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Biography of Yi Hwang
Name: Yi Hwang
Birth Date: 1501
Death Date: 1570
Place of Birth: Korea
Nationality: Korean
Gender: Male
Occupations: philosopher, poet, scholar, educator
Yi Hwang
Yi Hwang (1501-1570), Yi-dynasty philosopher, poet, scholar, and educator, was one of the greatest Korean Confucian philosophers, famous for his comprehensive studies of the great Sung Neo-Confucian philosopher Chu Hsi.Yi Hwang, whose literary appellation was T'oegye (Stream Hermit), was the youngest son of scholar Yi Sik, who died seven months after Yi Hwang's birth. The family was plunged into "honest" poverty because of the loss of the father's government stipend. When Yi was 12, he began his studies in preparation for the government entrance examinations, a basic feature of the Confucian bureaucracy. He studied the Analects of Confucius with his uncle Yi U. Yi Hwang attracted the attention of his elders by his precocity. He is said to have loved the poetry of T'ao Yuan-ming, the outstanding post-Han era nature poet of China.When Yi was 17, he began his study of the Confucian commentaries of the Sung Neo-Confucian philosopher Chu Hsi …showed first 150 words…
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…showed last 150 words…Songs of Tosan"Yi wrote a large corpus of poetry in Chinese in traditional Chinese forms. He also composed a famous cycle of sijo, three-line poems, in Korean titled the Twelve Songs of Tosan. They sing of the beauties of Mt. To, yet each incorporates a didactic Confucian lesson, such as the eleventh song of the cycle: "The ancients see me not, nor I, the ancients,/ Though I see the ancients not, the Way they trod is before me,/ Their Way before me, can I but follow?" Yi also wrote Tosan Records, a diary of his recollections at Tosan. Further Reading There are no major studies of Yi Hwang's life or works in Western languages. For background see Evelyn McCune, Korea: Its Land and People and Culture of All Ages (Seoul, 1960; rev. ed. 1963) and The Arts of Korea: An Illustrated History (1962), and Peter H. Lee, Korean Literature: Topics and Themes (1965).
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