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.

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.