YI KYUBO

(1168–1241)

Yi Kyubo was a Korean scholar, statesman, literary critic, poet, and prose writer of the Koryo Period (918–1392). HisCollected Works of Minister Yi of Korea(1251) was among the earliest texts by a Korean writer printed under official sponsorship. Yi Kyubo left an estimated 1,500–2,000 poems and numerous prose works written inhanmun— that is, “letters of Han,” the Korean term for Chinese characters. Korea did not develop a native writing system until the 15th century, so medieval Korean poets and writers, much influenced by Chinese culture and traditions, learned and used literary Chinese as their mode of expression. The Koryo dynasty, emulating the TANG DYNASTY of China, instituted a State Civil Service Examination in 958, grounded in the classics of Confucian thought. Yi Kyubo passed the examination in 1190 and eventually rose to the influential post of first privy counselor under the ruling Ch’oe family. During the period of invasion and devastation wrought by the Mongol invasions from China that began in 1231 and culminated in the 1250s, Yi Kyubo accompanied the royal court to Kanghwa Island, where they lived in comparative luxury and comfort while thousands of Koreans were dying. Yi Kyubo seems to have felt some sympathy for the peasants’ lot, however, as he composed poems that describe the struggles of the farmers during the Mongol atrocities.

Perhaps Yi Kyubo’s best-known work is a long poem called the “Lay of King Tongmyong,” which retells the mythic story of the founding of the Kingdom of Koguryo (one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea before the unification of the peninsula under the earlier Silla dynasty). The poem, with its emphasis on local Korean history, legend, and cultural achievements, is a kind of nationalistic statement in the face of a Chinese-dominated historical tradition in Korea and the political dominance of the Mongol dynasty.

Yi Kyubo also wrote prose works in the aristocratic genre known askajon, or “fictitious biography.” In the tradition of a form that had originated with the Chinese author HAN YU during the Tang dynasty, these stories took everyday objects and turned them into fictitious characters, giving them a history and a family.Among Yi Kyubo’s works in this genre are theTale of the Turtle in Clear WaterandThe Story of Mr.Yeast.

As a literary theorist, Yi Kyubo was involved in a debate current in Korean letters of the time, concerned with the relative importance of form (oryongsa) vs. creativity (orshinui) in poetry. Yi came down strongly on the side of creativity, emphasizing sincerity in particular. His own poetry expresses this concern. His poems dealing with nature or everyday events are characterized by closely observed sense images and an expressed empathy for other people. His striking imagery may be illustrated by the quatrain from a memorable poem called “Two Verses on the Moon in a Well”:

From deep in the clear well by the mossy green rock,

the newly risen moon shines straight back.

In the water bottle I filled, the half moon sparkles.

I carry back only one half of the moon round as a mirror.

(McCann 2000, 81)

Other poems concern his family and himself, and these are often humorous with a touch of melancholy, such as this verse from a poem “To Sambek, My Son, Drinking Young”:

You know already how to tip the wine jar;

before many years pass you may bust a gut, so stop.

Don’t follow your father’s example, always tipsy.

All your life, people will be calling you a crazy fellow.

(McCann 2000, 80)

■ Hungguyu, Kim.Understanding Korean Literature. Translated by Robert J. Fouser. New Studies in Asian Culture. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharp, 1997.

■ Kim, Kichung.An Introduction to Classical Korean Literature: From Hyangga to P’ansori. New Studies in Asian Culture. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharp, 1996.

■ Lee, Peter H., ed.The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Korean Poetry. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.

■ McCann, David R.Early Korean Literature: Selections and Introductions. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.