Because the tone, imagery, characters, and language of So Chong-ju's poetry are deeply colored by his native North Cholla Province, his countrymen and countrywomen feel him a very "Korean" poet. Though deeply committed to his birthplace, he spent the last five years of the colonial period wandering in Manchuria, where many Koreans were living in self-imposed exile from their homeland.
So Chong-ju brings a compelling intensity to his work that lets him convey with equal immediacy the ordinary life of his boyhood, the Buddhist realm of the ancient past, or a passion of today. Translator David R. McCann says of him, "One can look back on the course of his literary career and discover a remarkable parallel to Yeats: the early influence of late-nineteenth-century French poetry; the turning toward a legendary past; the spiritualism; the confrontation with age."
Since 1933, So Chong-ju has published some 200 poems and 30 collections. He has been frequently chosen by his colleagues to serve in the leadership of professional literary associations.
020