Top Ten Korean Modern Poets Selected (original) (raw)
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
The Korea Poets' Association has selected the top 10 poets among the deceased modern poets to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of modern Korean poetry.
Korean literature scholars regard Choi Nam-Sun's poem, ``From the Sea to Boys'' (1908) as the beginning of the country's modern poetry movement.
The 10 poets are Kim So-wol (``Azaleas''), Han Yong-un (``Love's Silence''), Seo Jeong-ju (``The Sky of Winter''), Jeong Ji-yong (``Window''), Baek Sok (``Namsinuiju Yudong Baksibongbang''). Kim Su-young (``Grass''), Kim Chun-su (``A Preface Poem for Flower''), Yi Sang (``From Crow's-eye View''), Yoon Dong-joo (``Another Hometown'') and Park Mok-wol (``A Wanderer'').
Ten university literature professors who also work as critics took part in the selection of the 10.
Oh Se-young, president of the association, said that they have chosen the top poets known by modern literati to raise awareness of their poems with the public.
The representative poems written by the 10 poets will be read at the National Theater of Korea in Seoul on Nov. 24, along with other various events such as music and dance performances.
The event will be directed by veteran playwright and director Lee Youn-taek and will be co-hosted by the Hankook Ilbo, the sister company of The Korea Times, the association and JEI.
The event will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of the association's founding and the 20th anniversary of designating ``Poetry Day.''