The Canvas of Kim Gwang Kyun

Kim Gwang Kyun was born in 1914 into a modern world that bred anxiety. Less a poet in the textual sense, he grew into a painter with words. The page his canvas, Kim produced visualizations of anxiety stemming from the perception of helpless impotence in the modern colonial milieu. While often calling on the emptiness of his own heart in his images, he relied on vignettes of urban life, natural surroundings and hometown nostalgia to relate his disquiet.

Kim’s Dessin sketches a scene of magical beauty revealing his ability in words’ art. By combining words and playing with the intertwining of possible meanings, he adds art to his images. In the first line “As if to spice the soft—neat sunset” he intertwines the words 곱다 and 단정하다 to make 곱—단한. “먼—“ draws the reader far across the page to the distance of the setting sun. Kim also likes to play with opposites such as밤이 켜진다 comparing night to a light that may be switched on as the sun falls beneath the line of the distant road. Again with the clouds, he paints. A posy of roses on the sky’s purple colored backdrop: 마구 칠한 한 다발 장미 Finally, night falls in a puff of breath to blow out the banner and tree’s last glow like candles on a cake.

With Snowy Night (설야), Kim found a lyrical edge that overlays an auditory rhythm on a visual illustration to create a truly evocative piece.

Again the rhythm descends from the first line in a question. 어느 먼—곳의 그리운 소식이기에. The distance of the message stretches out to its origins in the imagination. The snow wafts in the air by the eaves in the fading lantern light like a remnant of something unsaid. The author’s choice of 나려here suggests a combination of “날다- flight” and “내리다- falling”. The feeling for the reader is of a fluttering in the turbulence and unruly currents under the eaves of the house. He does the same in line 7 with 나리면. In this, the combination of “go out”- 내리다 and “fly”-날다 calls forth the freeing of the spirit from the confines of the house. The void of the distant night is filled by The rustle of a distant woman disrobing the reader is suddenly struck by the notion of some forlorn love haunting the poet. In his choking-메어 and anticipating some longed for news (of her coming?). The method of expression suggests both beauty and a closeness of their relationship.

In the second half, one wonders if the “내” represents the writer or the snow. Only here does he mention the snow directly, 희미한 눈발—A faint flake. It is indistinct like a distant memory and flutters in his mind like the snow in his breath. Like cold mementos he says the snow flutters, but the cold싸늘한 is suggestive of death. The snow’s description then progresses Without a streak of sun or scent / Alone, splendidly attired / White snow drifts and descends amassing. Again he recalls the duality of the word나려 나려서. It piles in a heap of lost memories at his feet and in the end he admits his melancholy as he vows to tread lightly on the snow’s secrets. Here could be서리다- condenses but in fact it seems the author is using the ending 모모 하리다to add poetry to the simple서다- stand. Be careful where you tread lest you crush your reminiscences.

The poems in Korean