LTI Korea 
DLKL 
SIWF 
Blooming Like a Pheasant’s Eye Flower scrap
by Jang Gyung-ryul
January 5, 2017
Author Bio 작가 소개
Shin Dalja
In a recent interview with Maeil Business News Korea, the poet Shin Dalja said, “Whenever I see a pheasant’s eye flower, it reminds me of my life—unattractive and small. But people take notice of it because it blooms, surrounded by ice, earlier than any other flower in the spring. That’s all that it’s known for. Musing on its tenacity, I just can’t think other way: I myself am an unattractive and small pheasant’s eye. . .”
As a matter of fact, the pheasant’s eye flower is neither showy nor glamorous. And it may indeed be unattractive in some people’s eyes, as the poet remarked. But is it an appropriate analogy for the poet herself? While one may sense her humble heart through those words, we know that as a poet, Shin has never been “unattractive and small.” Shin is not only one of the most prominent poets in the contemporary literary scene of Korea, she also enjoys a wide readership in Korea. She is especially well known for her vivid representation of a feminine sensibility and her portrayal of the hardships women have to go through even in our age of gender egalitarianism.
Viewed in this light, we might bestow a new meaning on Shin’s portrayal of herself. Most of all, we should take into consideration the social and cultural conditions she has dealt with in her career; even though circumstances have improved lately, being a woman poet has been something like those flowers, surrounded by ice, blooming early in the season. Shin, like almost all other women poets in Korea, has had to endure prejudice and discrimination.
If we are to choose a poem that fits the poet’s portrayal of herself, we might pick “An Oil Lamp.” The poet happened to see “[a] white porcelain oil lamp” lie “for well over ten years pale and forgotten / in a corner of [her] house.” Though the lamp “was holding a dead black wick,” she knew it was not dead, only “forgotten.” As if to make sure that the lamp was truly not dead, the poet “poured in a little oil and lit it.” Now “it covered its eyes as though bewildered, / but soon / there was a magnificent flame tingling to its very toes.” One might read the poet’s mind as delicate and sensitive enough to gaze warmly upon something long neglected or forgotten.
Seen from another perspective, however, the forgotten lamp might not be a lamp in the literal sense of the word, but something long dormant in the poet’s mind, such as a certain poetic idea or topic. Now, by dint of the poet’s reinvigorated poetic impetus, it has come into full bloom as a living poem. In this sense, “An Oil Lamp” might be regarded as a poem about writing poetry, and “a little oil” as, say, the poet’s imagination or diction.
But the poem does not end there. What may be called a dramatic reversal is in place. In the third stanza, the poet glimpses an image of a woman in the lamp: “Ah, that body, still female, / blazing up / if the fire is fed.” One may well imagine that the poet is seeing herself in the lamp: she herself was the one long neglected or forgotten, but knew that she would “blaz[e] up / if the fire [were] fed.” Or, to use Shin’s own words, she would be blooming like a flower of pheasant’s eye, melting the ice with her passion. Indeed, Shin is a poet as strong-willed as the pheasant’s eye flower in her determination to let her poetic aspiration fully bloom.
It goes without saying that it is impossible to grasp the whole gamut of Shin’s poetic world in such a brief space. And we know that reading only one poem won’t do justice to her extensive work. Hopefully, the poems introduced here will help readers understand the poetic world of Shin Dalja in more depth. One final remark I would like to add: Shin’s poems will remain not only as small flowers of pheasant’s eye but also as ever-blazing lamps in the minds of those who love poetry. 
by Jang Gyung-ryul
Professor of English, Seoul National University
Writer 필자 소개
Jang Gyung-ryul
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