Julie Kwon (권영주) 201100204
Personal opinion of the poem "Azalea flower(진달래꽃)"
I thought the Azalea flower was a song sung by the singer Maya. It was during this class when I realized this wasn't a song but a poem by Kim So Wol. I searched a little bit about this writer because I thought by the name the writer was a woman but in reality the writer was a man named Kim Jeong Shik. I found a translation of the poem into english:
Because seeing me is repulsive
When you leave me
I'll let you go peacefully without a word.
In the Yack mountain in Youngbyun
I'll pick an armful of the azaleas
and sprinkle them on your way.
Step by step
Please set your foot
on these flowers softly
Because seeing me is repulsive
When you leave me
I'll never cry even if I die.
I actually didn't understand the meaning of the poem, but I asked some korean friends to explain it to me and now I kind of get it a little bit. They told me that the old korean literature was based on a sentimental thought called "Han". The "Han" has a concept in which sad feelings should be suppressed patiently in one's inside and unspoken to the outside. And the "Azalea flower" poem is an example, also included in this concept. My friends also told me that the Koryo song "Gasiri" has a similar sentimental thought as the "Azalea flower" poem, even though they were written in a different time period. The "Gasiri", written in the Koryo era, and the "Azalea flower" poem, written in the 1900's (which somehow more recent than the Gasiri), the kind of feeling shown in both works, demonstrates korean's default emotion. I mean, even though the time period of both literary works are not close, the emotions written are not far from each other.
In both works, the writers are letting go the person they love so much, despite that they will get hurt. They are consumed by the fear that the person they love will reject their request of no leaving, so they don't stop their love ones from leaving.
I think the "Azalea flower" poem is ironical (similar to the Gasiri), because the writer actually didn't want the person he loves to leave, but instead he lets her go saying he would sprinkle azalea flowers on her way. It's like he is saying he's hoping she could be happy even though he won't because she is not by his side. And the poem also says that he won't cry even if he dies, when he actually is flooding with tears on the inside. I mean, he is saying all the contrary of what he truthfully feels. He feels sadness and sorrow on the inside and says something else on the outside. It is really an irony.
Personally, in my opinion, it is a waste of time crying over a person who is leaving you. I know it is sad, but there are so many other people in the world who could I love and that person could love me back. The author is suffering for nothing because this person who is leaving, doesn't care about him anymore and he should go on with his life. This is a personal opinion, I just wrote what I feel about this poem. But leaving that behind, I really liked the poem. I think it's interesting.