The untitled poem found in the dairy of Sun-Shin Yi, one of the most heroic Admirals in Korean History, is assumed by scholars to have been written the night before a major battle at Hansan Island.
During the late 1500’s, the Chosen Dynasty, the dynasty prior to the Republic of Korea, was in danger of collapsing due to Japanese invasion. After the Japanese mobilized the invasion and brought large numbers of troops to Korea, Hansan Island became a very important tactical location. The Japanese army viewed it as a centralized location to continually supply its troops, while the Korean army understood a possibly defeat at Hansan Island could place the entire country of Korea at the mercy of the Japanese. With the extreme pressures placed upon
…show more content…
was impossible as it could demoralize the entire Korean army and citizens. Due to this concept, he expressed these feelings in his diary, since in the desperation of war he could not rely on anyone to discuss such emotions, the only talks were of strategy and military. Therefore, it can be assumed that Sun-Shin never intended for anyone to read, interpret, or analyze his diary. Moreover, due to the extreme stress of war, Sun-Shin most likely used the diary as an outlet to think, reflect, and resolve emotions that were unacceptable to actually …show more content…
The beginning of the poem sets the imagery groundwork for the loneliness and sadness felt through the rest of the poem as the first line draws the image of a large ocean, and then the second line of Sun-Shin is sitting in solitude atop a fortress. These lines made it feel as if he was the only person there on that moonlit night. The lines proceeding pull even deeper into those gloomy emotions by using the imagery of him holding his sword while proclaiming an anxious and restless heart. The sword symbolizes his determination to fight even with his uncertainty, but is also acts has his security blanket giving him a sense of calmness to continue onward with the forthcoming battle. Finally, in the last line Sun-Shin hears a flute playing in the quiet night that caused him even more anguish. From the beginning of the poem he states he is alone, but hearing the flute mean he is no longer alone. Therefore, he is even more anguished because now he is not alone, but he still alone with his emotions. It caused him to contemplate even more about his emotions, the war, his men fighting beside him, and his loneliness. Although the flute stirred more uncertain feelings, he felt torn as he still did not want the sound to go away because it still offered the solace of another person, even if there could be no
First of alll, the poem is divided into nine stanzas, where each one has four lines. In addition to that, one can spot a few enjambements for instance (l.9-10). This stylistic device has the function to support the flow of the poem. Furthermore, it is crucial to take a look at the choice of words, when analysing the language.
Tucker, Spencer C., Jinwung Kim, Michael R, Nichols, Paul G. Pierpaoli, Priscilla Roberst, and Norman R. Zehr, eds. Encyclopedia of the Korean War: A Political, Social, and Military History. Vol. I. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2000. Print. 89-90.
The poet begins by describing the scene to paint a picture in the reader’s mind and elaborates on how the sky and the ground work in harmony. This is almost a story like layout with a beginning a complication and an ending. Thus the poem has a story like feel to it. At first it may not be clear why the poem is broken up into three- five line stanzas. The poet deliberately used this line stanzas as the most appropriate way to separate scenes and emotions to create a story like format.
There were some individuals that tried to meaningfully address the issue of national security. In particular, Queen Min recognized the clear need for modernization and strengthening of military (from the class lecture). Unfortunately, acting in the name of self-interest, some individuals chose to riot out of jealousy. Robinson wrote “In 1881 the military reorganization created a new Special Skills Force intended as a demonstration unit for military modernization. This force, however, created resentment within the rank of traditional units…disaffected soldiers rioted in Seoul, demanding back pay” (p. 17). Rather than heralding Korea’s step towards modernization and strengthening of military, some old guards chose to threaten Korea’s security via creating chaos (even if they had a legitimate reason for doing so). This was a clear demonstration of a group putting their own interests above their country’s
At the beginning of the poem, the speaker starts by telling the reader the place, time and activity he is doing, stating that he saw something that he will always remember. His description of his view is explained through simile for example “Ripe apples were caught like red fish in the nets of their branches” (Updike), captivating the reader’s attention
By any measure, The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong, known as Hanjungnok (Records written in silence), is a remarkable piece of Korean literature and an invaluable historical document, in which a Korean woman narrated an event that can be described as the ultimate male power rivalry surrounding a father-son conflict that culminates in her husband’s death. However, the Memoirs were much more than a political and historical murder mystery; writing this memoir was her way of seeking forgiveness. As Haboush pointed out in her informative Introduction, Lady Hyegyong experienced a conflict herself between the demands imposed by the roles that came with her marriage, each of which included both public and private aspects. We see that Lady Hyegyong justified her decision to live as choosing the most public of her duties, and she decided that for her and other members of her family must to be judged fairly, which required an accurate understanding of the her husband’s death. It was also important to understand that Lady Hyegyong had to endure the
This book is pieced together in two different efforts, one which is to understand the latter history of the post-1945 era with its political liberalization and rapid industrialization period, while at the same time centering its entire text on the question of Korean nationalism and the struggle against the countless foreign invasions Korea had to face. The purpose of this book was composed to provide detailed treatment of how modern Korea has developed with the converged efforts of top eastern and western scholars who wanted to construct a fair overview of Korea's complicated history. Also, the writers wanted to create an updated version of Korea's history by covering the contemporary arena up to the 1990's. The ...
Sun Tzu believe the best way to win a war is without fighting. He calls this strategy the “supreme art of war”. He believed in “deception” and surprise has a way to turn the enemy down without putting into peril one’s fighting force. He believed a small well trained army following his
Throughout history the United States has fought in many wars. Whether the fighting took place in Europe such as WWI or in our own land like the civil war. The one war many people seem to forget is the Korean War. The Korean War also known as the “forgotten war” was a war between North Korea, South Korea and the US together with the South Koreans to help. The Korean War was fought on sea, land, and in the air over and near the Korean peninsula (Brown, p.2). On June 25, 1950, the North Koreans rumbled across the thirty-eighth parallel. The invasion was successful because the south was not expecting or even prepare for a war. The invasion was so successful that they pushed the south to a tiny defensive area around Pusan. That’s when President Truman steps in real quick to halt the invasion of the North Koreans. Truman ordered American armed forces under General Douglas MacArthur to support South Korea. The Korean War was a clash between Communist forces and Free World (Brown, p.2).
1945 marked the end of World War II and the end of Japan’s reign in Korea. Korea had been under Japanese rule since the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty in 1910. During this time, Korea had been brutally treated by Japan. The Korean language was suppressed as well as traditional Korean culture. Japan forced Korean people to take Japanese surnames and took many “comfort women” otherwise known as sex slaves for the Japanese military. As a result, the diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan were strained. Japan was determined to forget the past and deny many of the things that happened while Korea was determined to not move past it. There have been disputes between the two countries about acknowledging comfort women and territories, many sprouting up from World War II and before. While there has been improvement, the relationship between Japan and Korea is strained, mainly due to Japan’s unwillingness to remember and apologize for the past and Korea’s stubbornness to not move on from the past.
Along with the imagery we get from the title, there is a lot of imagery within this poem. Let us start with the first three lines:
The Korean War explicitly portrayed the atrocious battle between both the North and South side which gave the United Nations its military role for the first time, thus expanding the war from a domestic to an international scale. Sometimes called “The Forgotten War”, the Korean War was mainly overshadowed in historical terms by the conflicts that occurred before and after it, World War II and the Vietnam War. The Korean War had raged for years without a true resolution and after years of battles, even the compromise that was made was not a complete one. The current situation in North and South Korea is quite volatile. In order to apprehend the Korean War, one has to look at events that took place before the war, how the war was conducted and the aftermath of the War.
One can see that the flute represents music, and music is being played to spread the word that springtime has arrived and is a happy event. The arrival of the birds summons the exciting new season. The celebration continues through the night: "Birds delight/ Day and Night" (3-4). "Sound the flute" arouses music or noise, while the word "mute" in the second line calls forth silence and quietness.
Hwang Sun-won went through many hard times during his life (Albert). When he was young Korea was ruled by Japan. During this time Hwang saw the Japanese imprison his father for being part of the Korean rebellion of 1919. (Albert 1402) Another reason is when he would write one of his many pieces of ...
Griffith’s study also includes four different appendixes. The first is A Note from Wu Ch’I, the second is titled Sun Tzu’s Influence on Japanese Military Thought, the third is Sun Tzu in Western Languages, and the fourth appendix is Brief Biographies of the Commentators.