Aspects of Voices Appearing in Shin Kyung-Rim’s Poetry
Journal cover International Journal of Korean Humanities and Social Sciences, volume 11, year 2025, title International Journal of Korean Humanities and Social Sciences
PDF

Keywords

Shin Kyung-rim
Farmer’s Dance
Dalneomse
Minjung
lyric self
poetic speaker
mudang
poetic subject

How to Cite

Kim, B. (2025). Aspects of Voices Appearing in Shin Kyung-Rim’s Poetry. International Journal of Korean Humanities and Social Sciences, 11, 129–149. https://doi.org/10.14746/kr.2025.11.06

Abstract

This study explores the transformation in Shin Kyung-rim’s poetic world in the 1970s-1980s by categorizing the vocal modalities that appear in his poems into three analytic categories - the lyric self, the poetic speaker, and the poetic subject. Criticizing the prior studies’ tendency to interpret Shin Kyung-rim’s work under the discursive category of ‘Minjung,’ this study seeks to move beyond ideological frameworks and to reinterpret his poetry through attention to the internal structures of the text and the layers of its practical relationships. When the voice of the lyric self is foregrounded, the poem remains at the level of the poet’s inward confession; by contrast, the emergence of the mudang speaker actively embraces the voice of the other, converting the reader from a mere listener into a performer. Furthermore, the voice of the poetic subject enables readerly intervention, allowing the poem to function as a constantly renewed discourse. These shifts of voice show the process by which the text moves from singularity to complexity and from sameness to otherness, demonstrating that Shin Kyung-rim’s poetry shapes the voice of actual other in reality as living events.

https://doi.org/10.14746/kr.2025.11.06
PDF

References

Cho, Kang-sok (조강석). 2009. A Study on the Poetic Voices – Who or what speaks in poetry? In Journal of Korean Modern Literature, Vol. 39: 103–126.

Cho, Yeon-jung (조연정). 2016. Rethinking the interrelations of popular movements and women's movements in the 1980's Korean literature. In Urimalgeul, Vol. 71: 241–273.

Easthope, Antony. 1994. Poetry as Discourse. tr. by Park In-ki. Seoul: Jisik-sanup Publishing Co. Ltd.

Eliade, Mircea. 1992. Shamanism. tr. by Lee Yun-ki. Seoul: Kkachi.

Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. 2015. Hegel’s Aesthetics. tr. by Choi Dong-ho. Seoul: Seojeong Sihak.

Jo, Dong-il (조동일). 1974. A Preliminary Study on the Novelistic Confrontation between Self and World. In Humanities Studies East and West, Vol. 7: 7–60.

Kang, Jeong-gu (강정구). 2005. A Re-interpretation about Min-jung on Poem of Shin, Kyeong-rim. In The Society for Korean Language and Literary Research, Vol. 33 no. 3: 303–322.

Kang, Jeong-gu, and Kim, Jong-hoi (강정구·김종희). 2011. A Re-interpretation about Min-jung on Nationalistic Literature of Shin, Kyeong-rim. In Journal of Korean Modern Literature, Vol. 43: 293–323.

Kim, Eun-jung (김은정). 2012. Koh Jung-hee`s “religious poems”, language of the necromancy duet of the desire. In Yongbong Journal of Humanities, Vol. 71: 55–74.

Kim, Jun-oh (김준오). 2017. Poetics. Seoul: Samjiwon.

Ko, Un, Yoo, Jong-ho, Goo, Joong-seo, Lee, Bu-young, and Baek, Nak-cheong (고은·유종호·구중서·이부영·백낙청). 1978. My Understanding of National Literature. In Changjakkwabipyung, Vol. 13 no. 3: 2–52.

Lee, Hyun-seok (이현석). 2011. The Senses and Logic of Non-Politics in the Literary Discourse after the 4.19 Revolution and in the Late 1960s. In The Journal of Modern Korean Literature, Vol. 35: 223–254.

Lee, Kyung-soo (이경수). 2021. Auditory Perceptions and Soundscapes in Go Jeong-Hee's Poems. In The Studies of Korean Language and Literature, Vol. 71: 167–217.

Park, Yeon-hee (박연희). 2016. Shin Kyung-rim and Hwang Dong-Gyu, The Parallax of Minjung Poetry in 1970s. In Journal of Korean Modern Literature, Vol. 60: 403–437.

Shin, Kyung-rim (신경림). 1977. Literature and Popular. Seoul: Minumsa.

Shin, Kyung-rim (신경림). 2004. The Complete Poems of Shin Kyung-rim. Seoul: Changjakkwabipyungsa.

Staiger, Emil. 1978. Basic Concepts of Poetics. tr. by Lee Yu-yeong and Oh Hyeon-il. Seoul: Samjungdang.