Path walked by human

The high popularity of Kim So-wol’s poetry is well explained by the fact that they come across easy to understand. Written from a lower position with modesty, his phrases do never deliver any condescending tone. Added to this, the author deals with emotions and feelings that any of us can relate to. The pain of a breakup is a universal life experience to anyone and many of us must have patiently waited for such painful moments to pass by. For some reasons, many readers find it easy to read and understand Kim So-wol’s poetry. The apparent repetition of expressions in his pieces is never boring but rather freshly new according to their subtly different nuances.

This applies to all his excellent pieces including “Azalea,” “Departing Way” and “Someday.” Here is one more connection that binds them together. They all are four-stanza poems. This poetic structure is a well-organized framework to make them perfectly complete and stable.

This piece also has four stanzas with one special trick added by the author. Parallelism works out just as the technic of decalcomania does in art. Whales, lungworms and raccoons appear one by one in the first stanza and disappear the same way in the third stanza. Cats are left abandoned in the second stanza while humans are the victim in the fourth stanza. The flow and contrast in the poem captures attention, the heart and, in the end, the soul.

This technic does not require any expertise. Nevertheless, it is only natural that we are supposed to deal with the simple basics with great difficulty and care. The key to the appeals of this poem lies in how neatly the basics are handled and applied poetically. Incredibly, the author touches upon a simple, difficult and important message as well. This poem is worth appreciating carefully.


s24jeonghee@donga.com