Korean poetry

The performance of oral songs in the religious life of the ancient Korean people is vividly recorded in Chinese dynastic histories.

At state assemblies the chief ritualist would tell the story of the divine origin of the founder, as evinced by foundation myths, and his extraordinary deeds in war and peace.

[1] A famous surviving example dates to 17 BC, Yuri's Song of the Yellow Bird (Hwangjoga, 황조가/黃鳥歌), written to lament the departure of his Chinese concubine Chihui.

The earliest extant collection of poetry in Korean is "Songs of the Ten Vows Samantabhara" by Kyun Yeo (균여, 均如).

Sijo, Korea's favorite poetic genre, is often traced to seonbi scholars of the 11th century, but its roots, too, are in those earlier forms.

The extent of the Shilla hwarang's role in the development and flourishing of the hyangga genre is a subject of much scholarly interest.

Sijo is a traditional Korean vernacular poetic form that emerged in the Koryǒ period, flourished during the Chosǒn dynasty, and is still written today.

Common themes include, but are not limited to, the following: nature, nostalgia of the past, love interests, historical events, moral instruction.

The first half of the third and final line employs a “twist”: a surprise of meaning, sound, or other device as well as a conclusion or resolution.

This is followed by the rest of the third line being the resolution to the day coming to a close—the narrator hopes that it is eternally “today.” Some poems are more thought out and clever than others by having deeper meanings and symbolism with the use of Chinese characters.

Gasa is a form of verse, although its content can include more than the expression of individual sentiment, such as moral admonitions.

Jeong Cheol, a poet of the 16th century, is regarded as having perfected the form, which consisted of parallel lines, each broken into two.

Poetry is quite popular in 21st century Korea, both in terms of number of works published and lay writing.