Spirits of Gangwon-doPark In-hwan (1926~1956)
A poet hailing from Inje, he graduated from Gyeongseong Jeil High School (currently Kyunggi High School) in 1945, and entered Pyeongyang Medical School. However, with the Korea´s liberation from the Japanese colonial rule, he quit the school, and ran a bookstore named ‘Mariseosa’ in Jongno, Seoul.
From his student years, he was engrossed in writing poems. In 1946, he published ‘Street’ in Kukje Shinmun Newspaper . In 1949, he co-authored a poetry book titled ‘New city and unison of citizens’, together with Kim Gyeong-rin and Kim Su-yeong, thus receiving spotlight as a modernism forerunner who looks for poetic theme and language from urban civilizations and reality.
He was active as a journalist for Kyonghyang Sinmun Daily in 1949, and a war correspondent in 1951. In 1955, he further entered KS Line and traveled to and from the U. S. A. by ship. With such background, in 1955, he published "Park In-hwan Poetry Collection" carrying poems that depict exotic emotion charged with his Bohemian experience and propensity.
He depicted urban melancholy and sensibility of the 1950s in fresh and rhythmic language. His representative poem titled ‘Wooden horse and lady’, which smacks strongly of Western sensibility and atmosphere and depicts lyrically the dark reality and lifestyle after the Korean War, thus winning broad sympathy.
In March 1956, at 31, he died of heart failure after he drank in Myeongdong and came back home. One week before he died, he wrote a poem titled ‘If times flow’, which was widely popular.
From his student years, he was engrossed in writing poems. In 1946, he published ‘Street’ in Kukje Shinmun Newspaper . In 1949, he co-authored a poetry book titled ‘New city and unison of citizens’, together with Kim Gyeong-rin and Kim Su-yeong, thus receiving spotlight as a modernism forerunner who looks for poetic theme and language from urban civilizations and reality.
He was active as a journalist for Kyonghyang Sinmun Daily in 1949, and a war correspondent in 1951. In 1955, he further entered KS Line and traveled to and from the U. S. A. by ship. With such background, in 1955, he published "Park In-hwan Poetry Collection" carrying poems that depict exotic emotion charged with his Bohemian experience and propensity.
He depicted urban melancholy and sensibility of the 1950s in fresh and rhythmic language. His representative poem titled ‘Wooden horse and lady’, which smacks strongly of Western sensibility and atmosphere and depicts lyrically the dark reality and lifestyle after the Korean War, thus winning broad sympathy.
In March 1956, at 31, he died of heart failure after he drank in Myeongdong and came back home. One week before he died, he wrote a poem titled ‘If times flow’, which was widely popular.
