• Sijohaknonchong
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• v.30
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• pp.263-300
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• 2009

Adoration for nature constitutes one of the primary subjects that literature has tackled since the origin of human history. Nature expressed through a poet's subjective imagination is the internalized and reorganized nature. This study examines the view on nature enacted in Ch'o-Jung's three-verse poems (sijo) in light of the traditional views on nature implicated in the ancient three-verse poems (koshijo), which is in line with the long-established Oriental view on nature. To dignitaris(sadaebu) in the Chosun Dynasty, nature appeared as the idealistic subject for moral culture ($shims{\breve{o}}ngsuyang$), which also becomes the literary space where the purity and justice of the world view of Neo-Confucianism(Sungrihak) is contained in the form of the three-verse poem, the lyrical poetic space where the "I" is united with nature by way of "enjoying of wind and moon"($umpungnongw{\breve{o}}i$) and "living in quiet retiremen"($yuyuchaj{\breve{o}}k$), and the object for the poetical perception of the surrounding world. Ch'o-Jung' s three-verse odes are found in Reed pipe ($Ch'oj{\breve{o}}k$), Sixty Five Pieces of Three-Verse Odes (Samhaengshi-$yukshipopy{\breve{o}}n$), Autumn Fragrance ($Hyangginam{\check{u}}n-ga{\check{u}}l$), and The Words of Zelko va Tree ($N{\check{u}}tinamu{\check{u}}i-mal$). This study analyzes 212 pieces of Ch'o-Jung' s three-verse poems chosen from theses books. In Ch'o-Jung's poems, the traditional view on nature expressed in the ancient three-verse poems is rendered in such a way that metaphysical understanding of nature is indirectly transmitted through the objective correlatives found nature. Nature is no longer the object of straightforward utterance, but transformed, displaced, and removed: that way, nature gets objectified to form a complicated and multi-layered structure. In conclusion, the view on nature manifested in Ch'o-Jung's three-verse poems is based on traditional metaphysics. Second, nature is the object of lyrical nostalgia and adoration. Third, nature is imbued with the fundamental affection for parents. Fourth, nature is associated with organic life. Fifth, the nature in Ch'o-Jung's poems reveals the beauty of stillness endorsed in Lao-tse's and Chung-tze's philosophy. And last, nature is the agent for self-realization and meditation.