This site is under construction.
E586
P016 on
Ŏu’s Miscellaneous Tales (Compendium of Remarks on Poetry)
Entry Text
夫雕鏤萬物。使萬物各賦其形者。天之才也。擺弄造化。能放象萬物之態者。詩人之才也。惟莫工者天。而何物詩人。奪天之工哉。是知才者無命。是天之所使。天亦多猜也乎。旣賦之才。胡使之窮哉。吾友成汝學。詩才之高。一世寡倫。而至今六十。未得一命之官。余常恠之。其詩曰。露草虫聲濕。風枝鳥夢危。又曰。面惟吾友識。食爲丈夫哀。又曰。雨意偏侵夢。秋光欲染詩。其語雖極工。而其寒談蕭索。殊非榮貴人氣象。豈獨詩之使其窮哉。詩亦鳴其窮也。又有李廷冕。洪男之孫也。身短而面有㾴。自號短㾴。嘗於雨後。有詩。庭泥橫斷蚓。壁日聚寒蠅。其友李春英。文人也。每稱其妙而斥其窮。後果登科。未幾而死。盖庭泥斷蚓。賤之識也。壁日寒蠅。夭之徵也。余與尹修撰繼善。於詩人尹孝源家小酌。繼善卽席題詩。其一聯曰。宦遊千里蔗甘盡。世事一春落花忙。座中皆稱其美。余曰。年少人何作此語。果未久而夭。吁。詩者。出自情性虛靈之府。先識夭賤。油然而發。不期然而然。非詩能窮。人窮也。故詩者如斯哉。但有才者。天亦猜之。於世人。又何尤焉。惜哉
무릇 만물을 조각하여 만물로 하여금 각각 그 형태를 갖추도록 만드는 것은 하늘의 재능이다. 조화를 주무르며 능히 만물의 모습을 본떠낼 수 있는 것은 시인의 재능이다. 오직 하늘만큼 솜씨 좋은 것이 없거늘, 시인이 무엇이기에 하늘의 솜씨를 빼앗는다는 말인가. 이로써 알 수 있으니, 재주 있는 자에게는 수명이 없다는 것은 하늘이 시키는 일이다. 하늘 또한 시기가 많은 것인가? 이미 재주를 주었거늘 어찌 궁하게 만드는 것인가? 나의 벗 성여학은 시재가 높아 한 세상에 견줄 자가 드문데 지금 육십 세가 되도록 한 자리 벼슬도 얻지 못하여 나는 늘 괴이하게 여겼다. 그 시에, "", "", ""라 하였따. 그 말이 비록 지극히 공교하나 그 한담소색함이 영달하고 귀히 된 사람의 기상과는 매우 다르다. 어찌 시만이 그를 궁하게 만들었겠는가? 시 또한 그 궁함을 울었던 것이다. 또 이정면은 이홍남의 손자이다. 키가 작고 얼굴에 사마귀가 있어서 스스로 단사라 호하였다. 일찍이 비온 뒤에 시를 지었다. "" 그 벗 이춘영은 문인인데 늘 그 묘함을 칭찬하면서도 그 궁함을 질책하였다. 후에 과연 과거에 급제하였으나 얼마 되지 않아서 죽었다. 대개 뜰의 진흙과 끊어진 지렁이(庭泥斷蚓)는 천함의 징조요, 벽의 햇살에 겨울 파리(壁日寒蠅)는 요절의 징조라 한다. 내가 수찬 윤계선과 함께 시인 윤효원의 집에서 작은 술자리를 가졌는데 윤계선이 즉석에서 시를 지었다. 그 한 연에, ""라 하였다. 좌중이 모두 아름답다고 칭찬하였으나 내가 "젊은 사람이 어찌 이런 말을 하는가"라 하였다. 과연 얼마 되지 않아 요절하였다. 아, 시라는 것은 정성의 허령한 곳에서 나오는 것이니, 요절과 천함을 미리 알고서 유연하게 발하여 기다리지 않았는데도 그렇게 되곤 한다. 시가 능히 사람을 궁하게 하는 것이 아니라 사람이 궁하기 때문에 시라는 것 또한 이렇게 되고 만다. 다만 재주 있는 자를 하늘도 또한 시기하니, 세상 사람들에 대하여 또 무엇을 탓하겠는가? 애석하구나.
Carving out myriad things and endowing each with its form—that is Heaven-endowed talents. Displaying creativity (chohwa) and deftly representing the manner of myriad things—that is a poet’s talent. Since none is as skillful as Heaven, what kind of creature is a poet that he can claim Heaven’s work? Knowing that the talented do not have good fortune, which is Heaven’s ordinance, could Heaven also be full of envy? Since Heaven endowed them with talents, why then does it impoverish them? My friend Sŏng Yŏhak has great talent in poetry, and few can match him in his generation. Yet he is sixty now but has not attained even a single official appointment, and I am always bewildered by it. His poem said, 露草蟲聲濕風枝鳥夢危 On dewy plants, insects sound damp.On windy branches, birds dream danger.He also wrote, 面惟吾友識食為丈夫哀 My face is only known to friends.Food has become my manly sorrow. 雨意偏侵夢秋光欲染詩 Approaching rain then enters the dream.Autumn glow wishes to color the poem. His language is extremely refined (kong), but it is cold and simple (handam), bleak and desolate (sosak) and certainly does not have the air (kisang) of an honorable person. Could poetry alone have caused his poverty? His poetry also sings of his poverty. There was also Yi Chŏngmyŏn 李廷冕 (b. 1556), Yi Hongnam’s grandson, he was short and had a red nose, so he gave himself a sobriquet “Short Red Nose.” A poem he once wrote after a rain said, 庭泥橫斷蚓壁日聚寒蠅 Severed earthworms cross the muddy yard. Cold flies gather on the sunny wall. His friend, Scholar Yi Ch’unyŏng, always praised his poetic excellence yet rebuked his poverty. Later Yi Chŏngmyŏn passed the civil service examination but died not long after. Perhaps, severed earthworms in the muddy yard was a presage of his deprivation and cold flies on the sunny wall a sign of his premature death. Sixth Counselor (such’an) Yun Kyesŏn 尹繼善 (1577–1604) and I were at poet Yun Hyowŏn’s house for a little drink, and Kyesŏn wrote an impromptu poem. His one couplet said, 宦游千里甘蔗盡世事一春落花忙 Official journey of a thousand li, sweetness is exhausted.Worldly affairs of one spring, flowers are busy falling. While all those present praised its beauty (mi), I said, “How can a young person write such words!” Sure enough, he died not long after. Ah! Poetry, which comes from the house of natural disposition and clear spirit, first recognized that he would die young and humble, therefore spontaneously revealed it and eventually it happened although no one expected. It was not because poetry could impoverish him, but rather because he himself was poor, his poetry was naturally thus so. But if even Heaven envies the talented, how can we blame the worldlings? How pitiful!
Knowledge Graph
Geographic Context
Historical Timeline
""