Yi Ho-woo (; March 1, 1912 – January 6, 1970) was a South Korean

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

."Yi Hou" LTI Korea Datasheet available at LTI Korea Library or online at:

Biography

Yi Ho-woo was born on March 1, 1912, in

Cheongdo Cheongdo County (''Cheongdo-gun'') is a county in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is connected to the national transportation grid by the Gyeongbu Line railroad and the Daegu-Busan Expressway. The seat of government is located in the ...

Keishōhoku Province , alternatively Keishōhoku Province, Keisho Hoku, or North Keishō Province, was a province of Korea under Japanese rule. Its capital was at Taikyū (Daegu). The province consisted of what is now the South Korean province of North Gyeongsang a ...

Korea, Empire of Japan From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by the Empire of Japan under the name Chōsen (), the Japanese reading of "Joseon". Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea (Joseon) and Japan had been under polic ...

. The name Lee Hou is the poet's pen name, and represented by Chinese characters different from those of his birth name. He graduated from Gyeongseong Je-il High School. Yi attended the Tokyo Arts University. He worked on the editorial and management boards of the Taegu Ilbo, going on to serve as the manatding editor and an editorial writer of the Daegue Maeil Shinmun. Yi debuted as a poet in 1940 when his work Moonlight Night was published in Munjang Magazine. Yi died on January 6, 1970.

Work

Yi was most famous for his emotional reserve and concern with reality as he wrote about the beauty of simple rural life. As a journalist, he was also aware of the inequities of his time, an awareness that fostered his work, particularly in the difficult times after national liberation and the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. The Korea Literature Translation Institute, summarizes Yi's work and life: :The life and poetry of Lee Hou is typified by the poet's dogged determination to live, his burning passion, and his strong critical awareness of contemporary realities. Coupled with his modern poetical sensibility toward sijo and its free verse potential, the poet's sijo possessed the power to communicate for and to the people. In a

sijo ''Sijo'' (, ) is a Korean traditional poetic form that emerged during the Goryeo dynasty, flourished during the Joseon dynasty, and is still written today. Bucolic, metaphysical, and cosmological themes are often explored. The three lines ave ...

contest sponsored by the Dong-a Ilbo and judged by poet jurist Lee Byeonggi in 1939, Yi's poems Fallen Leaves" (Nagyeop) and "Azaleas" (Jindalle) were awarded prizes. Yi's formal debut came a year later with the publication of the sijo "Moonlit Night" (Dalbam) in Composition (Munjang) magazine upon the recommendation of Lee Byeonggi. Yi belonged to the Bamboo Shoots (Juksun) and Naggang literary circles and published the sijo collections Collected Sijo Works of Lee Hou (Lee Hou sijojip, 1955) and Dormant Volcano (Hyuhwasan, 1968)."Lee Hou" LTI Korea Datasheet available at LTI Korea Library or online at:

Works in Korean (Partial)

Poetry * Collected Sijo Works of Lee Hou (1955) * Dormant Volcano (1968)

Awards

* Gyeongbuk Literary Prize (1955) for "Collected Sijo Works of Lee Howoo"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yi, Ho-woo 1912 births 1970 deaths Korean male poets 20th-century South Korean poets 20th-century South Korean male writers People from North Gyeongsang Province