earticle

영어

Modern Korean poet Seo Jeongju had published his first collection of poems Hwasajip( The Book of Striped Snake) in 1941. His poem ‘Jahwasang’( Selfportrait) appeared at the very beginning of this book. It means that the poem was very important for the poet. In this paper I have discussed several topics on ‘Jahwasang’. They can be summarized as follows; (1) ‘Jahwasang’ consists of two stanzas in contrast. (2) The central idea of the poem is ‘inversion of existing value’(Nietzsche) and declaration of the birth of a new poet. (3) This poem shows the consciousness of ‘poète maudit’ (cursed poet), which Verlaine called Symbolist poet. (4) There is a considerable distance between poet Seo Jeongju's biography and this poem: the poet's father was not a ‘slave’, but a secretary and manager of tenant farms. And contrary to someone's interpretation, his maternal grandfather was drowned in the sea around the year Gaboh( the Year of the Horse). (5) In this poem traditionoriented world and modernityoriented one coexist. The poetic world of Hwasajip is also almost the same. Therefore ‘Jahwasang’ can be representative of Hwasajip, and moreover Seo Jeongju's poems all.