10 Korean Poems with Romanization and English Translations

Full public-domain text · Kim Sowol died in 1934; this poem was published in the 1925 collection, before 1930. No later posthumous first publication is being assumed.

Easy

— Kim Sowol (Died 1934), Azaleas (1925)

Repetition makes this a useful first recitation, while the solitary flower gives it more than a simple nature description. The clipped gal means autumn. The text uses modern Hangul spelling, including jageun for the older jeogeun meaning little.

Full public-domain text · Kim Sowol died in 1934; this poem was published in the 1925 collection, before 1930. No later posthumous first publication is being assumed.

Intermediate

— Kim Sowol (Died 1934), Azaleas (1925)

First published in 1922 and included in the 1925 collection. The courtesy of the speaker's farewell sits beside an intense refusal to admit grief. Jeuryeobapgo is the poem's distinctive verb for treading down; it has not been replaced with an easier verb. Modern Hangul spelling and spacing are used.

Full public-domain text · Kim Sowol died in 1934; this poem was published in the 1925 collection, before 1930. No later posthumous first publication is being assumed.

Intermediate

— Kim Sowol (Died 1934), Azaleas (1925)

The broken opening lines enact hesitation before departure; the uninterrupted river pulls the speaker onward. The final heureupdidaryeo is a regional poetic ending, retained rather than standardized into ordinary present-day speech. Hanja glosses are rendered in Hangul.

Full public-domain text · Yun Seon-do died in 1671. The cycle was composed in 1642 and published in Gosan Yugo in 1791, with a revised printing in 1798.

Advanced

— Yun Seon-do (Died 1671), Five Friends, in New Songs from the Mountains; Gosan Yugo, volume 6

This opening sijo introduces the five natural companions praised in the next five poems. Each item here is one complete three-line sijo, not an unrelated fragment. The cycle was composed in 1642. This is a modern-Hangul reading transcription of the older Korean, with the classical syntax retained.

Full public-domain text · Yun Seon-do died in 1671. The cycle was composed in 1642 and published in Gosan Yugo in 1791, with a revised printing in 1798.

Advanced

— Yun Seon-do (Died 1671), Five Friends, in New Songs from the Mountains; Gosan Yugo, volume 6

The second sijo values constancy through a contrast between water, cloud and wind. Jaro means often, and nwi here refers to a time or occasion. Older forms are retained in a modern-Hangul reading transcription; the English explains their sense.

Full public-domain text · Yun Seon-do died in 1671. The cycle was composed in 1642 and published in Gosan Yugo in 1791, with a revised printing in 1798.

Advanced

— Yun Seon-do (Died 1671), Five Friends, in New Songs from the Mountains; Gosan Yugo, volume 6

The third sijo sets the apparent permanence of stone against the brief life of flowers and grass. It is a poetic value judgment, not a claim that rocks never weather. The display modernizes the older spelling while retaining the rhetorical questions and classical ending.

Full public-domain text · Yun Seon-do died in 1671. The cycle was composed in 1642 and published in Gosan Yugo in 1791, with a revised printing in 1798.

Advanced

— Yun Seon-do (Died 1671), Five Friends, in New Songs from the Mountains; Gosan Yugo, volume 6

The fourth sijo reads the evergreen pine as an image of firm character. Gucheon literally means nine springs and here suggests the deep earth. Solsa emphatically singles out the pine. Modern-Hangul transcription makes the old spelling readable without replacing the image with a modern paraphrase.

Full public-domain text · Yun Seon-do died in 1671. The cycle was composed in 1642 and published in Gosan Yugo in 1791, with a revised printing in 1798.

Advanced

— Yun Seon-do (Died 1671), Five Friends, in New Songs from the Mountains; Gosan Yugo, volume 6

The fifth sijo admires bamboo's straight stem, hollow interior and lasting green. The opening expresses the speaker's classification puzzle; botanically bamboo is a grass. A modern-Hangul reading transcription retains the old rhetorical wording and ending.

Full public-domain text · Yun Seon-do died in 1671. The cycle was composed in 1642 and published in Gosan Yugo in 1791, with a revised printing in 1798.

Advanced

— Yun Seon-do (Died 1671), Five Friends, in New Songs from the Mountains; Gosan Yugo, volume 6

The cycle's final sijo praises the moon's wide light and silence. The small visible disk illuminates a much larger world. This is a modern-Hangul reading transcription, with an original English translation rather than a copied modern rendering.

Full public-domain text · Han Yong-un died in 1944; this poem was published in the 1926 collection, before 1930. No later posthumous first publication is being assumed.

Intermediate

— Han Yong-un (Died 1944), The Silence of the Beloved (1926)

A boat speaks to the person it carries. The repeated opening closes the poem, while its longer central lines describe patient service and wear. Han was a Buddhist monk, poet and independence activist. This poem appeared in the 1926 collection, not a later posthumous volume. Modern Hangul spelling and spacing are used.