When asked, `why aren`t you writing essays or novels?,` Jung Ji-yong answered, ˝I am not a good writer of long sentences. That is work for the gifted.˝ The late poet himself, however, was one of the gifted when it comes to writing poems. He was such a rare kind who could make heart-touching descriptions on landscapes and emotions with simple but friendly words. Reading his verses that describe things in an elaborate and appealing way, we experience the wonder of language.
It was after `Home Sickness` that Jung earned his reputation of being a magician of `languages.` In the poem, he delivered images of rural landscapes with innocent words that touch Korean hearts. Then he began to create words with fine images that did not exist in the dictionary. He used to say, ˝It might be okay to have a fly in the ointment, but what should not be okay is to have a single misused word for a poem.˝ His propensity for perfection later affected such great poets as Yu Chi-hwan, Park Doo-jin, Park Mok-wol and Cho Ji-hoon, critics point out.
`Diversity of Jung Ji-yong`s Poetic Languages and Their Statistical Characteristics,` a paper written by Prof. Choi Dong-ho at Korea University and published in the May edition of `Literary Thinking,` proves empirically how hard he toiled on usage of words. According to the paper, he used total 8,975 worlds for 132 poems. There are a variety of kinds, indeed, from words for physical descriptions to words of emotion and to animalistic words. Prof. Choi pointed out that there are many words of emotion describing `sadness` and `crying,` citing that Jung was particularly interested in exploring the world of sadness.
His works must have been a harbinger of what was to come. Despite the richness of his poetic languages, Jung himself led a sad life. When he disappeared after the Korean War, people assumed that he fled to the North. Only 40 years later, it turned out that he was kidnapped by North Koreans. He cleared his name posthumously, but until now no one knows where, when and how he died. His children are still living apart in the divided Korea. Yet, his great works and poetic expressions continue to enrich cultural assets of this country. In a tribute to the great poet and ancestor, then we need to do our job of finding more value in his works.
Song Young-eon, Editorial Writer, youngeon@donga.com