Grammar check
J Kim
poetry_response.docx
Poetry Response
Junwoo Kim
English 2
Professor Bell
When I was a child, I got a book, which was about poetry, from my father. My father sometimes gave me some books for getting more knowledge, but it was first time that I got and saw a poetry book. Many poems in the book were about the period of Japanese occupation and the war of Korea. Lately, I read a poem which was “The Night, Counting the Stars.” However, it was more than ten years ago, so I was inspired again this time from reading this poem. “The Night, Counting the Stars” was written by Dong Ju Yoon who lived in this hard time period, and it also reminded me about Korean history, and how many people suffered from the force of the Japanese. While I was reading “The Night, Counting the Stars”, it was possible to feel that Dong Ju Yoon and many Koreans had patriotism which means the pride in and devotion to a country. In addition, in the poetry, there are various emotions and thoughts, and each word implies many different meanings. So, when people read poetry, they can empathize with them as feeling emotions such as happiness and sadness. “The Night, Counting the Stars” also has lots of connotative and impressive meanings. Dong Ju Yoon described his memories, emotions, and dreams in “The Night, Counting the Stars.”
Dong Ju Yoon represented his memories of suffering, family, friends, and Japanese oppression in the poetry “The Night, Counting the Stars.” This poetry gave an inspiration to me because it was possible to understand and learn how people suffered from Dong Ju Yoon’s memories of the colonial administration of imperial Japan. The beginning verses only showed his current situation, but the other verses, which are the third to seventh, show us about reminiscences of the past. The fifth verse, which is really sweet part, says, “Mother, I whisper the beautiful word to a star.” This verse contains his beautiful memories into the stars because I could see that he stared at the stars in the sky with whispering. I could also imagine that Dong Ju Yoon wanted to get back his memories. Moreover, he said, “I whisper the names of friends who sat next to me in elementary school, names of foreign girls like Pae, Kyung, Oak” in “The Night, Counting the stars.” From this verse, it could possible to imagine how Dong Ju Yoon missed and wanted to go back to his memories. I was really angry about the forces of Japanese and sad about assault which was toward Koreans. I could see the Japanese people’s violence while I was reading this poetry. It made me feel terrible because Koreans had no way to argue their own rights. So, I think that Dong Ju Yoon wanted to show his feelings through his poetry.
Additionally, Dong Ju Yoon described his emotions, which were anger, loneliness, love, and sadness in his poetry “The Night, Counting the stars.” In this poetry, he says, “To a star memory, To a star love, To a star loneliness, To a star yearning, To a star a poem, To a star mother, mother.” In this sentence, it includes the strong message. Originally, Dong Ju Yoon went to Japan to study literature, but he could not go back to Korea because of the force of the Japanese. Dong Ju Yoon really wanted to get back his country because he had the beautiful memory of the life of Korea. Moreover, he emphasized his mother that he missed her so much. For example, he says, “Mother, and you are far away in the Northern Gando.” However, he could not meet her, so I think “Mother” has deep implication. From the word “Mother,” he wanted to show that he lost his side of people and many others. Also, in the word “Star,” it includes all the deeply meanings. Thus, I think that it is definitely possible to express ultimate thoughts, ideas, and various emotions via writing the poetries.
Moreover, Dong Ju Yoon also represented his dream, which was about his nation’s liberation from the Japanese oppression, in “The Night, Counting the stars.” He says, “But when winter is over and spring comes to my star, Just like green grass covers a tomb, The grass will flourish proudly. On the hill where my name is buried” in this poetry. This sentence shows that Dong Ju Yoon really wanted his homeland to be emancipated. In addition, he compared the word “Star” and the others such as names of his poor neighbors and animals of his nations. A reason is that like he says, “As far as the stars,” everything, which were from his home-country, was really far from his position. I could understand and feel that he really wanted to show how much he dreamt Korea to be liberated. He says, moreover, “A bug buzzes throughout the night lamenting its shameful name in its own way.” In this sentence, the word “bug” is emphasized that it describes two meanings which are Koreans and himself. A number of Koreans and he hoped to use their own name; but they could not because they were weak. If they used their Korean names, then they were killed by Japanese. It is really terrible because when I see the past history of the world, nobody was not restricted using real name. However, Japanese seriously forced Koreans by death. Thus, I could feel that Dong Ju Yoon was extremely aggrieved about that situation. So, it was easy to recognize his real dream of liberation.
