Page updated July1, 2020
Korean poetry translated by Brother Anthony available online

The page listing my published translations has become very large and perhaps difficult to navigate in a hurry. If you are looking for some Korean poetry to read online, this page might be more helpful. All the translations are by Brother Anthony of Taize (An Sonjae) and Copyright belongs to me. These translations may not be published elsewhere without my permission.  Click here for some online works of fiction


1. Various
Poems translated in recent years

15 much-admired poems by famous Korean poets of the earlier 20th century translated by Brother Anthony

Korean poems from the earlier 20th century
selected and translated by the late Kim Jong-Gil with Brother Anthony

The first anthology of modern Korean poems in English, Grove of Azalea, edited by Y. R. Pyun, published in 1947.

The first bilingual anthology of modern Korean poems An Anthology of Modern Poems in Korea translated by Zŏng In-Sŏb, published in 1948

Poems by 30 major poets of Korea past and present
, translated by Brother Anthony for the ill-fated KLTI Anthology (Table of Contents at start)

16 poems by Shin Dong-yeop 신동엽

Kim Chi-Ha's extraordinary pansori-style narrative satire  The Five Bandits  also translated by Brother Anthony for the KLTI anthology


Park Nohae:
Biography and a few poems by a very remarkable revolutionary poet

Ko Un: At the Taedong River 
(a poem read at the June 2000 inter-Korean summit held in Pyongyang. Korean text    English text

Poems about Gwangju from Maninbo


Poems published in volumes of Asia: The Quarterly Journal of Asian Literature
Volume 36: Two poems by Moon Chung-Hee
Volume 37: Two Poems by Bok Hyo-geun; Two Poems by Bang Min-ho
Volume 38: Two Poems by Lee Kyeong-lim; Two poems by Hwang In-chan
Volume 40: Two poems by Kim Yong-taek; Two poems by Kim Sung-gyu.

Volume 44: Two poems by Kim Sueng-ill
Volume 45: Two poems by Jang Cheol-moon
Volume 49: 5 Poems by Kim Yong-Taek
Volume 50: 5 Poems by Kim Seung-Hee
Volume 53: 5
poems by Lee Jang-Wook

The texts of the translated poems included in the picture books published by 빠우솔 Grass & Wind Publishing

Poems by contemporary Korean poets translated for the 2013 Dankook-Suwon World Writers' Festival
An Hyeon-mi  안현미
Bak Cheol  박철
Bak Deok-gyu  박덕규
Choi Dong-ho  최동호
Do Jong-hwan  도종환
Jin Eun-Young  진은영
Kim Jung-il  김중일
Kim Su-Bok  김수복
Kwak Hyo-hwan 곽효환
Lee Jang Wook  이장욱
Yi Geun-hwa  이근화

Some poems by younger contemporary poets

    Heo Yeon  허영
    Jang Seok-Nam  장석남
    Kim Kyŏng-Ju  김경주
    Kim Sa-In  김사인
    Lee Jang-Wook  이장욱   (+ Korean)
    Sim Po-Seon 심보선
    Yi Byeong-Ryul  이병률


 
2008 New Writing From Korea (A KLTI Anthology)   Poems by 15 younger writers (including some of the above) translated by me and by others, published in the  (Table of Contents at start.)

Cordite Volume 35 ozko-hanguk-hoju Poems by 20 mostly younger Korean poets translated by Eun-Gwi Chung and Brother Anthony of Taizé   (Cordite is an Australian poetry review)

The Korean composer Lee Sang-geun (1922 - 2000) set many Korean poems to music, as either solo or choral songs. The city of Jinju (his birthplace) asked me to prepare English translations for an international edition of his works. The translations were made but the project of publishing the songs seems to have died. The translations are available here in PDF files: choral songs and solo songs; the poems are a very varied collection, some very ancient, some more modern, some by well-known poets and some by rather obscure figures.
 

2.  Complete volumes of poetry by individual poets translated by Brother Anthony

a)
Ch'ŏn Sang-Pyŏng  천상병
          Back to Heaven (with Introduction and the poet's Notes on Writing)

a) Ku Sang  구상    About Ku Sang
           Christopher's River
           Diary of the Fields
           Infant Splendor (text only); Infant Splendor with the paintings by Jung Kwang.
           Even the Knots on Quince Trees Tell Tales
           Eternity Today: Selected Poems (arranged by themes) PDF file
           Complete Poems (arranged by volume) PDF file

b) Midang So Chong-Ju  미당 서정주

The complete text of his first four published volumes:
           Flower Snake Poems
           Nightingale
           Selected Poems of So Chong-Ju
           Essence of Silla

c) Shin Kyong-Nim  신경림
            Farmers' Dance  (also an article about his work)

d) Kim Young-Moo  김영무
             Virtual Reality
 

e) Chonggi Mah   마종기
               Allegorical River

f) Kim Yeong-Nang  김영랑
                Until Peonies Bloom: The Complete Poems of Kim Yeong-Nang in Korean and English

g) Kim Su-young 김수영
                All the poems translated in Variations (2001)

3. Selections from my published volumes of poetry translations, with biographies

        구상  Ku Sang's Wasteland Poems  / River and FieldsEven the Knots
        고은 Ko Un's The Sound of My Waves / Beyond Self  /  Ten-thousand Lives
        미 당 서정주  Midang, So Chong-ju's Early Lyrics 1941-1960            
        천상병  Ch'on Sang-pyong's Back to Heaven
        김광규  Kim Kwang-kyu's Faint Shadows of Love
        신경림  Shin Kyong-nim's  Farmers' DanceOther poems
        Poems by  김수영  Kim Su-Young and  Lee Si-Young
        Selected poems by 긴영무  Kim Young-Moo
        Selected poems by 마종기  Jonggi Mah
       
Selected poems by 김영랑  Kim Yeong-Nang


4. Poems (and Poets) of the 20th Century
Translations of poems by various 20th-century poets, many published in Korean Literature Today.

A few poems by various poets that are very popular in Korea .

An Do-hyon  안도현

Chon Pong-gon  봉곤

Chon Yang-hui  천양희

Chong Sei-Hun  청세훈

Hong Yun-suk  홍윤숙

Hwang Dong-kyu  황동규

Hwang Ji-U  황지우

Kim Chang-ho  김창호

Kim Chi-ha  김지하

Kim Chŏl  김철 

Kim Hyon-sung   김현성

Kim Ju-T'ae  김주태 (including his lament over Kwangju)

Kim Nam-jo  김남조

Kim Nam-Ju  김남주 (including his lament over Kwangju)

Kim Seung-hee  김승희 

Kim Yeong-seung  김영승   

Kim Yong-Taek  김영택 (his lament over Kwangju)

Lee Hyong-ki  이홍기

Lee Ka-Rim  이가림

Lee Song-bu  이성부

Mun Dok-su  문덕수  [The Postman, 2010]

Oh Sae-young 오세영

Ynhui Park  박이문 

Yu Kyong-hwan  유경환

Yi Su-ik  이수익
 
A number of extracts from poems by the early (Japanese colonial period) poets Kim Donghwan 김동환, Im Hwa  임화, Jeon Bonggeon 전봉언, Bak Namsu 박남수
 

The text of a short book (not by me) summarizing the main characteristics of 20th-century Korean literature   It can be very useful.