Tony's Web
Evocation
(초혼)
| poem by | Kim So-wol (김소월) | |
|---|---|---|
| year of publication | 1925 | |
| poetry collection | Azaleas (진달래꽃), 1925 |
| 초혼 | Evocation | |
|---|---|---|
| 산산이 부서진 이름이여! | A name that has shattered to pieces! | |
| 허공 중에 헤어진 이름이여! | A name that has fallen apart in a void! | |
| 불러도 주인 없는 이름이여! | A name I call but no one answers to! | |
| 부르다가 내가 죽을 이름이여! | A name that I will die crying out! | |
| 심중에 남아 있는 말 한 마디는 | The word I had cherished in my heart | |
| 끗끗내 마저 하지 못하였구나 | was left unuttered until the very end. | |
| 사랑하던 그 사람이여! | O the precious one I loved! | |
| 사랑하던 그 사람이여! | O the precious one I loved! | |
| 붉은 해는 서산 마루에 걸리었다. | The red sun hangs over the westerly hill | |
| 사슴의 무리도 슬피 운다. | as a pack of deer wail sadly too. | |
| 떨어져 나가 앉은 산1 위에서 | From the hilltop I'd tumbled down to1 | |
| 나는 그대의 이름을 부르노라. | here I am calling out your dear name. | |
| 설움에 겹도록 부르노라 | I call it overwhelemed by sadness. | |
| 설움에 겹도록 부르노라. | I call it overwhelemed by sadness. | |
| 부르는 소리는 비껴 가지만 | The sound of all my cries ricochets | |
| 하늘과 땅 사이가 너무 넓구나. | heaven and earth spread too far apart. | |
| 선 채로 이 자리에 돌이 되어도 | Even if I turn into a rock standing here | |
| 부르다가 내가 죽을 이름이여! | it is the very name I will die crying out! | |
| 사랑하던 그 사람이여! | O the precious one I loved! | |
| 사랑하던 그 사람이여! | O the precious one I loved! | |
| [1] '산이 떨어져 나갔다', 또는 '내가 떨어져 | [1] The passage may be interpreted as 'the mountain | |
| 나가서 앉은 산'이라는 두 해석이 가능한 | (or hilltop) that broke off' or 'the mountain that I had | |
| 구절. 여기서는 후자로 해석하였음. | tumbled down to'. I took the second interpretation. |
| 초혼 |
|---|
| 산산이 부서진 이름이여! |
| 허공 중에 헤어진 이름이여! |
| 불러도 주인 없는 이름이여! |
| 부르다가 내가 죽을 이름이여! |
| 심중에 남아 있는 말 한 마디는 |
| 끗끗내 마저 하지 못하였구나 |
| 사랑하던 그 사람이여! |
| 사랑하던 그 사람이여! |
| 붉은 해는 서산 마루에 걸리었다. |
| 사슴의 무리도 슬피 운다. |
| 떨어져 나가 앉은 산1 위에서 |
| 나는 그대의 이름을 부르노라. |
| 설움에 겹도록 부르노라 |
| 설움에 겹도록 부르노라. |
| 부르는 소리는 비껴 가지만 |
| 하늘과 땅 사이가 너무 넓구나. |
| 선 채로 이 자리에 돌이 되어도 |
| 부르다가 내가 죽을 이름이여! |
| 사랑하던 그 사람이여! |
| 사랑하던 그 사람이여! |
| [1] '산이 떨어져 나갔다', 또는 '내가 떨어져 |
| 나가서 앉은 산'이라는 두 해석이 가능한 |
| 구절. 여기서는 후자로 해석하였음. |
| Evocation |
|---|
| A name that has shattered to pieces! |
| A name that has fallen apart in a void! |
| A name I call but no one answers to! |
| A name that I will die crying out! |
| The word I had cherished in my heart |
| was left unuttered until the very end. |
| O the precious one I loved! |
| O the precious one I loved! |
| The red sun hangs over the westerly hill |
| as a pack of deer wail sadly too. |
| From the hilltop I'd tumbled down to1 |
| here I am calling out your dear name. |
| I call it overwhelemed by sadness. |
| I call it overwhelemed by sadness. |
| The sound of all my cries ricochets |
| heaven and earth spread too far apart. |
| Even if I turn into a rock standing here |
| it is the very name I will die crying out! |
| O the precious one I loved! |
| O the precious one I loved! |
| [1] The passage may be interpreted as 'the mountain |
| (or hilltop) that broke off' or 'the mountain that I had |
| tumbled down to'. I took the second interpretation. |
As the title suggests, this is a stunning verse of crying out for the spirit of a lost love. The protagonist keeps calling the name of his loved one from start to finish, with a mind-numbing kind of desperation rarely seen in a love poem. It is such a direct, gut-wrenching collection of words no one would ever want to have to utter. The devastation is such that the poet can't stop crying out to his lost love, even though the distance between him and her spirit is that between heaven and earth, and he wouldn't mind turning into a tower of rock right there calling her name.
From the name that has shattered to pieces to the name I will die crying out, it hits the deepest reaches of emotional anguish. It is said that he had an intellectual rapport and romantic involvement with a girl while attending high school. He was already married at the time though, as arranged marriage at an early age was the custom in those days. So the relationship was doomed from the start and the girl ended up marrying a another man shortly after. The tragedy is that her married life turned out to be the worst kind of horror there could be and, alas, she died a few short years later in her early twenties. One can imagine the shock and devastation Kim must have felt when he lost the first person he truly loved from his heart as a youth. Thus came about Evocation (초혼), a brutally sad wail of a poem in which he tries to bring back the soul of his old muse.
