Kim Cheontaek was a poet and compiler of anthologies who worked during the reins of King Sukjong (肅宗 r.1674-1720) to King Yeongjo (英祖 r.1724-1776) in the late Joseon period. He was a gagaek (歌客 professional singer-poet) who emerged at the end of the seventeenth century who collected historically important sijo (時調 literally Contemporary Tune; Korean traditional poetry). He compiled the Cheongguyeongeon (靑丘永言 Songs of Green Hills) in 1728 because he was wary of the disappearance of the Korean song. He also wrote about eighty poems that focused on the themes of longing to leave life to take its natural course, displaying pride in his music, and explaining social-class conflicts.
1. Life
Kim Cheontaek was born in the late 1680s, and his pen name was Nampa (南坡). Haedonggayo (海東歌謠 Songs of Ancient Korea), by Kim Sujang (金壽長, 1690-?), recorded that Kim Cheontaek was a low-ranking police officer at the Police Bureau (捕盜廳 Podocheong) during the era of King Sukjong. The epilogue of Kim Cheontaek’s Cheongguyeongeon, written by Jeong Raegyo (鄭來僑, 1681-1759), reveals the characteristics of Kim Cheontaek as a yeohang gagaek (閭巷歌客 middle-class professional singer-poet). Above all, it testifies to his reputation as a highly revered gagaek who had outstanding skills in singing and writing. In addition, according to the preface and epilogue of Cheongguyeongeon, not only was Kim Cheontaek able to elegantly sing new melodies, he also wrote suitable lyrics for yeohang gagaek to learn. As a singer and poet, he made great efforts to train junior poets.
Moreover, Kim had an outstanding ability to easily memorize three hundred parts of the Classic of Poetry (詩經 Shijing). With a good foundation in poetry, he collected song lyrics from a relatively young age and then compiled Cheongguyeongeon in 1728, including some of his own works. [1] There is no accurate record of his death. However, according to Pak-ssibon (朴氏本 Pak’s edition) Haedonggayo, Kim was active as a singer until at least 1745 when he was about 60 years old.
2. Writing
Kim Cheontaek created over eighty sijo works. His early works were listed in Cheongguyeongeon, and the later works were published in Kim Sujang’s Haedonggayo. This indicates that he continued his creative work after compiling a self-praised gajip (歌集 anthology of poetry and song), Cheongguyeongeon. Therefore, one can discuss Kim Cheontak’s works which were contained in other anthologies by distinguishing them into different periods.
Similar to those of his contemporary middle-class poets, his works in Cheongguyeongeon show the themes of conflict due to social constraints, pride in his music, and sometimes indulgence in drink. Such works are interpreted as expressing the realization of conflict resulting from one’s limitation of social status. Kim appears to serenely accept the reality rather than mourn those social constraints.
(Translation into English)
Take a long knife and sit again to think
That which I held in my heart has become useless
Leave it. For this is fate. What else can you do
(Translation into Contemporary Korean)
긴 칼을 빼어 들고 다시 앉아 생각하니
가슴에 품은 뜻이 소용없게 되었구나
두어라 이 또한 운명이니 말해 무엇 하리오
(Original Text)
長劍을 ᄲᅡ혀 들고 다시 안자 혜아리니
胸中에 머근 ᄠᅳᆺ이 邯鄲步ㅣ 되야괴야
두어라 이 ᄯᅩ한 命이여니 닐러 므슴 ᄒᆞ리오
No. 265 of Cheongguyeongeon
The above works lament the goals he was not able to achieve in life while exhibiting a compliant attitude that accepts it as fate. In this way, Kim’s works, which seemed to show resignation to reality and a pessimistic attitude, are about leaving life to naturally take its course in the end. Kim’s works in Cheongguyeongeon sometimes expresses an elevated interest in enjoying the songs and music of nature while showing a pessimistic attitude towards social reality. The limitations of his social status as a middle-class poet, his reality of having no prospects of upward mobility and thus his turn to his music, pervade his consciousness. [2]
Kim Cheontaek’s new works in Haedonggayo gradually express more criticism of the inequality in the world. However, as he could not find an alternative solution in the real world, he chooses drink and music. When Kim portrays his music in his works, no problems of reality are mentioned. His consciousness, frustrated by the barriers of unattainable reality, is reflected in his works. For this reason, scholars have interpreted Haedonggayo as Kim Cheontaek having put his own life and his concerns about the prevailing state of society into it. [3]
Kim Cheontaek’s poems not only inherit the aesthetic sense of noble families but also show the characteristics of the middle-class artist. Thus, Kim is an important figure in that he encompassed all the characteristics that were beginning to appear in the history of sijo poems in the late Joseon dynasty. Through his active creation of sijo, he established the foundation of gagok (歌曲 lyric song) culture and played a major role in making gagokchang (歌曲唱the classical performance of singing sijo, involving accompaniment by court music and the changing of the three-line lyric form into a five-line musical form) the main art form of middle-class poets. [4] By recognizing the Korean traditional poetry, sijo, as literary genre on par with Hansi (Chinese character poetry), he elevated middle-class culture to a leading culture.
Moreover, Kim compiled existing sijo works and compiled an elaborate anthology Cheongguyeongeon that encompassed all kinds of music, authors, and themes. This work was possible for him because he was more well versed in both music and literature than anyone else. The Cheongguyeongeon, which contains the greatest number of sijo works than any otheranthology, has an orderly structure, and it influenced not only the eighteenth century period but also later developments of gaak (歌樂 songs and music) and compilations of poems.
Reference
1. Kwon, Sunhoe, (The Literary Characteristics and the Compilation Context of Cheongguyeongeon Compiled by Kim Cheontaek), (A Study of Korean Classical Poetry) 43, Korean Classical Poetry Association, 2017.
2. Kim, Yongchan, (The Life and Works of Kim Cheontaek), (Journal of Literary Writings) 39, Anam Eomun Hakoe, 1999.
3. Lee, Sangwon, (Kim Cheontaek’s Study of Haedonggayo in Content Classification and Transformation Aspect), (International Language and Literature) 69, International Association of Language and Literature, 2016.
