• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.59
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• pp.33-56
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• 2015

This paper examines how Lee Gyubo expressed his inner consciousness in his poems, confining chiefly to the works that he composed before his travelling to Gangnam. Criticism of his poems during that period should be subjected to the fact that he was critical-minded about social issues and was eager to succeed as well. He was spending his unlucky life as an intellectual while the military group seized political power. He could not overcome the prejudice of others and expressed his solitude in his lyrics in which he described things around him in detail. By doing this he tried to preserve his inner purity away from dusty world. On the other way he was very sensitive to the passing of time as he was always eager to succeed. Lee Gyubo edited Gangnam-jip after his travelling to Gangnam. After his travel, he sought a government post continuously, and lived a tough life until he was appointed to Jikhallim. What is remarkable is that he seldom expressed his solitude or frustration after his travel in spite of his tough life. It is presumed that he changed his mind to go with the times during his travel and there we can find the meaning of his travel to Gangnam.