In the following poem entitled “Fallen Leaves 낙엽,” the poet 홍수희 doesn’t say one word about fallen leaves. Instead, she talks about the blue sky…
Long before BTS and Blackpink, ordinary Koreans sang songs called “가곡 (歌曲),” which can be best translated as either “gagok” or “Korean Art Song” in…
Rhyme is a concept reserved for poetry in European languages, generally speaking. It is not often used in Korean poetry, mainly due to the agglutinative…
Korea is one of the few countries on earth that did not experience colonization by the West and did not colonize other countries. Of course,…
Koreans take poems seriously. In fact, it would not be too much of an exaggeration to say that the entire Korean aristocracy during 500 years…
English, among other languagues, uses the same word “When” for two different purposes, namely, i) when you ask questions, and ii) when you say a…
가을에는 기도하게 하소서 낙엽들이 지는 때를 기다려 내게 주신 겸허한 모국어로 나를 채우소서 가을에는 사랑하게 하소서 오직 한 사람을 택하게 하소서 가장 아름다운 열매를 위하여…
꽃길 (꽃 = Flower, 길 = Road/Path) has about the same metaphoric meaning as in English – Flower or Flowery Path. It speaks of a…
Concessive clause with -도 When a Korean clause has an ending with “-도,” it is an expression of “concession.” In English, such a clause can…
Today’s Korea is a peninsula, so it is “almost” surrounded by seas or the Pacific Ocean. However strange it may sound in English, Korea is…
메리 크리스마스, 여러분! 아기 예수님의 사랑이 모노빌리티® 그룹 멤버님들 모두의 마음에, 그리고 여러분의 가족과 나라에 가득하기를 기원합니다. 포근하고 행복한 성탄절 보내세요! [formal register, professional situations]…
Roaming in a country where yelling or even raising the voice in public is considered a social taboo, I have long forgotten that some ordinary…