Sijo

Sijo
Hangul 시조
Hanja 時調
Revised Romanization Sijo
McCune–Reischauer Sijo

Sijo (/ˈʃiːdʒoʊ/; Korean pronunciation: [ɕʰidʑo]) is a Korean poetic form that emerged in the Goryeo period, flourished during the Joseon Dynasty, and is still written today.[1] Bucolic, metaphysical and cosmological themes are often explored. The three lines average 14-16 syllables, for a total of 44-46: theme (3, 4,4,4); elaboration (3,4,4,4); counter-theme (3,5) and completion (4,3). [2] Sijo may be narrative or thematic and introduces a situation in line 1, development in line 2, and twist and conclusion in line 3. The first half of the final line employs a “twist”: a surprise of meaning, sound, or other device. Sijo is often more lyrical and personal than other East Asian poetic forms, and the final line can take a profound turn. Yet, “The conclusion of sijo is seldom epigrammatic or witty. A witty close to a sentence would have been foreign to the genius of stylized Korean diction in the great sijo periods. ”[3]

Examples

Sijo, unlike some other East Asian poetic forms, frequently employs metaphors, puns, allusions and similar word play. Most poets follow these guidelines very closely although there are longer examples. An exemplar is this poem by Yun Seondo (1587–1671) :

Middle Korean[4] Modern Korean Translation
내 벗이 몇인가하 ᄒᆞ니 수석과 송죽이라 내 벗이 몇인가하니 수석과 송죽이라 You ask how many friends I have? Water and stone, bamboo and pine.
동산의 ᄃᆞᆯ오르니 긔더옥 반갑고야 동산에 달오르니 그 더욱 반갑도다 The moon rising over the eastern hill is a joyful comrade.
두어라 이다ᄉᆞᆺ밧긔 또더ᄒᆞ야 머엇ᄒᆞ리 두어라, 이 다섯 밖에 또 더해야 무엇하리 Besides these five companions, what other pleasure should I ask

Yun Seondo also wrote a famous collection of forty sijo of the changing seasons through the eyes of a fisherman. Following is the first verse from the Spring sequence; notice the added refrains in lines 2 and 4.

Sun lights up the hill behind, mist rises on the channel ahead.
Push the boat, push the boat!
The night tide has gone out, the morning tide is coming in.
Jigukchong, jigukchong, eosawa!
Untamed flowers along the shore reach out to the far village.

Either narrative or thematic, this lyric verse introduces a situation or problem in line 1, development (called a turn) in line 2, and a strong conclusion beginning with a surprise (a twist) in line 3, which resolves tensions or questions raised by the other lines and provides a memorable ending.

Where pure snow flakes melt
Dark clouds gather threatening
Where are the spring flowers abloom?
A lonely figure lost in the shadow
of sinking sun, I have no place to go.

— Yi Saek (1328–1395), on the decline of Goryeo Kingdom.

Korean poetry can be traced at least as far back as 17 BC with King Yuri's Song of Yellow Birds but its roots are in earlier Korean culture (op. cit., Rutt, 1998, "Introduction"). Sijo, Korea's favorite poetic genre, is often traced to Confucian monks of the eleventh century, but its roots, too, are in those earlier forms. One of its peaks occurred as late as the 16th and 17th centuries under the Joseon Dynasty. One poem of the sijo genre is from the 14th century:

The spring breeze melted snow on the hills then quickly disappeared.
I wish I could borrow it briefly to blow over my hair
And melt away the aging frost forming now about my ears.

— U Tak (1262–1342)

Sijo is, first and foremost, a song. This lyric pattern gained popularity in royal courts amongst the yangban as a vehicle for religious or philosophical expression, but a parallel tradition arose among the commoners. Sijo were sung or chanted with musical accompaniment, and this tradition survives. The word originally referred only to the music, but it has come to be identified with the lyrics.

동지달 기나긴 밤을 한 허리를 버혀 내여
춘풍 이불 아래 서리허리 넣었다가
어른 님 오신 날 밤이여드란 구부구비 펴리라

  

I will break the back of this long, midwinter night,
Folding it double, cold beneath my spring quilt,
That I may draw out the night, should my love return.

—Hwang Jin-i (1522–1565)
A famous female Korean sijo poet who was also a kisaeng,
a professional entertainer.

Note: The English adaptations of verses by Yun Seondo and U Tak are by Larry Gross (op. cit.) The English adaptation of the verse by Hwang Jin-i is by David R. McCann (op. cit.); Some of the information on the origins of sijo are cited from The Bamboo Grove: An Introduction to Sijo, ed. Richard Rutt (U. of Michigan Press, 1998); Kichung Kim's An Introduction to Classical Korean Literature: From Hyangga to P'ansori'; and Peter H. Lee.

In English

In 1986 the journal Poet dedicated an entire issue to "classic" Korean sijo translated into English by Korean-American Kim Unsong (a.k.a. William Kim). This was followed by Kim's Classical Korean Poems (Sijo) in 1987, and Sijo By Korean Poets in China and Poems of Modern Sijo (a collection of his originals) in the mid-1990s. These poems found a devoted audience in American theWORDshop publisher Dr. Larry Gross and Canadian haiku poet Elizabeth St. Jacques. As a result, a volume of original English-language sijo (Around the Tree of Light) by St. Jacques appeared in 1995. Soon after, Gross launched the first issue of Sijo West with St. Jacques as assistant editor. It was the world's first poetry journal dedicated to the English-language sijo, and soon caught on rather well with English-language poets dedicated to haiku and other forms of Asian verse.

Since then, unfortunately, Sijo West has folded (in 1999, after five ground-breaking issues); reportedly, due to health problems and tragedies undergone by Gross. Shortly after, St. Jacques reemerged with a series of online postings known as Sijo Blossoms (circa 2001), which, apparently, has since evolved into the Sijo In The Light section of her Poetry In The Light website. Sijo In The Light, like the defunct Sijo West, features original English-language sijo, as well as essays and reviews. Gross, meanwhile, has maintained a significant presence for sijo in his website Poetry in theWORDshop, which includes translations from Korean masters as well as original contributions by contemporary poets. Gross also moderates a Yahoo! discussion group, sijoforum.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Richard Rutt (1998). The Bamboo Grove: An Introduction to Sijo. University of Michigan Press. p. 12. ISBN 0-472-08558-1.
  2. ↑ Richard Rutt (1998). The Bamboo Grove: An Introduction to Sijo. University of Michigan Press. pp. 10 ff. ISBN 0-472-08558-1.
  3. ↑ Richard Rutt (1998). The Bamboo Grove: An Introduction to Sijo. University of Michigan Press. pp. 12 ff. ISBN 0-472-08558-1.
  4. ↑ (Korean)

References and further reading

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