Pine River and Lone Peak

The 16th and 17th century Korean poets Chong Chol, Pak Illo and Yun Sondo were masters in the sijo (short lyric poetry) and kasa (narrative verse) forms. This new translation of their complete works includes an introduction that provides literary and cultural background, allowing the modern reader to understand the poets' continuous dialogue with tradition. The poems range from descriptions of nature to a passion for the acquisiton of virtue. The collection communicates the poets' perennial concerns with alternative modes of existence - engagement and withdrawal - and with the accommodation of the self and the world, in terms of court and country, fortune and nature, and change and repose. Taken from the pen names of Chong Chol and Yun Sondo, respectively, "Pine River and Lone Peak" represents work that endures in the Korean poetic tradition and has profoundly influenced later writers.