Observations placeholder
Goryeo kasa - Chong Kugin
Identifier
027076
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Gasa (or Kasa) was a form of poetry popular during the Joseon Dynasty in Korea. Gasas were commonly sung, and were popular among yangban women. Jeong Cheol, a poet of the 16th century, is regarded as having perfected the form, which consisted of parallel lines, each broken into two four-syllable units. The form had first emerged during the Goryeo period.
In modern Korean, the word is also synonymous with "lyrics of a song" in the context of modern music, an etymology that is shared with Japanese and Chinese.
A description of the experience
From the Columbia Anthology of Traditional Korean Poetry – edited by Peter Lee
CHONG KUGIN (1401-1481)
In Praise of Spring
What do you think of my life,
you who are buried in red dust,
Do I match the dead
in the pursuit of elegant pleasures?
Between heaven and earth
there are many men like me,
But buried among hills and groves,
do I not know the utmost joy?
In a small thatched hut
before an emerald stream,
Among the thickets of pine and bamboo,
I play host to the winds and moon.
Winter left us the other day, and
a new spring has returned.
Peach and apricot blossoms are
in full bloom in the evening sun,
Green willows and fragrant grasses
are green in a fine drizzle.
As if in the marks of a chisel,
as if in strokes of a brush,
The deft skill of the Fashioner of Things
is truly brilliant everywhere.