Jung Ji-yong 정지용
Windows on Jung Ji Yong
The window as shelter, separation and a passage beyond grief.
Read the essay →Korean poetry · In more than one voice
Many poets.
Many ways in.
Poems in Korean and English. Essays that stay with a word, an image, a question. Follow Peter N. Liptak into the worlds of Korea’s poets.
Baek Seok · Jung Ji-yong · Yun Dong-ju
Yi Sang · Kim Gwang-gyun · Kim Ki-rim · So Chongju
Read it in both languages →On a night of countless stars
Baek Seok · “Green Persimmon”
To the cool current of a north wind
The persimmon fell green to a dog’s harsh bark
Translated by Peter N. Liptak
Essays · Peter N. Liptak
Following a poem closely.
Five essays on language, image, loss and the work of translation.
Yun Dong-ju 윤동주
I Want to Be Ready
“Yet Another Homeland,” the divided self and a dog’s uneasy vigil.
Read the essay →Yi Sang 이상
Yi Sang’s Discussions with Death
Locked doors, unseen flowers and the form of a divided self.
Read the essay →Kim Gwang-gyun 김광균
The Canvas of Kim Gwang Kyun
“Dessin” and “Snowy Night”: the poet as a painter with words.
Read the essay →Kim Ki-rim 김기림
rePlacing Kim Ki-rim in the Natural World
A translator tests the limits of image, rhythm and interpretation.
Read the essay →Poems & translations
Begin with the words.
Originals, English versions and alternative renderings, including the poems that accompany the essays.
New poem-specific illustrations · AI-generated for KoreanPoets.
Kim Ki-rim 김기림
The Sea and the Butterfly
A white butterfly mistakes the sea for a field.
Read the poem →
Kim Ki-rim 김기림
The Rock
The original, the translation and a step beyond it.
Read the poem →
Kim Ki-rim 김기림
Solitude
Blue sand, a solitary seal and an unwelcome moon.
Read the poem →
Kim Ki-rim 김기림
The Sunday March
The days step down the page toward Sunday.
Read the poem →
Kim Ki-rim 김기림
World’s Morning
An unfinished English translation beside the Korean poem.
Read the poem →
Kim Ki-rim 김기림
Window
Cold glass, breath and winter air. Read the poem in Korean and English.
Read the poem →
Yun Dong-ju 윤동주
사랑의 殿堂(전당)
A Korean poem of love, parting and separate landscapes.
Read the poem →
So Chongju 서정주
Four Poems by So Chongju
“Beside a Chrysanthemum,” “The Leper,” “Like the Wind Leaving the Lotus” and “Winter Sky.”
Read the poems →
Kim Ki-rim 김기림
The Waiting Room
A bright waiting room, departure and two English renderings.
Read the poem →Further reading
Across the bookshelf.
Research and literary sources collected alongside the essays, credited to their own authors.
From Korean History to Korean Poetry: Ko Un and Ku Sang
World Literature Today, 71:3 (1997), p. 533. A study of poetry’s responses to Korean history.
A Typographic Study of Yi Sang’s Poetry
Doctoral thesis abstract, Hanyang University. Visual form and typographic experiment.
A Study on the Musical Aspect of Park Mok-wol’s Poetry
Master’s thesis abstract, Korea National University of Education (1997). Rhythm, musicality and poetic language.
북관, 북신, 국수 해설
Korean commentary on food, memory and national identity in Baek Seok’s poetry.
Phantom Illusion
Fiction and an author introduction collected with the research. English translator credit is not recorded in the source.
A book to keep
Baek Seok, in both languages.
Illustrated hardcover · Translated by Peter N. Liptak