The history of Korean literature, Dating back in the Early days of the Goryeo period till the fall of Joseon. The literature of modern Korea, and the explanation of different Korean forms of writing.

1. KOREAN LITERATURE

2. Introduction
Korean literature, the body of works written by Koreans, at first in
Classical Chinese, later in various transcription systems using Chinese
characters, and finally in Hangul.
 Hangeul or Hangul (한글)
 Is the alphabet used for Korean language.
 Made by Sejong the great, the 4th king of the Joseon dynasty in
1446, and it is still used.
Korean literature is the body of literature produced by the Koreans,
mostly in the Korean language and sometimes in Classical Chinese.

3. Korean literature
For much of Korea's 1,500 years of literary history, it was written in
Hanja.
 Hanja ( 한자 )
 is the Korean name for Chinese characters.
 More specifically, it refers to the Chinese characters borrowed from
Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean
pronunciation.
Which means, early literary activity was in Chinese characters.

4. Korean literature
By the 7th century a system, called idu, had been devised that allowed
Koreans to make rough transliterations of Chinese texts, Eventually,
certain Chinese characters were used for their phonetic value to
represent Korean particles of speech and inflectional endings.
A more extended system of transcription, called hyangch’al, followed
shortly thereafter, in which entire sentences in Korean could be written
in Chinese.
In another system, kugyŏl, abridged versions of Chinese characters were
used to denote grammatical elements and were inserted into texts
during transcription

5. Traditional Forms and Genres
In general, then, literature written in Korea falls into three categories:
 works written in the early transcription systems
 written in Hangul
 and those written in Chinese
There are four major traditional poetic forms
 hyangga (“native songs”)
 pyŏlgok (“special songs”) or changga (“long poems”)
 sijo (“current melodies”)
 kasa (“verses”).

6. Hyangga
 The oldest poetic form is the hyangga, poems transcribed in the
hyangch’al system, dating from the middle period of the Unified Silla
dynasty to the early period of the Koryŏ dynasty.
 The poems were written in four, eight, or 10 lines; the 10-line form—
comprising two four-line stanzas and a concluding two-line stanza—
was the most popular.
 The poets were either Buddhist monks or members of the Hwarangdo,
a school in which chivalrous youth were trained in civil and military
virtues in preparation for state service.

7. Pyolgok or Changga
 The pyŏlgok, or changga, flourished during the middle and late Koryŏ
period. It is characterized by a refrain either in the middle or at the end
of each stanza. The refrain establishes a mood or tone that carries the
melody and spirit of the poem or links a poem composed of discrete
parts with differing contents.
 The theme of most of these anonymous poems is love, the joys and
torments of which are expressed in frank and powerful language.
 The poems were sung to musical accompaniments chiefly by women
entertainers known as kisaeng.
 Kisaeng, also called ginyeo, were women from outcast or slave families
who were trained to be courtesans, providing artistic entertainment
and conversation to men of upper class.

8. Shijo or Sijo
 is representative of Choson period poetry. Its poetic form was
established in the late Koryo period.
 It is also an unrhymed Korean verse form appearing in Korean in 3 lines
of 14 to 16 syllables
 Shijo may deal with Confucian ethical values, but there are also many
poems about nature and love.
 The principal writers of sijo in the first half of the Chosŏn dynasty were
members of the Confucian upper class (yangban) and the kisaeng

9. Kasa
 The kasa developed at about the same time as the sijo. In its formative
stage, kasa borrowed the form of the Chinese tz’u (lyric poetry) or fu
(rhymed prose).
 . The history of the kasa is divided into two periods, the division being
marked by the Japanese invasion of 1592–97.
 During the Invasion poems were usually a 100 lines long, and dealt
with such subjects as female beauty, war, and seclusion.
 The writers were usually yangban.
 During the later period the poem tended to be longer and to
concern itself with moral instruction, travel accounts, banishment,
and the writer’s personal misfortunes.

10. Korean literature
Early Korean Literature was heavily influenced by Buddhism, Shamanism,
and Confucianism.
 Shamanism
 is a practice that involves a practitioner reaching altered states of
consciousness in order to perceive and interact with what they
believe to be a spirit world and channel these transcendental
energies into this world.
 Shaman
 a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world
of good and evil spirits, Typically such people enter a trance state
during a ritual, and practice divination and healing.

11. Korean literature
In the 4th century CE, the Korean peninsula was politically divided
Into 3 kingdoms:
 The Three Kingdoms of Korea.
 Baekje (백제)
 Silla (신라)
 Goguryeo (고구려)
 Goguryeo was later known as Goryeo (고려), from
which the modern name Korea is derived.

12. Prose
 Korean prose literature can be divided into narratives, fiction, and
literary miscellany.
 Narratives include myths, legends, and folktales found in the written
records.
 The most important myths are those concerning the Sun and the Moon,
the founding of Korea by Tangun, and the lives of the ancient kings.
 The legends touch on place and personal names and natural
phenomena.
 The folktales include stories about animals; ogres, goblins, and other
supernatural beings; kindness rewarded and evil punished; and
cleverness and stupidity.

13. Fiction
Korean fiction can be classified in various ways:
 First, there is fiction written in Chinese and that written in Korean.
 There are the short works of one volume, “medium” works of about 10
volumes, and long works of more than 10 volumes.
 There are works of yangban writers and those of common writers.
Geumo Sinhwa (New stories from Mount Geumo) by Kim si-seup.
 The first known classical work of Korean fiction.
 It was written in chinese characters.
In the mid-Joseon period, parable –like stories were published.

14. Oral literature
 Oral literature includes all texts that were orally transmitted from
generation to generation until the invention of Hangul—ballads,
legends, mask plays, puppet-show texts, and p’ansori (“story-singing”)
texts.
 These orally transmitted texts are categorized as ballads and are
classified according to singer (male or female), subject matter (prayer,
labour, leisure), and regional singing style (capital area, western, and
southern).
 The songs of many living performers, some of whom have been
designated as “intangible national treasures” by the South Korean
government, are still being recorded

15. Oral literature
 Legends include all those folk stories handed down orally and not
recorded in any of the written records.
 The final type of folk literature is found in the texts of p’ansori of the
Yi dynasty.
 The text evolved gradually from the legends, which provided their
sources and were altered and expanded as they were passed from one
performer to another.

16. Korean Dynasty
 Goryeo Dynasty or Koryo
 Established in 918 by Emperor Taejo Wang Geon (founding father).
 Goguryeo was later known as Goryeo (고려), from which the modern
name Korea is derived.
 The name “Goryeo” is derived from “Goguryeo” one of the ancient
Three kingdoms of korea which changed its name to “Goryeo”
during the reign of King Jansu of Goguryeo (in the 5th century).
 Hanshi- poems in Chinese characters, developed to maturity, and
towards the end of dynasty, a new from of poetry called Shijo
gained wide acceptance.
 Hanshi
 Hanshi is a poetry to be read and contemplated, it is usually in
the form of song.

17. Korean Dynasty
 Joseon Dynasty or Choson
 Was a Korean state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-Gye that lasted for
approximately five centuries.
 It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo
dynasty at what is today the city of Kaesong.
 The Shijo, a short three lined poem written in Han-gul (the Korean
Alphabet), remained popular during the Joseon period.

18. The Early Joseon Period
 Yongbi eocheonga (“songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven”)
 It was compiled during the reign of Sejong the Great as an official
recognition of the Joseon Dynasty and its ancestral heritage as the
forerunners of Joseon, The Golden Age of Korea
 This compilation was the first piece of Korean text to depart from a
long history reliant on Chinese Characters and can be recorded in
Hangul, the first Korean alphabet.

19. The Late Joseon Period
 Modern Literature developed against the background of the Joseon
Dynasty’s fall.
 This first period of modern Korean literature was often called
“enlightenment”.
 Jayusi
 Formation of modern free verse poetry.
 Many biographical work were published in the Late Joseon Period, were
the main character was often depicted as the hero.

20. Modern Literature
 The modern literary movement was launched by Ch’oe Namsŏn and Yi
Kwangsu.
 In 1908 Ch’oe published the poem “Hae egeso pada ege” (“From the
Sea to Children”), the first literary journal aimed at producing cultural
reform.
 In his stories, which dealt with the enlightened pioneers who
championed Western science and civilization, Yi Kwangsu adopted a
prose style that approximated the everyday speech of common people.
 Yi’s reputation was established by Mujŏng (1917; “The Heartless”), the
first modern Korean novel.

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