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영어

Epitaph is writing to the memory of the deceased. Writing epitaph is one of main writing activities of noble men in the Joseon(Choseon) era and it reveals objective facts about the deceased and viewpoint of the writer on them. Accordingly, some of them may contain an individual’s life or living history with value as historical records. This study aims to figure out features of epitaphs written by Seogye Park Sedang, the intellectual and great writer in the 17thCentury with verifying conventional general recognition on epitaphs. These feature sare summarized as follows:First, epitaphs written by Park Sedang are generally for his close and intimate people: family, relatives, friends, colleagues and acquaintances. From this, political relationships and friendships between the deceased and epitaph writer in both public and private ways can be presumed. Second, the writing form is generally in accordance with the custom but depending on subjects, some epitaphs reflect clearly his outlook on life or thoughts escaping typicality and conventionality. Third, Seogye Park Sedang was uniquely keen to recognize short and ill-fated lives. In particular, his epitaph for his own granddaughter shows sincere confessions on the frailty of life. Fourth, his epitaphs contain distinctively his own attitude on recording. Park Sedang emphasizes facts and meanings based on his outlook on life or history in writing epitaphs.