Hyangga


Hyangga

 

(also saenannorae), the general term for Korean poetry written using the idu method, which evolved between the seventh and tenth centuries. The term hyangga was also used to denote ten-line poems consisting of three stanzas. Hyangga texts are found in the works of Buddhist writers, such as Hyong-nyong Chong’s Life of Kyunyo (1075) and Iryong’s Samguk yusa (also known as The Reliques of the Three Kingdoms; late 13th century). Late hyangga, such as The Song of Chukchirang, reveal their authors’ familiarity with Chinese poetic tradition.

Folk hyangga have been preserved as part of mixed narratives in which prose alternated with verse, for example. Song of the Flowers. Hyangga influenced later Korean poetic genres, such as sijo.

REFERENCES

Nikitina, M. I., and A. F. Trotsevich. Ocherki istorii koreiskoi literatury do XIV v. Moscow, 1969.
Lee, P. H. Studies in the Saenaennorae: Old Korean Poetrv. Rome, 1959.
Hong Gi Mung. Hyangga haesok. Pyongyang, 1956.

M. I. NIKITINA