Poetry
The Fisherman's Calendar
어부사시사
Yun Seon-do · 1651
Synopsis
Forty sijo follow a year by the water, ten pieces for each season, from spring to winter. A scholar who has chosen a secluded life observes the sea, the sky and the land, the alternation of night and morning, the ebb and flow of the tide. Between the verses, a refrain follows an outing by boat, from departure to return: launching the boat, weighing anchor, hoisting the sail, rowing, then mooring. This fisherman does not earn his living on the water: he is a scholarly stroller, who knows neither hardship nor danger.
Context
The cycle was composed in 1651 at Buyong-dong, the author's island retreat off Jeolla. It belongs to the tradition of fishermen's songs, from an anonymous song of the late Koryo period to its reworking by Yi Hyeon-bo, but the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture judges its poetic sense far superior; it is described as the longest and most ambitious sijo cycle of its time. It was printed only with the author's collected writings, published in 1791 by royal order and then re-engraved in 1798, in the sixth book.
Who it is for
A cycle of forty short poems, in the old language; translated in full into English by Kevin O'Rourke, with no French edition.
Prizes and reception
No surviving sijo cycle is longer, according to the Korean translation library; its author is regarded as a summit of the form.
Sources for this page 6
The pages consulted to check this page.