Abstract

Yeowa(餘窩) Mok Man‒jung(睦萬中, 1727‒11810) compiled his poems written in his later years among the poems included in this anthology Yeowajip(餘窩集), and named it Yeoksarok(櫟社錄). Containing his poems written during the period from 1804 when he was 78 years old to 1810, Yeoksarok gives us a glimpse to Yeowa’s life and inner thoughts in his old age. The reason for giving the name ‘Yeoksarok’ to the collection of poems written in his later years is explained in detail in Yeoksarok. ‘Yeoksa’(櫟社) in ‘Yeoksarok’ came from an episode in Chuang Tzu’s(莊子) Renjianshi(人間世 ‒The Human World). Yeoksa, a tree, was useless as wood or fruit but because of its uselessness it could avoid being cut and live out the span of life allotted to it. This implies that Yeowa perceived his life in the old age as muyongjiyong (無用之用 ‒Usefulness of uselessness), and reflected on it positively. The change in his perception of old age seems to have been possible as he withdrew from the politically and socially complex life in the past and enjoyed a leisurely life at Jeomhee‒dang in his old age. With the transition of life, his perception of old age also changed and as a consequence his poems in the late years were different in pattern from the previous ones. This study purposed to examine the characteristics of Yeowa’s poems written in his old age, focusing on poems, among the works in Yeoksarok, showing a pattern different from that of his previous works, and to discuss Yeowa’s perception of old age. As representative poems, this study chose and analyzed japche(雜體 ‒various style) poems and a series poem Old Age(‘老’) with 14 pieces. Yeowa revealed that he perceived his life positively and expressed the perception in various poetic styles. This is boldness induced from his exhibition of his poetic talents in his later years, and he made continuous efforts to refine his poems even in the old age. In addition, he wrote series poem Old Age consisting of 14 pieces on peoples from various classes and occupations. he mentioned in the title that he wrote this work for fun, the poem is describing the characters’ lives themselves and their attitude of doing their jobs faithfully in their positions. This is connected to Yeowa’s perception of muyongjiyong that he mentioned in the preface of Yeoksarok. The poems in various patterns included in Yeoksarok are believed to be the manifestation of Yeowa’s positive consciousness and the fruit of his efforts as a literary men.