This thesis has been written in order to promote the paper handing-down of the form and subject matter of the Korean set-form of verse, the "Sijo". This versified form of literature first appeared about the end of the Koryo dynast and saw its most act...
This thesis has been written in order to promote the paper handing-down of the form and subject matter of the Korean set-form of verse, the "Sijo". This versified form of literature first appeared about the end of the Koryo dynast and saw its most active development during the five hundred year reign of the Yi dynasty from which it has been handed down in its modern form.
The works of Jin-ih Whang, Sheol Jung, Eum Shin, Sondoh Yun, Jung-bo Lee and others of the Early "Sijo" Period, and from among the modern writers the works of Nam-seon choi, Byeong-gi Lee, Eun-sang Lee have been taken as the main subjects.
An overall look into the "Sijo" and research on the works mentioned above, lead to the following conclusions: that in the matter of form, it has been reaffirmed that irrespective of the conventional standard meters, the 3·4 4·4, 3·4 4·4, 3·5 4·3 meters, the first and second lines have been regarded as each having two phrases, each phrase having a standard meter of seven letters with a variation of one or two letters; that in the "Than-sijo" ten letters or more must be limited; that a five-lettered phrase must nearly always be limited to the first. Line, that is has been considered most reasonable that the first phrase of the last line has a nine-lettered 3.6 meter as the standard meter rather than a 3.5 meter, and it has been clarified further that the second phrase, a seven-lettered 4.3 meter, nearly always sets itself according to the standard meter; that it has been proved that the first part of the first line always starts with three syllables.
It has already been made clear that thoughts on the romantic love life or descriptions of natures scenery make up the themes of the "Sijo". It can therefore be concluded that by setting its source on the emphasis of emotion, which is also in accordance with the subject of the poems-the realization of human emotions, of old and new, of East and West, the subject matter, after having gone through the process of refinement by the realities of life and the human intellect, should be developed trough the use of symbolic and metaphorical methods.
As the "Sijo" is a characteristic Korean form of literature, handed down from generation to generation, it has been stated that to make the most of such characteristics, the development of the "Sijo" 's unique form and style is all the more an urgent matter into which we must pour all our strength and energy.