Ko Chang Soo (born December 5, 1934) is a Korean poet and diplomat.
1. Life
Ko Chang Soo was born in Hungnam, South Hamgyong Province, in 1934. He studied English literature at Sungkyunkwan University, obtaining a Ph.D. in 1982 with a dissertation on Buddhist thoughts in T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets.
From 1965 to 1996 he worked as a career diplomat, serving as South Korean consul general in Seattle, Washington in the United States and ambassador to Ethiopia and Pakistan.
Ko made his literary debut publishing his poems "Papyeon jumneun norae" (파편 줍는 노래), "Dosiui bam" (도시의 밤), and "Hwapokwansang" (화폭환상) in the 1965 and 1966 issues of Shimunhak, upon the recommendation of poets 김현승, 김춘수, 이영순, respectively.
His poems, in Korean and in English translation, have appeared in a number of Korean and American textbooks, including World Poetry (W.W. Norton), ViewPoints Grade 11 (Pearson Education Canada), and Curious Cats (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).
Ko has won various Korean poetry prizes as well as the Lucian Blaga International Poetry Festival Grand Prize in Romania. Some of his poetry has also been translated into Spanish. As a translator, he won the 1980 Korea Times Modern Korean Literature Translation Award.
2. Writing
Ko's poetry is written in Korean, but he has translated much of his own as well as other Korean poetry.
Much of Ko's poetry reflects his knowledge of Western culture and literature, as seen in such poems as "Syagarui geurimeul bomyeo" (샤갈의 그림을 보며 To Marc Chagall). Other poems examine and reflect on his experience in Korea, e.g., "Hangung maeul jeongwoneseo" (한국 마을 정원에서 In a Remote Korean Village), and other places around the world, e.g., his long poem, "Mohenjo-Daro" (모헨조다로 Mohenjo-Daro). Many, though not all, of his poems are set out-of-doors. Some of these place the poet in the setting.
Although Western poets such as T. S. Eliot and Rainer Maria Rilke have been large influences on his work, Ko said it had also been shaped by Zen poetry. His epigrams are also strongly reminiscent of “sijo,” a traditional form of Korean poetry characterized by short, potent verses.
