Korean Literature Now - KLN Bookmark > Poetry > Crow’s Eye View, Poem No. I

Crow’s Eye View, Poem No. I

by Yi Sang Translated by Walter K. Lew November 16, 2014

The Complete Works of Yi Sang: Poetry (Vol.1)

Yi Sang
Somyong Publishing Co.
2009

Yi Sang

Yi Sang (1910-1937) is a well-known author of the Japanese occupation period. He was active in every genre, writing poetry, fiction, and essays. His poems and stories, in particular, exhibit the characteristics of modernism in the 1930s. In his poems, he showed us the desolate landscape of the modern human mind, and with the use of anti-realist techniques in works such as “Crow’s Eye View, Poem No.I,” he gave us a stark view of his subject matter: pure anxiety and horror. In his stories, as well, he deconstructed the formal conventions of fiction and laid bare the modern condition. For example, in the short story “Wings,” he used stream-of-consciousness to express the alienation of modern human beings, who are fragmented, commodified, and unable to function in their daily lives. All 80 or so of his works are compiled together in the collected works by Yi Sang.

13ChildrenRushdownaStreet.
(AdeadendalleyisSuitable.)

The1stChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The2ndChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The3rdChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The4thChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The5thChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The6thChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The7thChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The8thChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The9thChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The10thChildsaysit’sfrightening.

The11thChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The12thChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The13thChildsaysit’sfrightening.

13Childrenwerejustgatheredtogetherlikethataseither
frighteningorfrightenedChildren(Theabsenceofanyother
Conditionwashighlypreferable.)

IfAmongstthem1ChildisafrighteningChildit’sfine.
IfAmongstthem2ChildrenarefrighteningChildrenit’sfine.
IfAmongstthem2ChildrenarefrightenedChildrenit’sfine.
IfAmongstthem1ChildisafrightenedChildit’sfine.

(AsfortheroadevenanopenalleyisSuitable.)
Evenif13ChildrendonotRushdowntheStreetit’sfine

* Translated by Walter K. Lew.
** The work entitled "Crow’s Eye View" consists of Poems 1 to 15, which were originally published in separate installments. The Chinese character for “crow” in the title "Crow’s Eye View" is widely known to be an altered version of the character for “bird.” A bird’s eye view (鳥瞰圖) is an expression referring to a representation of a building viewed from above, usually a blueprint. Yi removed a single stroke from the first character “bird (鳥)” to make “crow (烏)” giving the phrase a new meaning with darker connotations. The poems were published in the Joseon Joongang Ilbo over the period from July 24th until August 8th, 1934. With the aim of deconstructing poetic meaning and creating it anew, Yi departed from poetic convention, bringing symbols and diagrams into play, and using terse, repetitive statements.

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