The Tale of Songok the Mountain Dweller
This is the complete English version of MeKorean’s modern Korean retelling of the main scenes. It is not an official ITKC translation or a line-by-line scholarly translation. Consult the Classical Chinese original for its precise wording.
Lee Dal's courtesy name was Ikji. He descended from a distinguished family, but his mother's low status blocked his opportunities to use his abilities in society. Because he lived in Songok, Wonju, he called himself Songok the Mountain Dweller. From childhood he read every kind of book and wrote extensively. For a time he held an instructional office, but left when things did not accord with his wishes. Obtaining a post alone did not give his life stability.
Lee Dal was close to Choe Gyeongchang and Baek Gwanghun. The three got along so well that they formed a poetry society. At the time, Lee Dal modeled his poetry on Su Shi. His writing was abundant: once he took up his brush, hundreds of poems could follow, rich and expansive in style. He could already produce work readily in the manner he had mastered. It was Chief Minister Saam who suggested an entirely different path.
Saam told him that Tang poetry should be the proper model for learning to write verse. Su Shi's exuberant poetry was fine, but Lee Dal should look to an earlier example. Saam then took books from his shelves and showed him the songs of Li Bai and poems by Wang Wei and Meng Haoran. Lee Dal experienced a profound awakening before those works. Determined not to remain within what he had already learned, he returned to his home in Songok and began studying afresh.
He assembled the Selections of Refined Literature, Li Bai's poetry, and the works of several Tang poets and committed them to memory. He continued reading from day into night and worked so intently that his knees scarcely left his seat. Five years passed in this way. At some point he felt a new path opening. When he tried composing, his language had become clear and deeply felt, markedly different from his old work. Yet he did not immediately show others what this new sensibility produced.
Lee Dal wrote long and short poems in the forms of different poets. He refined each character and sound, repeatedly considering whether the rhythms were right. Passages that dissatisfied him were revised month after month and again in later years. Only then did he recite the ten or so poems he had kept before others. His listeners were astonished. Even his close companions Choe Gyeongchang and Baek Gwanghun felt that they could not reach his level.
Heo Gyun describes Lee Dal's poems as clear, fresh, graceful, and beautiful. He praises them as comparable to the work of outstanding Tang poets and as an exceptional achievement among Koreans who had studied Tang verse. He also notes that Saam's encouragement began the transformation. One piece of advice opened a road; Lee Dal's long study was what enabled him to travel it and change his writing.
Lee Dal's poetic name spread widely. A few leading figures in the literary world recognized his work's value and continued to praise it regardless of society's judgments about the man. But many others hated and envied him. They added slanders and even put him in danger of punishment. Still, they could neither take his life nor erase his name as a poet. For him, growing fame and an easier life were two different things.
Lee Dal did not have a polished, dignified appearance, and his nature was uninhibited. That disregard for conventional conduct put him at odds with people of his time. Yet he spoke engagingly about past and present events and the beauties of mountains and streams. He enjoyed wine and wrote calligraphy well. His mind had no enclosing boundaries, and he made no effort to accumulate property. Some people loved him for precisely these qualities.
He never had a comfortable place to settle. He wandered through different regions, asking others for food, and many people looked down on him. Poverty and distress continued into old age. Heo Gyun laments the connection between this hardship and the poet's fate, yet asks whether Lee Dal would have exchanged an enduring poetic name for passing wealth and rank. He adds that he gathered the poems, which had nearly all been scattered and lost, into four volumes.
The final commentary includes the admiration of two other readers. One, on reading Lee Dal's poetry, asked how far it could be from Li Bai's; the other said that, placed in a collection of Li Bai's poems, it would be difficult to distinguish. Could such judgments have been groundless, Heo Gyun asks. At the end of the account, a man poorly treated in everyday life stands among voices that have read and valued his poetry.
蓀谷山人傳
The Classical Chinese original comes from ITKC’s publicly released Collected Korean Literary Works XML. Paragraphs are divided for readability. Consult the official source below for variant characters, collation notes and page images.
蓀谷山人李達字益之。雙梅堂李詹之後。其母賤。不能用於世。居于原州蓀谷。
以自號也。達少時。於書無所不讀。綴文甚富。爲漢吏學官。
有不合。棄去之。從崔孤竹慶昌，白玉峯光勳遊。相得懽甚。結詩社。
達方法蘇長公。得其髓。一操筆輒寫數百篇。皆穠贍可詠。一日。
思菴相謂達曰。詩道當以爲唐爲正。子瞻雖豪放。已落第二義也。遂抽架上太白樂府歌吟，王孟近體以示之。
達矍然知正法之在是。遂盡捐故學。歸舊所隱蓀谷之莊。取文選太白及盛唐十二家，劉隨州，韋左史曁伯謙唐音。伏而誦之。
夜以繼晷。膝不離坐席。凡五年。悅然若有悟。試發之詩。
則語甚淸切。一洗舊日熊。卽倣諸家體而作長短篇及律絶句。鍛字聲揣律摩有不當於度。則月竄而歲改之。
凡著十餘篇。乃出而詠之諸公間。諸公嗟異之。崔，白皆以爲不可及。而霽峯，荷谷一代名爲詩者。
皆推以爲盛唐。其詩淸新雅麗。高者出入王，孟，高，岑。而下不失劉，錢之韻。自羅麗以下。
爲唐詩者皆莫及焉。寔思菴鼓舞之力。而其陳涉之啓漢高乎。達以是名動東國。貴之而捨其爲人。
稱譽不替者。詞林三四鉅公也。而俗人之憎嫉者。比肩林立。屢加以汚衊。
寘之刑網。卒莫能殺而奪其名也。達貌不雅。性且蕩不檢。又習俗禮。
以此忤於時。而善談今古及山水佳致。喜酒能晉人書。其中空洞無封畛。不事產業。
人或以此愛之。平生無着身地。流離乞食於四方。人多賤之。窮厄以老。
信乎坐其詩也。然其身困而不朽者存。豈肯以一時富貴易此名也。所著殆失盡。不佞粹爲四卷以傳云。
外史氏曰。朱太史之蕃。嘗觀達詩。讀至漫浪舞歌。擊節嗟嘗曰。
斯作去太白。亦何遠乎。權石洲韠見其斑竹怨曰。置之靑蓮集中。具眼者不易辨也。
此二人者。豈妄言者耶。噫。達之詩。信奇矣哉。
A Poem's Reputation and a Poet's Place
Notice the five years of reading and the long process of revision. The account describes Lee Dal as naturally gifted, yet also details the time he spent abandoning a successful approach and learning again. Consider what lies between receiving advice and producing different work. That interval reveals this biography's story of learning.
Heo Gyun praises Lee Dal while also describing his undignified appearance and uninhibited conduct. He does not explain every criticism of the poet by a single cause. Identify separately the passages about his mother's status, others' jealousy, and his own disposition. Even an affectionate account retains the standards of judgment of its time.
Compare the impoverished old age in the main account with the poetic praise gathered at the end. Literary achievement does not necessarily protect someone's livelihood. Heo Gyun's statement that he collected the poems takes on meaning within this gap. Even as you read of an enduring name, consider that it does not make the hardships endured during life disappear.