He was born Pak Yeongjong on January 6, 1916, in Moryang Village, Seo-myeon, Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, in present-day South Korea, to parents Pak Jun-pil (박준필; 朴準弼) and Pak In-jae (박인재; 朴仁哉). He had a younger brother and two younger sisters.[1] He graduated from Keisung Middle School (today Keisung High School) in Daegu in 1935.[2] He lived in Tokyo from April 1937 until late 1939, during which period he devoted his time to writing.[3] From September 1939 to September 1940, he had several of his poems published in the magazine Munjang [ko]. Afterwards, due to increasing wartime censorship by the Japanese colonial government, he continued writing privately but did not publish any further poetry until after the liberation of Korea.[4] He was married to Yu Ik-sun (유익순; 劉益順), with whom he had four sons and a daughter.[5]
Pak Mog-wol began his career as a member of Cheongrok-pa (the Blue Deer school), a group of three poets who also included Cho Chi-hun and Pak Tu-jin, all named after the 1946 anthology in which they appeared. Although they differed in style, their work largely had its basis in natural description and human aspiration. The body of Pak Mog-wol's work at this time established a new trend in Korean poetry, one that attempted to express childlike innocence and wonder at life through folk songs and dialectal poetic language.
Among such poems, "The Wayfarer" (나그네) is notable and was set by the musician Isang Yun as the last in his early song book Dalmuri (A Halo, 1950).[11]
강나루 건너서
밀밭길을
구름에 달 가듯이
가는 나그네
길은 외줄기
남도삼백리
술 익는 마을마다
타는 저녁놀
구름에 달 가듯이
가는 나그네
Across the ferry
by the path through the corn
like the moon through the clouds
the wayfarer goes.
The road stretches south
three hundred li
every wine-mellowing village
afire in the evening light
as the wayfarer goes
like the moon through the clouds.[12]
After his experiences during the Korean War, Pak's work shifted in style. Now he strove to incorporate the pain, death, and even monotony of daily existence into his poetry without maintaining a standard of sentimental and lyrical quality. His poetry collections, Wild Peach Blossoms (Sandohwa) and Orchids and Other Poems (Nan. Gita) encapsulate his artistic aim to depict the shifting human response to both the joys and sorrows of life. His later poems, however, represent a return to the use of vivid colloquial language as the medium through which to express the color and vitality of local culture.
His collection of poems from this later stylistic phase, Fallen Leaves in Gyeongsang-do (Gyeongsang-doui garangnip) provides the artistic forum through which he is able to further explore his earlier questions of the relationship between light and dark, happiness and despair, and life and death. Pak's poetry, especially his later work, reveals a fervent love for life that does not wane despite his diligent acknowledgment of the ever-present threat of the end. He is celebrated for the cautious optimism of his work and his ability to subtly internalize conflicts of empiric reality in his deceptively localized and dialectal poetry.[13]
Pak's awards include the Freedom Literature Awards, May Literature and Art Awards, the Seoul City Culture Awards (1969), and the Moran Medal of the Order of Civil Merit (1972).[14][15] In 2007, he was listed by the Korean Poets' Association among the ten most important modern Korean poets.[16]
Pak lived in a 37 pyeong (120 m2) house in Wonhyoro-dong from 1965 until his death in 1978. The Seoul Municipal Government had expressed interest in preserving the house as a cultural heritage asset, but his son had to sell it to a real estate developer to cover debts in 2002, and the developer demolished the building in 2004.[17] The demolition, along with similar incidents or near-misses involving the old houses of other cultural figures such as Choe Nam-seon and Seo Jeong-ju around the same time, sparked increasing public interest in the issue of cultural heritage preservation.[18][19]
^ ab"大學 문턱 안 넘고도… (3) 朴木月 (시인·漢陽大文理大학장)" [Even if you do not step over the threshold of the university (3): Pak Mog-wol (poet, dean of Hanyang University College of Humanities)]. Kyunghyang Shinmun. 1976-02-03. p. 5. Retrieved 2018-09-25 – via Naver News Library.
^"學·藝術院 會員개선 새로21名 選任" [Elections for membership in National Academies of Arts, Sciences: 21 newly elected]. The Dong-a Ilbo. 1966-03-16. p. 3. Retrieved 2018-09-25 – via Naver News Library.
^"詩人協會總會서 幹事等任員選出" [Leadership elected at general meeting of Society of Poets]. The Dong-a Ilbo. 1957-02-07. p. 4. Retrieved 2018-09-25 – via Naver News Library.
^"詩協會長朴木月씨" [Society of Poets chairman Pak Mog-wol]. The Dong-a Ilbo. 1968-09-10. p. 5. Retrieved 2018-09-25 – via Naver News Library.
^Hyunjung Kim, National Consciousness in Korean Art Songs, Arizona State University 2009, pp.33-43
^The Columbia Anthology of Modern Korean Poetry, New York 2004, p.114
^"서울市文化賞 수상자 결정" [Decision on recipients of Seoul City Culture Awards]. Kyunghyang Shinmun. 1969-04-15. p. 4. Retrieved 2018-09-24 – via Naver News Library.
^"藝術人에 勳章 李海浪씨등9명" [Awards to nine artists including Yi Hae-rang]. Kyunghyang Shinmun. 1972-11-08. p. 1. Retrieved 2018-09-24 – via Naver News Library.
