Kwang-lim Kim (The romanization preferred by the author according to LTI Korea) is an early-modern South Korean poet.

Life

Kim Kwang-lim was born on September 21, 1929 in

Wonsan Wŏnsan (), previously known as Wŏnsanjin (), Port Lazarev, and Genzan (), is a port city and naval base located in Kangwŏn Province, North Korea, along the eastern side of the Korean Peninsula, on the Sea of Japan and the provincial capital. ...

Hamgyeongnam-do "South Hamgyeong Province" (, ''Hamgyeongnam-do'') () is, according to South Korean law, a province of the Republic of Korea, as the South Korean government formally claims to be the legitimate government of the whole of Korea. The area constitut ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

. Kim graduated from

Korea University Korea University (KU, ) is a private research university in Seoul, South Korea, established in 1905. The university is included as one of the SKY universities, a popular acronym referring to Korea's three most prestigious universities. Th ...

with a degree in

Korean literature Korean literature is the body of literature produced by Koreans, mostly in the Korean language and sometimes in Classical Chinese. For much of Korea's 1,500 years of literary history, it was written in Hanja. It is commonly divided into classica ...

and later served as a professor at Jangan College and as the President of the

Society of Korean Poets The Society of Korean Poets () is a literary organization established in 1957. It is the oldest active poetry organization in South Korea. Every year, the organization awards the Society of Korean Poets Award, and holds the National High School ...

Work

The early poems of Kim Kwang-lim, included in his poetry collection ''Sorrow of a Grafted Tree'' (''Sangsimhaneun jeommok'') published by Baekjasa in 1959, overflow with the raw pain and suffering endured as a result of the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

. After the armistice in 1953, Kim's poems evince a diminished attention to issues pertaining to the war or Korean society in general and a growing interest in describing phenomena, with a focus on visual imagery.Source-attribution, "Kim Gwangrim" LTI Korea Datasheet available at LTI Korea Library or online at: http://klti.or.kr/ke_04_03_011.do# Following his second collection of poems, ''Bright Shadow of an Image'' (''Simsangui balgeun geurimja'' ), published by Joongang Culture Company (''Joongang munhwasa'') in 1962, Kim's artistic endeavor focused on the conception of a perfect, pure image. Kim thus eliminated all abstraction from his works, and sought an aesthetic that would isolate the image and remove all external semantic associations from it. In the 1970s, Kim's poetry began to incorporate elements of Seon

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

, crowning the poet's endeavor to eliminate prosaic elements and abstraction from his poetry and to isolate the bare, unobstructed image. Kim's fixation on realizing the perfect poetic depiction of an image and establishing a profound awareness of this image elevated his work and language to a new, transcendental plane. In fact, underlying his works is the development of a new poetic sensibility vis-a-vis external phenomena, the realization of the lucidity of language, and the creation of poetic expression through the construction of the image. Following the publication of ''Bird Made of Language'' (''Eoneoro mandeun sae'') in 1979, Kim rekindled his efforts to breach the limits of language and to stretch it to its extremes, through radical simplification of language by self-restraint akin to the practices of Seon or

Zen Buddhism Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), an ...

. Kim is essentially an

imagist Imagism was a movement in early-20th-century Anglo-American poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. It is considered to be the first organized modernist literary movement in the English language. Imagism is sometim ...

and his poems often seem like quick glimpses of life in which human concern meets with tight poetic control. While Kim is cognizant of the role of materialism in modern society, his poetry seeks to overcome this with tolerance and forgiveness.

Works in Korean (Partial)

Collections of Poetry * ''Sorrow of a Grafted Tree'' (''Sangsimhaneun jeommok'' 1959) * ''Bright Shadow of an Image'' (''Simsangui balgeun geurimja'' 1962) * ''Casting a Net in the Morning'' (''Ojeonui tumang'' 1965) * ''Fall of the Crane'' (''Hagui churak'' 1971) * ''Agony'' (''Galdeung'' 1973) * ''Mid-Winter Stroll'' (''Hangyeourui sanchaek'' 1976) * ''Bird Made of Language'' (''Eoneoro mandeun sae'' 1979) * ''The Top Cries when it Stands'' (''Baro seol ttae paengi-neun unda'' 1982) * ''Heavenly Flower'' (''Cheonsangui kkot'' 1985) * ''A Stupid Man'' (''Meongcheonghan sanae'' 1988) * ''In the Desert of Language'' (''Marui samageseo'' 1989) * ''Straightforward'' (''Gotigotdaero'' 1993) * ''Midday Lantern'' (''Daenat-ui deungbul'' 1996) * ''Sick Man'' (''Alh-neun sanae'' 1998) * ''A Lost Hoop'' (''Notchin gulleongsoe'' 2001)

Awards

* Korean Poets' Association Prize (1966) * Republic of Korea Literature Prize (1966)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Kwang-lim 1929 births Korean writers Living people Society of Korean Poets Award winners

Life

Work

Works in Korean (Partial)

Awards

See also

References