A debut English-language collection of hopeful and carefully attentive poems by one of South Korea's most lauded young poets. This collection offers a selection of poems from Sin Yong-mok's earlier collections, intended to serve as an illustration of his evolution as a poet, alongside a complete translation of the poems from his fourth collection, When Someone Called Someone, I Looked Back. Beautifully translated by Brother Anthony of Taize with close attention to the sonorous aspects of Sin's lines, this collection also captures the larger themes within Shin's work and his attention to the spirit of community and peaceful coexistence with others. These are poems with a powerful belief in humanity and the beauty of the smallest hopes.

These poems by "the happiest man in the world" are full of light though written in dark times. Ch'on had the art of seeing the beauty of life beyond all the pain, and of putting it into the music of words. Recently, many young Koreans have discovered in these poems and in the poet's life the innocence and honesty they look for in vain in modern society. His poverty and his body broken by torture never made Ch'on bitter or angry; his poems are hymns of joy at the marvels of nature and the simple pleasures of life. His greatest poem sees death, not as the end but as a journey "back to heaven" where he plans to tell the angels how beautiful life in this world can be.

These poems by "the happiest man in the world" are full of light though written in dark times. Ch'on had the art of seeing the beauty of life beyond all the pain, and of putting it into the music of words. Recently, many young Koreans have discovered in these poems and in the poet's life the innocence and honesty they look for in vain in modern society. His poverty and his body broken by torture never made Ch'on bitter or angry; his poems are hymns of joy at the marvels of nature and the simple pleasures of life. His greatest poem sees death, not as the end but as a journey "back to heaven" where he plans to tell the angels how beautiful life in this world can be.

"O Blessed Confidence, O Safe Refuge, Mother of God and Our Mother " St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church "What is not generally known and only infrequently studied is the role of Our Lady over the centuries as a catechist: teacher of the faith, in a very real sense, primary teacher because she is Mother of God and Mother of the Church and faithful If any one factor might be singled out for the very high level of faith and religious practice in medieval 'merry England' (merry, because Mary's dowry, because consecrated to Mary as her possession and property) it is this Marian catechesis. Only when England deliberately rejected Mary did it cease to be the happy place it once was. Unfortunately, English colonization of other peoples took place only after the repudiation of Mary by England. That is why this catechetical work is especially valuable for the faithful and those who are seeking faith in America and other English speaking cultures. It will bring to their attention precisely what is central to catechetics and so often missing, the presence of Mary, Mother and Teacher. It will make perfectly clear why we need not fewer Marian sanctuaries, but many, many more in all parts of the country where this quiet, but so real and profound influence of the Marian principle of the Church will be felt at every level. It is my prayer and hope that those who read and study this work will find the same inspiration and stimulus that I found in having the privilege to read the manuscript before publication. We are much indebted to Brother Anthony Josemaria Pasquale, a Franciscan Tertiary of the Immaculate and gifted scholar, for the effort he has expended to find qualifiedcontributors and to offer so well edited a book to the general public." -From the Foreword by Father Peter M. Fehlner, FI, theologian, sponsor of the International Symposium on Marian Coredemption

"O Blessed Confidence, O Safe Refuge, Mother of God and Our Mother " St. Anselm of Canterbury (10331109), Doctor of the Church "What is not generally known and only infrequently studied is the role of Our Lady over the centuries as a catechist: teacher of the faith, in a very real sense, primary teacher because she is Mother of God and Mother of the Church and faithful If any one factor might be singled out for the very high level of faith and religious practice in medieval 'merry England' (merry, because Mary's dowry, because consecrated to Mary as her possession and property) it is this Marian catechesis. Only when England deliberately rejected Mary did it cease to be the happy place it once was. Unfortunately, English colonization of other peoples took place only after the repudiation of Mary by England. That is why this catechetical work is especially valuable for the faithful and those who are seeking faith in America and other English speaking cultures. It will bring to their attention precisely what is central to catechetics and so often missing, the presence of Mary, Mother and Teacher. It will make perfectly clear why we need not fewer Marian sanctuaries, but many, many more in all parts of the country where this quiet, but so real and profound influence of the Marian principle of the Church will be felt at every level. It is my prayer and hope that those who read and study this work will find the same inspiration and stimulus that I found in having the privilege to read the manuscript before publication. We are much indebted to Brother Anthony Josemaria Pasquale, a Franciscan Tertiary of the Immaculate and gifted scholar, for the effort he has expended to find qualifiedcontributors and to offer so well edited a book to the general public." -From the Foreword by Father Peter M. Fehlner, FI, theologian, sponsor of the International Symposium on Marian Coredemption

Dawn of Labor, at last translated into English, is the legendary South Korean poet Park Nohae’s first collection, published in 1984 when he was twenty-seven years old. Despite a government ban, the book sold a million copies and propelled Park Nohae as the generation’s leading resistance poet. Dawn of Labor is an enduring classic that shook a society, transformed lives, and demonstrated the power of poetry. The war of night labor once over, I pour cold soju over my aching heart. Ah . . . I can’t go on like this for long. For sure, I can’t go on like this. —"Dawn of Labor" If I ever kill myself, I’ll probably do it at dawn. —"For a Peaceful Evening" We too want to become heaven. Not a dark clouded heaven that presses down, but a clear blue heaven over a world that lifts one another. —"Heaven

Kim Seung-Hee's poetry is usually described in Korea as "feminist," "subversive," and "surrealist." Most important is the way her poetic voices differ radically from any other Korean poet's, male or female. Her work has sometimes found a readier acceptance among readers of the English translations than among Koreans reading the originals, who are often puzzled by the seeming lack of conventional poetic themes and female sensitivity. Bilingual volume in English/Korean.

Shin Kyong-Nim's first volume of poems, Farmers' Dance (Nong-mu), marked a major new step in the development of modern Korean poetry when it was published in 1973. The life of Korea's oppressed rural masses had never before been highlighted in such a manner. For years, the poet had shared that life as a laborer and salesman, and the poems reflect a deep identification with classes and situations that were normally not considered suitable subjects for poetry. This volume offers a full translation of the poems of the expanded 1975 edition, making available in English for the first time one of the most influential works of modern Korean poetry.

So Chong Ju, also known by the penname Midang, was born in Sonum village in the North Cholla Province of Korea, in 1915. His first poems were published in the late 1930s; his first collection of poems dates from 1941. The present volume contains the complete poems of his first four collections, on which his reputation as Korea's leading living poet largely rests. He has published many volumes of poetry, as well as poems published separately. He has edited a number of anthologies and published works on literary history and criticism. He was for many years a professor at the Buddhist University, Dongguk University, in Seoul, where he is now Professor Emeritus. He has been awarded many of Korea's most prestigious literary awards. Translations of selected poems by So Chong Ju have previously been published in France, Spain, Germany and the United States.

This book showcases the work of three major Korean poets born at fourteen-year intervals, in 1921, 1935, and 1949. Each has tried to renew Korean poetry by bringing it into closer contact with everyday speech, social issues, and ordinary people's lives. Kim Su-Young was a major pioneer, first developing as a Modernist but then moving toward a poetry that addresses social issues and uses ordinary language. Shin Kyong-Nim spent years living among the simple working people of rural Korea. Today Lee Si-Young writes in a similar spirit about the pain and dignity of humble lives. In this bilingual volume, a wide selection of these three poets' most significant work is made available in English for the first time.