- Overview
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This book is a poetry collection by Jung Hoseung, one of the major Korean lyrical poets who has been beloved by readers for the past 40 years.
- Book Intro
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Jung's poems are like the warm sympathetic starlight that lightens “a blind alley visited by no one at nightfall” (from Path). To put it another way, his poems are like starlight that has descended to the lowest place on earth. For the poet who is trying to embrace all the sufferings of the world, the purpose of life is to heal the wounds of lonely souls that feed on sorrow and to “become the yeast for each other” (from Yeast) while “sharing the bread of poverty” (from I Am Afraid of Shadows). After raising “questions of suffering” (from the poet’s note) that ask about how to live an honest life in this filthy world and what the most precious value of life is, the poet realizes that “The thing that humans can love / is at the bottom of the path just passed” (from Stairs) and walks in silence along the “night road of hope” (from Night Road of Hope) where “The flame lights up for humans who have sacrificed their lives for others" (from Walking Jeon Taeil Street) to reach the lowest place in the world.
In a world in which darkness beats light and fake disguises truth, Jeong is afraid that he might “forget the determination not to forget” (from Though Flowers Fall, I Have Not Forgotten You) the pain of a miserable time when people “cannot live for anything but to die” (from Poem Written at the Edge of a Cliff). Yet he is aware that what is more precious is “The love of today instead of the anger of the past” (from Homeland) and realizes that “People are most beautiful / when they forgive the unforgivable” and “Love is completed through forgiveness” (from For Separation). In the end, he waits for “every person to blossom into a flower of forgiveness” (from Flower of Forgiveness) as though “A forgiving flower is the one that blooms as a daffodil” (from Daffodil) and wishes for “the sound of blue stars / enduring and forgiving all” (from A Bell Ringer) to ring out.
- About the Author
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Jung Hoseung
Jeong Ho-seung (M) was born in 1950 in Hadong, South Gyeongsang Province, and graduated from Kyung Hee University with both a bachelor's and master's degrees in Korean Language and Literature. He made his literary debut in 1972 when he won the annual spring literary contest hosted by the Hankook Ilbo with his poem for children, Yonghee, Who Climbed Up Seokguram Grotto. The next year, he won the same contest hosted by Daehan Ilbo with his poem Cheomseongdae Observatory. In 1982, he won a contest sponsored by the Chosun Ilbo with his short story Memorial Service. Other collections of poems he has released include To Happiness, From Sadness; and Seoul's Jesus. He also wrote children's stories that adults also can enjoy, such as The Person I Love and Unshaken Reeds. He has won various awards, including the Sowol Poetic Literary Award, the Dongseo Literary Award, the Jeong Jiyong Literary Award, and the Pyeon-un Literary Award.
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- Bestseller Rank
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