Tony's Web
Homeplace
(고향)
| poem by | Jeong Ji-yong (정지용) | |
|---|---|---|
| year of publication | 1932 | |
| poetry collection | Jeong Ji-yong Poetry Collection (정지용 시집), 1935 | |
| song composed by | Chae Dong-seon (채동선) | |
| song performed by | Sumi Jo (조수미) |
| 고향 | Homeplace | |
|---|---|---|
| 고향에 고향에 돌아와도 | Here I am back at my homeplace | |
| 그리던 고향은 아니러뇨 | But it is not the home I've longed for | |
| 산꿩이 알을 품고 | Wild pheasants nurse their eggs | |
| 뻐꾸기 제철에 울건만 | Cuckoos calling as they do in season | |
| 마음은 제 고향 지니지 않고 | Only my heart isn't embracing its home | |
| 머언 항구만 떠도는 구름 | Like a cloud adrift over a distant port | |
| 오늘도 뫼끝에 홀로 오르니 | As usual I climb a mountain alone today | |
| 흰 점꽃이 인정스레 웃고 | Where a white flower smiles at me warmly | |
| 어린시절에 불던 풀피리 소리 아니 나고 | The grass whistle from childhood won't make a tune | |
| 메마른 입술에 쓰디쓰다 | Leaving a bitter taste on my dry lips | |
| 고향에 고향에 돌아와도 | Here I am back at my homeplace | |
| 그리던 하늘만이 높푸르구나 | With only the good old sky still soaring blue |
| 고향 |
|---|
| 고향에 고향에 돌아와도 |
| 그리던 고향은 아니러뇨 |
| 산꿩이 알을 품고 |
| 뻐꾸기 제철에 울건만 |
| 마음은 제 고향 지니지 않고 |
| 머언 항구만 떠도는 구름 |
| 오늘도 뫼끝에 홀로 오르니 |
| 흰 점꽃이 인정스레 웃고 |
| 어린시절에 불던 풀피리 소리 아니 나고 |
| 메마른 입술에 쓰디쓰다 |
| 고향에 고향에 돌아와도 |
| 그리던 하늘만이 높푸르구나 |
| Homeplace |
|---|
| Here I am back at my homeplace |
| But it is not the home I've longed for |
| Wild pheasants nurse their eggs |
| Cuckoos calling as they do in season |
| Only my heart isn't embracing its home |
| Like a cloud adrift over a distant port |
| As usual I climb a mountain alone today |
| Where a white flower smiles at me warmly |
| The grass whistle from childhood won't make a tune |
| Leaving a bitter taste on my dry lips |
| Here I am back at my homeplace |
| With only the good old sky still soaring blue |
photo from
The Academy of Korean Studies
(aks.ac.kr/index.do)
Despite its similar title, the sentiments exuded by Homeplace (고향) is radically different from the author's other famous work Home Longing (향수). While the other work was all about the warm, nostalgic feelings one has toward one's roots, this poem is a quiet brooding of a young man who can't have such feelings at all. It depicts a person who returned to his home, as Jeong Ji-yong did after his studies in Japan, where he just can't feel at home. Although it is not explicitly mentioned in the verse, the reason is rather obvious: it is the despairing reality that his home is now under control of a foreign country, the imperial Japan at the time. He couldn't claim his homeland as his own, which changes everything.
The mood is bleak and somber, but it still moves you in its sad way. The protagonist finds nature the same as he knew it, but his own heart cannot accept the place as before. He broods, climbs a mountain, tries the grass whistle he played with as a boy, but in the end he only finds the soaring old sky the same as before.
Chae Dong-seon's tune is every bit as sad and subdued as the words of the poem. The words and music are made for each other here, escalating the pathos which seems to have a purifying effect on your heart. It is one of the best loved works, and my personal favorite, of Jeong Ji-yong.
