[3] His grandfather taught him classical Chinese and entered him in the famed Osan Middle School (also the alma mater of Baek Seok and Kim Eok) at the age of fifteen.

However, he then returned to his native region, to the town of Namsai, where he worked as the manager of the local office of the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper.

Though his poems continued to appear there, their quality deteriorated and Kim's life descended to habitual drinking and a reported suicide in 1934.

After graduating from Paejae High School, he taught for a while in his home town and then went to Japan to study at a college of commerce.

Cultural difference hinders understanding the context and one translator has provided several alternative versions to suit various moods or stylistic choices by way of example.

[7] In particular he cites the difficulty in finding a precise equivalent for the emotion being described, although the theme is a standard one both in the Korean literary and folk traditions.

[8] It has been asked whether Kim Sowol was not being self-indulgent in writing melancholy ditties in the context of the Japanese occupation of Korea.