柔忠厚), he seems to have meant that one should sustain a constant, reserved, and generous attitude toward others in contents, and euphemism in rhetoric. In addition to this, he understood, one should observe things frankly and express naturally from 'the sphere of a cultivated disposition(性情)' attained through self-cultivation.
Yul-gok's poetics is revealed more clearly in his elucidation of the poetic styles and a selection of chinese poems as presented in the book, jeong-ean-myo-sean(精言妙選). He placed in the first rank the poetic style called 'Chung-dam-so-san(沖澹蕭散)' that sings of the subject in a simple and natural language out of a serene and disinterested state of mind but which contains the infinite sentiment and hidden meanings. It is followed by 'Han-mi-cheong-jeok(閒美淸適)' which refers to the style that's free from greed, satisfied with oneself, and that maintains mild and comfortable state of body and mind, but written out of excitement, 'Cheong-shin-sweo-rak(淸新灑落)' which maintains a certain distance from the worldly affairs, 'Yong-eui-jeong-shim(用意精深)' which thoroughly envisions the sphere of poetry, 'Jeong-shim-eui-won(情深意遠)' which sings of men's sentiments but demands it to be moderate, 'Gyok-sa-cheong-geon(格詞淸健)' which shows a firm style with broad sphere and arouses the spirit, 'Jeong-gong-myo-ryo(精工妙麗)' which uses artificial techniques and sensual and flourishing style, thus arousing the emotion.
His poetry mostly pursues 'the chung-dam-so-san(沖澹蕭散)' style in which he plainly expresses his pure spirit based on cultivation of himself devoid of sentimentalism or rhetorical flourish. These poems seem like simple poems that describe objects, but in fact contains Yul-gok's spiritual sphere. Rather than singing the world of metaphysical world of i directly, he mainly sings of the cultivated disposition(用意精深) of men. This is the poetical sphere which can be attained only when the heavenly Tao(天道) and men's disposition(人性) have become perfectly mixed and united and when the rhetoric and philosophical aspects are integrated. They reveal the high spirit of Yul-gok artlessly and naturally. On the other hand, we cannot find any 'Yong-eui-jeong-shim(用意精深)' style poetry based on an artificial composition method in his poetry. This is closely related to his philosophy of giving primary emphasis to ki, which makes him value the reality.
This study aimed to investigate the relation of Yul-gok's literary activities to his ki-principal thought. I found Yul-gok's ki-principal thought adapted to his literary activities, both literary theory and poetry. So I could conclude Yul-gok's literary activities bore much relation to his ki-principal thought.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 目次
• Ⅰ. 序論 = 1
• Ⅱ. 16세기 학계와 栗谷의 생애 = 7
• Ⅲ. 栗谷의 主氣論的 思惟體系 = 17
• 1. 宇宙觀의 主氣論的 性向 = 17
• 2. 人間觀의 主氣論的 性向 = 27
• Ⅳ. 栗谷의 主氣論的 文學觀 = 46
• 1. 主氣論과 文以形道論 = 55
• 2. □□精言妙選□□의 品格論 = 66
• Ⅴ. 栗谷 詩의 優柔忠厚와 審美意識 = 80
• 1. 沖澹蕭散과 不事繪飾 = 86
• 2. 閒美淸適과 從容自得 = 105
• 3. 用意精深과 句語鍛鍊 = 132
• 4. 格詞淸健과 筆力주勁 = 146
• Ⅵ. 結論 = 163
• 參考文獻 = 169
• ABSTRACT = 175