Life And Poetry Of The Eternal Young Poet, Yoon Dongju

Yoon Dongju was born on December 30, 1917 in Myung-dong Village, Bukgando, as the eldest son of his father Yoon Yeongseok (1895—1965) and his mother Kim Yong (1891—1948). His family moved to Myung-dong Village in the late 19th century – a region known at the time as the home for a Korean community pursuing national education, independence movement, and religious life. Yoon Dongju grew up in this home village, naturally cultivating his Korean language, knowledge in Chinese studies, and his religious faith.    

In 1932, Yoon Dongju moves to Longjing at the age of 14 and enters Eunjin Middle School along with Song Monggyu and Moon Ikhwan. He was an active and lively boy who made literary magazines with his classmates, played soccer as a soccer player for the school, and won first place in the school’s speech contest. On December 24, 1934, he writes a poem titled, "A Candle", waiting for Christmas to arrive. This is the earliest work of the poet that we can find today. From this time on, he begins recording the creation date of his poems in his creation notebook.

In 1935, 17-year-old Yoon Dongju transfers to the third year of Pyeongyang Soongsill Boys’ Academy. His hometown friend, Moon Ikhwan, was already there. That year, Dongju’s poem Dreams is published in Soongsil Hwalcheon, the school magazine of Soongsill Boys’ Academy is embroiled in a shrine worship issue, and he returns to Longjing from Pyeongyang. After that, he attends Gwangmyeong Academy, publishing seven children’s poems in the Catholic magazine, Catholic Boy, and graduates in December 1937.    

During this period, boy Yoon Dongju pores over the literary works of various poets, including Jeong Jiyong (1902-1950) and Baek Seok (1912-1996), scraps their works and reviews that are published in daily newspapers, and tries to create his own poems. He also meets Kang Socheon (1915-1963), a children’s song poet who was visiting his mother’s family in Longjing. Two study notes are written during this period: Unpoetic Poetry I Tried to Write from 1934-1937 and A Window from 1936-1939. 

During his practice period, Yoon Dongju explores various ways of creating poetry, such as creating children’s poetry with a poetry language that is easy to understand, and mainly sings about the nature and surroundings of his hometown in lyrical and  poetry. In poems like "Trees" and "Fireflies", his main poetic motifs, such as wind, trees, roads, and stars, begin to appear. He published "What Do They Eat to Live?" in the magazine Catholic Boy when he was creating "Trees".    

Yoon Dongju goes to study at Yonhui College (current Yonsei University) in Gyeongseong (current Seoul) in April 1938. What made him go on a long journey from his hometown Longjing to Gyeongseong? He was actually a boy who had great affection for the Korean  and Korean aspects and who was full of curiosity about the wider world. But under the colonial education policy of the Empire, there were few places where he could fully learn the knowledge and culture of his people and the world. He wanted to absorb the literature and studies he dreamed of in the relatively free academic culture of Yonhui College, a mission school.    

The people Yoon Dongju met at Yonhui College are valuable in informing us about him as a young poet. Kang Cheojung (1917–?), Kim Sambul (1920-?), Yoo Young (1917–2002), Jang Deoksun (1921–1996), Jeong Byeonguk (1922–1982), and others shared precious memories  of the poet’s youth, which was the brightest period of his short life. They say that Dongju, who was quiet and gentle in nature, always welcomed those who came to him and kindly listened to their stories.    

Dongju is admitted to Yonhui College and begins his life at the Pinson Hall dormitory. He shares a room with Song Monggyu from his hometown and Kang Cheojung, a new friend he made. Having met colleagues with whom he can share his heart and taste for poetry,  Dongju begins his creation activities in earnest with 13 poems, including "A New Path", and the prose, "Shooting at the Moon", that year. As he interacts with young people from various backgrounds around the country, he contemplates intensely and is confronted  with the realities of the society. During this period, Dongju reflects upon himself and seriously agonizes over the direction of his life.

Yoon Dongju’s poetry gets deeper and richer as he meets many teachers at Yonhui College. He learns the Korean language systematically from Choe Hyeonbae (1894–1970), English literature from Lee Yangha (1904–1963), and Korean and world history from Son Jintae  (1900–?). Dongju also publishes his prose "Shooting at the Moon", an assignment he wrote while learning world literature from Jeong Inseop, in the Chosun Ilbo. Friends say they were surprised by how quickly the poet digested what was taught into his own knowledge. To him, the classrooms and campus were the cradle of his poetry.

If you look at Yoon Dongju’s scrapbook and book collection, you can see that he had diverse interests, indicating that he was full of intellectual curiosity about various emerging ideas, in addition to classics, philosophy, and arts of the East and West. He also pored over world literature, including Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), Francis Jammes (1868–1938), and Marcel Proust (1871–1922). He tried to capture the thoughts he cultivated through in-depth reading and discussions in an easy and beautiful poetic language that anyone could understand.

In June 1941, Yoon Dongju published "A New Path" and "Self-portrait in a Well" in the liberal arts student magazine Munwu. At the time, Kang Cheojung was in charge of editing and publishing Munwu as the president of the magazine, and Song Monggyu was in charge  of editorial review as the head of the literary department. Despite the fact that the entire magazine had to be published in Japanese due to the publication censorship, the poems of the three – Yoon Dongju, Song Monggyu, and Kim Sambul – were published in Korean mean to them? The edition that included Dongju’s poem became the last edition, and Munwu ceased to be published.    

Yoon Dongju quits Rikkyo University after one semester and stops in his hometown for a short summer vacation just before moving to Kyoto. The commemorative photo taken at this time with friends and relatives of his age who have gathered from around the country  well captures his benign smile. But arriving home after transferring from ships and trains multiple times to cross the heavily inspected and censored border, he probably had mixed feelings inside. Dongju, who had to cut his hair short under the wartime system,  lamented the fact that the nation’s culture was being wiped out during the late colonial period and left a request to his younger siblings to collect any and all prints written in Korean.    

Yoon Dongju, who returned to Japan, transfers to the Department of English Literature at Doshisha University in 1942. He is said to have chatted about domestic and foreign affairs and reading while taking a walk in Ueno Park and Lake Biwa with Song Monggyu,  who was studying at Kyoto University, and Yoon Youngchoon (1912-1978). However, the situation in Japan worsens during the all-out war period and surveillance of Joseon people becomes stricter. In July 1943, Song Monggyu and Yoon Dongju also get arrested in turn at the Shimogamo Police Station for violating the Maintenance of the Public Order Act, and their manuscripts and belonging are confiscated.    

Yoon Dongju’s poetry book was only able to be published after liberation, which occurred after the poet experienced all kinds of hardships and loneliness and passed away in a foreign country. In 1948, his family and friends brought together 31 of his  posthumous poems and added a preface by Poet Jeong Jiyong to publish his posthumous poetry book, Sky, Wind, Stars, and Poem. His younger brother Yoon Ilju was in charge of selecting and editing works, and Painter Lee Jeong (1924-1995) was responsible for the cover and design of the poetry book. As such, the wish of a young man which could not be realized was fulfilled through the efforts of those remaining.

In 1955, those who love Yoon Dongju’s poetry published an enlarged edition of 89 poems and 4 prose works to commemorate his 10th anniversary. Under the advice of Jeong Byeonguk, Dongju’s younger brother Yoon Ilju took charge of editing, and the cover was drawn  by Painter Kim Hwanki (1913-1974). The reason more poems could be published was because Dongju’s younger sister, Yoon Hyewon, brought his middle school manuscript from her hometown to Seoul despite the rough journey across the liberation space.    

In 1967, Sky, Wind, Stars, and Poem was published in a blue cover. Park Dujin (1916–1998), Baek Cheol (1908–1985), Moon Ikhwan, Jang Deoksun, and other poets, critics, and acquaintances left memoirs and reviews about Yoon Dongju and his poems in this poetry  collection. This collection raised concerns of the conscience of the times to the youth of the 60s-90s. In the following year, Yonsei University students took the lead to erect the first poetry stone in front of the Pinson Hall. This poetry stone was designed by Dongju’s brother, Yoon Ilju, and is engraved with an enlarged version of Yoon Dongju’s handwritten "Prelude".