Early Koryŏ: 935 ce to the 12th century
Unified Silla eventually weakened, and, as power struggles among aristocrats of the Later Three Kingdoms—as Silla, Paekche, and Koguryŏ came to be known in the 9th and 10th centuries—intensified, myths and legends were revived in which figures credited with nation founding and other supernatural powers overcome ordeals and adversity. But these legends, like those of the Three Kingdoms period, differ from ancient ones in their incorporation of human protagonists. In a Koryŏ legend, for example, Wang Kŏn, the founder (in 935) of the Koryŏ dynasty, is the most important figure, although his forefathers are depicted as having mythical origins that extend back several generations. The Koryŏ kingdom inherited Silla literature, and early Koryŏ works, like those of previous periods, embodied Buddhist and Confucian ideologies. But the literature of the early Koryŏ is sufficiently distinctive that it can be considered of a separate period. The early Koryŏ period was also a time during which literature in Chinese thrived and prospered while literature in hyangch’al faded, with the hyangga of Silla surviving only until the beginning of the 10th century. The monk Kyunyŏ wrote the last hyangga, “Pohyŏn shibwŏn ka” (“Ten Vows of Samantabhadra”). Works such as “Toi changga” (“Dirge for Two Great Generals”) by King Yejong, which memorializes Shin Sung-Gyŏm and Kim Nak, who were two subjects at the time of the founding of the Koryŏ kingdom, and “Chŏng Kwa-Jŏng kok” (“Song of Chŏng Kwa-Jŏng”), in which the exiled poet Chŏng Sŏ pines for the king Ŭijong, also provide a glimpse of the last vestiges of hyangga.
During the reign (929–975) of Kwangjong, the civil service system established by that king contributed greatly to the development of literature in Chinese by emphasizing authors’ comprehension of the Confucian canon and skill in poetic composition. The best among the literati of this period—Ch’oe Sŭng-No, Ch’oe Ch’ung, and Pak In-Nyang—composed excellent prose and poetry. Kim Pu-Shik strove to write in the classical mode and took as his model the Confucian canon. In contrast, Kim Hwang-Wŏn and Chŏng Chi-Sang sought a literature that stressed beautiful fervent expression.
In the area of legend, several notable works were produced. During the reign of the 11th-century king Munjong, a former governor in Kŭmgwan region collected legends, histories, and folklore and published it as Karak kukki (“Records of the Karak State”). Sui chŏn (“Tales of the Extraordinary”), a collection from Silla times probably revised by Pak Il-Lyang, records many legends of the supernatural. Samguk sagi (1146; “History of the Three Kingdoms”), compiled by Kim Pu-Shik, departed from the practice of stressing supernatural legend over human history; Samguk sagi attempts to use the methods of what might be considered modern historiography in its efforts to establish a Confucian-based ideology of governance. Nevertheless, Samguk sagi uses legends as source material, and many legends are also included in the yŏlchŏn, or biography, section of this work.
Later Koryŏ: 12th century to 1392
Even after the period of Koryŏ military rule, which lasted from the late 12th century to the mid-13th century, literature in Chinese continued to prosper. It revolved around Kim Kŭk-Gi and the group known as Chungnim Kohoe (“Eminent Assembly in the Bamboo Grove”), which was established by O Se-Jae, Yi Il-Lo, Yi Kyu-Bo, and others. This group was integral to the emergence and proliferation of literary criticism during this period. Yi Il-Lo, in his P’ahan chip (1260; “Jottings to Break Up Idleness”), defends the value of literature and praises the beautifully chiseled sentence. Yi Kyu-Bo’s Paegun sosŏl (“Jottings by Old Man White Cloud”) contains a vigorous debate on literary theory and artistic creation. He counters Yi Il-Lo’s emphasis on beauty, declaring that content takes precedent over ornamentation in literature and that creativity is important above all else. Works such as Ch’oe Cha’s Pohan chip (“Collection to Relieve Idleness”), Ch’oe Hae’s Tongin chi mun (“Writings of the Eastern People”), and Yi Che-Hyŏn’s Yŏgong p’aesŏl (“Lowly Jottings by Old Man Oak”) illustrate the views on literature of the newly risen scholar-bureaucrats active in this period.
The creation of Buddhist literature, centred on Sŏn (Zen) Buddhism, enlarged the sphere of later Koryŏ literature. It featured the writings of the monk Chinul as well as the monks Hyeshim, Ch’ungji, Kyŏnghan, Pou, and Hyegŭn.
Yi Kyu-Bo’s Tongmyŏng wangp’yŏn (“Saga of King Tongmyŏng”) re-created the founding of the Koguryŏ kingdom. Kakhun’s Haedong kosŭng chŏn (1215; “Lives of Eminent Korean Monks”) departs from the historiographical standards of the Samguk sagi but also shows a stronger awareness of the history of the ordinary citizen, something echoed in other works of the period. An epic poem, Yi Sŭng-Hyu’s Chewang ungi (1287; “Songs of Emperors and Kings”), contrasts the Korean people’s history with that of the Chinese.
Another feature of the later Koryŏ period is the considerable amount of literature in Chinese devoted to the chŏn, an account of a person’s life. Yi Saek, for instance, wrote accounts of individuals who never achieved public recognition for their accomplishments during their lifetimes, and Yi Kyu-Bo and Ch’oe Hae wrote t’akchŏn, accounts that praised the author himself but referred to him by a fictitious name. And a new form appeared, the kajŏn, or fictional biography, which treated objects as people and told their life stories. Works such as Im Ch’un’s Kongban chŏn (“Tale of Master Coin”) and Kuksun chŏn (“Tale of Master Malt”), Yi Kyu-Bo’s Kuk Sŏnsaeng chŏn (“Tale of Sir Malt”), Yi Kok’s Chuk Puin chŏn (“Tale of Madame Bamboo”), and Yi Ch’ŏm’s Chŏ Saeng chŏn (“Tale of Yangban Paper”) relate their narratives via the device of personifying their title objects.
The sogak kasa, or popular song texts, introduced in the chapters on music in the Koryŏ sa (“History of Koryŏ”) and handed down in the Akchang kasa (“Collection of Courtly Songs”), are another late Koryŏ genre. These songs were sung at court. Among them are songs that deal with the traditions of the Three Kingdoms period, such as “Chŏngŭp sa” (“Song of Chŏngŭp”) and “Ch’ŏyong ka” (“Song of Ch’ŏyong”), but the majority are reworkings of folk songs. Well-known examples are “Tongdong” (“Ode on the Seasons”), a song of longing for the beloved sung at monthly observances; “Kashiri” (“Would You Now Leave Me?”), “Isang kok” (“Frost-Treading Song”), “Manjŏn ch’unbyŏl sa” (“Spring Overflows the Pavilion”), and “Sŏgyŏng pyŏlgok” (“Song of the Western Capital”), all of which take love between men and women as their subject, and “Ch’ŏngsan pyŏlgok” (“Green Mountain Song”), which describes the hopes of the wanderer and the despair of the intellectual. Apart from these, there are short songs referred to as tanjang—examples include “Yugu kok” (“Song of Pigeons”) and “Sangjŏ ka” (“Song of the Pestle”)—and long songs called yŏnjang. Soakpu (“Little Song Book”), compiled by Yi Che-Hyŏn and Min Sa-P’yŏng, consists of poems in Chinese similar in content to folk songs.
While members of the new class of scholar-bureaucrats were assuming positions of leadership in literature, the kyŏnggi-style poem first emerged in the form of songs boasting of the elegance of these men. “Hallim pyŏlgok” (“Song of the Confucian Academicians”), a joint composition of literati during the reign of Kojong (1213–59), was the first kyŏnggi-style poem. An Ch’uk wrote two others, “Chukkye pyŏlgok” (“Song of the Bamboo Stream”) and “Kwandong pyŏlgok” (“Song of Diamond Mountain”). These poems are in both Korean and Chinese, with Chinese words and phrases used to describe objects and locales and to express the authors’ pride and interest in literati society and in themselves as officials. Sijo and kasa, which would become the leading poetic genres in the Chosŏn period, also originated at this time. “Sŭngwŏn ka” by the monk Hyegŭn, transcribed in hyangch’al, explains Buddhist doctrine and confirms the emergence of the kasa form at the end of Koryŏ period. The sijo, consisting of three lines, followed a lyrical path and spoke of human nature and natural beauty. Only a few examples, by such men as U T’ak and Yi Cho-Nyŏn, survive today.
Early Chosŏn: 1392–1598
With the establishment of the Chosŏn dynasty in 1392, two major, contrasting themes emerged in Korean literature. On the one hand, Chŏng To-Jŏn and Kwŏn Kun enlisted literature in the task of creating a Korean nation. In reaction to the songs composed by those men, which praised the great new dynastic undertaking, others such as Kil Chae and Wŏn Ch’ŏn-Sŏk, who had retired from public life, wrote poems in which they reflected upon the Koryŏ dynasty and professed fidelity to it while deploring the present situation. King Sejong, who during his reign (1419–50) surmounted the disorder that accompanied the founding of the Chosŏn dynasty and established a system of governance, invented Hangul (han’gŭl), the alphabetic system used to write the Korean language—thereby making possible a vernacular literature. This was the epochal development in the history of Korean literature.
Yongbi ŏch’ŏn ka (1445–47; “Songs of Flying Dragons”), a dynastic narrative poem that praises the heroic achievements of the founders of the Chosŏn kingdom, and Wŏrin ch’ŏngang chigok (1447; “Songs of the Moon’s Reflection on a Thousand Rivers”), a narrative poem that concerns the life of the Buddha, are the first examples of Korean literature written in Hangul, and their significance is great. The form known as akchang emerged at this time, of which Yongbi ŏch’ŏn ka is an example; these texts, which were intended to accompany court music and to celebrate the inauguration of the new dynasty, were composed in the vernacular and culminated in the work of Chŏng To-Jŏn and Sangjin. The Confucian emphasis on ordering one’s behaviour necessitated instructional books, and these, along with Buddhist scriptures translated into Korean, were also published during this period. They demonstrated the ease of composition in Korean and the language’s possibilities for use in literary texts. The kyŏnggi-style poem was inherited by early Chosŏn literati, who produced such works in that genre as “Sangdae pyŏlgok” (“Song of the Censorate”) by Kwŏn Kŭn and “Hwasan pyŏlgok” (“Song of Mount Hwa”) by Pyŏn Kye-Ryang, both written in the early 15th century. At first these works performed the functions of the akchang, but gradually they were transformed into poems that described affairs of personal interest. The kyŏnggi-style poem became increasingly diffuse, so much so that by the middle of the Chosŏn period all traces of its original features had vanished and the genre essentially ceased to exist.
A number of works written in the kasa form, such as Chŏng Kŭk-In’s “Sangch’un kok” (“Hymn to Spring”) and Cho Wi’s “Manbun ka” (“Song of Fury”), both of the 15th century, assumed prominent places in the literature of the scholar-bureaucrats. The kasa form developed in various directions, treating such themes as retirement from public life, banishment, and travel, and reached its zenith in the works of the 16th-century poet Chŏng Ch’ŏl: “Sŏngsan pyŏlgok” (“Song of Mount Star”), “Kwandong pyŏlgok” (“Song of Diamond Mountains”), “Sa miin kok” (“Hymn to Constancy”), and “Sok miin kok” (a continuation of “Hymn to Constancy”).
While early sijo were preoccupied with reflecting on the Koryŏ dynasty and other historical subjects (largely political and military), longer sijo cycles developed as well. These longer works were best exemplified by Yi Hyŏn-Bo’s Ŏbu sa (“Song of the Fishermen”). Poems such as Chu Se-Bung’s “Oryun ka” (“Song of the Five Relations”) and Chŏng Ch’ŏl’s “Hunmin ka” (“Song to Instruct the People”) paved the way for instructive sijo that sang of Confucian morals, while 16th-century works such as Yi Hwang’s “Tosan shibi kok” (“Twelve Songs of Mount To”) and Yi I’s “Kosan kugok ka” (“Nine Songs of Mount Ko”) established a tradition that glorified the truths to be found in nature. Hwang Chin-I and Yi Mae-Ch’ang pioneered a new realm of sijo that described love in emotive terms.
Literature in Chinese became reestablished in the early Chosŏn period. Sŏ Kŏ-Jŏng compiled Tongmun sŏn (“Anthology of Korean Literature”) and Tongin shihwa (“Remarks on Poetry by a Man from the East”), in which he summarized and commented on poetry dating from Unified Silla onward. Sŏng Hyŏn’s Yongjae ch’onghwa (“Miscellany of Yongjae”) established the tradition of courtier literature, in which various factions at court (the moralist faction, the Neo-Confucian faction) inveighed against each other. Sŏ Kyŏng-Dŏk and Yi Hwang, jointly inquiring into the principles of moralist literature, enhanced literature’s intellectual depth. Kim Shi-Sŭp, who had an outsider’s temperament, wrote defiant heterodox poetry as well as fictional narratives such as Kŭmo shinhwa (“New Stories from the Golden Turtle”). At the same time, the poets Yi Tal, Paek Kwang-Hŭng, and Ch’oe Kyŏng-Ch’ang established a poetic style that heartily expressed the emotions of life. Hŏ Nansŏrhŏn was one of the few women of the time who achieved fame as a poet; she wrote during the second half of the 16th century. The kajŏn form of pseudo-biography that had prospered during the late Koryŏ period was continued in such works as Kim U-Ong’s Ch’ŏngun chŏn (“Tale of the King of Heaven”) and Im Che’s Susŏng chi (“Record of Victory over Worry”). Shim Ŭi’s Taegwanjae mongyu rok (“Record of a Dream Visit to Taegwanjae”) and Im Che’s Wŏnsaeng mongyu rok (“Record of Wŏn’s Dream Adventure”) were experiments in a new form known as the dream record, while such works as Sŏ Kŏ-Jŏng’s T’aep’yŏng hanhwa kolgye chŏn (“Peaceful and Humorous Stories for Leisure”), Kang Hŭi-Maeng’s Ch’ondam hae’i (“Humorous Stories from the Country”), and Song Se-Rim’s Ŏmyŏnsun (“Sleep-Forestalling Shield”) mark the appearance of bawdy folktales written in Chinese. Though also written in Chinese, Kim Sisŭp’s Kŭmo shinhwa (“New Stories”), which incorporates legends involving dream meetings of spirits and dream journeys, is considered the first example of a Korean fictional narrative.
