『巖齋唱酬錄』에 나타난 19세기 말 지방 인사들의 한시 창수문화

The Sino-Korean antiphone poem culture of late 19th local intellectuals in 『Amjae antiphone poems巖齋唱酬錄』

Literature written in Chinese character was underestimated in late 19th century history of Korean Literature. Korean literature written by patriots should indeed be considered as the core of history of literature even if it was written in Chinese character. Yet, how can unexpected creation fever of Sino-Korean poems from late 19th century to Japanese colonial era be explained? Since the ability to use Chinese character was equivalent to the social rank in Korean society, when the social rank collapsed at the late Chosun dynasty, every scholars of all social background began participating actively in using and learning Chinese characters. They could also participate in creation of Sino Korean poems, which was banned before. Taking these into consideration, 『巖齋唱酬錄』(Amjae antiphone poems), edited at around 1897, is worth examining. In this book of poem are poems exchanged by 116 figures except Amjae Lee Un-ki himself. This book seems to have property close to private collection, but actually works written by Amjae himself are very few and there are much more works given by others called 唱酬詩文(antiphone poems). The authors included here are mostly regional figures who don’t even appear in biographical dictionary. However, these figures agreed to write and give their piece of work enthusiastically, and as a result, this book was published. The poems included in this book do not voluntarily sing personal emotions, but these poems are created in accordance to a particular request and theme. It seems it is possible to relate the publication of such collection book with collapse of social rank and desire of social status rise. If contemporary period was when creation of Sino Korean literature represented social status, it must have been inevitable to be enthusiastic to creation of Sino Korean literature, regardless of social background.