A novelist's poetry lecture that brings comfort to everyday life

When times are tough, tiring, or lonely, we all recall the proverbs we keep in a corner of our hearts.
“There is joy in the pathless forest”, “No one is an island all his own”, “I see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wildflower”, etc.
It is a line from Anglo-American poetry.
We encounter these poems in the language of novelist Lee Jae-ik.
The author, who majored in English literature and has been writing for 30 years, has interacted with a wide range of readers through novels, numerous columns, and film scripts.
In this book, “Poetry Protected Me,” we introduce English poetry that is perfect for us, living here and now.
Poets who have achieved great things beyond time and space have also lived their own lives, laughing and crying.
That fact alone gives me a sense of comfort.
We all live our own lives.
No matter what kind of life you are living now, poetry and poets are by your side.
Through this book, you will realize that you are never alone.

I spent my childhood in a seaside village, like the one where Wordsworth spent the rest of his life.
I lived from birth until the 5th grade of elementary school, which matches the period of innocence and glory that Wordsworth talks about.
After coming up to Seoul, I quickly adapted to the city's civilization and pace, and even when I went down to my hometown for the holidays, I wanted to come back to Seoul as soon as possible after just one day.
I quickly took away with my own hands the radiance that would gradually fade away with age even if I just stayed still.
Just as Wordsworth enjoyed the light of the meadow and the glory of flowers, I also enjoyed the song of the sea and the embrace of the mountains.
(Omitted) Before my memories fade further, should I write a novel about my childhood? No.
I should read at least one more of Wordsworth's great poems properly during that time.

--- p.71~72

Elizabeth Browning used to put her poems in her husband's pockets as surprise gifts, and it was so sad.
It's "If Thou Must Love Me."
“If you must love me/ Love me only for love’s sake./ Don’t say, ‘I love her smile, her looks, her soft words,’/ Just because I think the same way as you or because I remember a good day.
(Omitted) Don't love me with the compassion that wipes away the tears on my cheeks. / If I receive your comfort, I will forget how to cry. / What if I lose your love too? / Instead, love me only for love's sake. / So that I can continue to love and reach eternal love." Don't love to comfort yourself when you cry.
I'm afraid that if I keep being loved by you, I'll forget how to cry, but then I'll lose your love too.
The sensibility is great, and the ability to express this sensibility in poetry without hurting it is also great.

--- p.77~78

As a metaphysical poet, John Donne also visually embodies the philosophical concepts of life and death in this piece.
The continent is a collection of life, and the sea is the afterlife.
Only when death comes will we know where we belong on the continent.
Only when the sound of the waves of death rings in your ears will you wonder if it is your turn.
(Omitted) So, is it better to live your life thinking about death, even if only occasionally? Or is it better to live as if you'll never die? Your attitude toward death determines your way of life.
In my case, I thought a lot about death from my late teens to early twenties, but since then I've been living as if I'm destined for eternal life.
Even if I thought about death for a moment at the funeral, it was over as soon as I left.
While I'm reading this poem and writing about it after a long time, I think I should take a moment to gaze at the black sea of ​​death.

--- p.121~122

Even now I am obsessed with the idea that Blake (in his poem "London") interchanged the two verbs 'blast' and 'blight'.
'Blast' also has the meaning of drying, but it has a much stronger meaning of breaking and exploding, and on the other hand, 'blight' has the strongest meaning of a plant drying up and dying.
If we change the two verbs as I argued, the interpretation changes like this.
“The curse of the young whore/ Who dries up babies’ tears/ And breaks up marriages into biers.” No matter how you look at it, this seems more natural, but Blake, who had a unique way of thinking, would have intentionally switched these two.
It is also a great poem in that it allows for various interpretations, including such speculations.
This poem is my favorite among Blake's works.
Because it takes me beyond time and space to the back alleys of London in the late 18th century.

--- p.135~136

(Edgar Allan Poe's poem "Annabel Lee") is set in a long, long time ago kingdom by the sea, but the very description that I was a child and she was a child makes it clear to anyone that it is a story about Poe and his wife.
He believes that his wife was taken away by an angel who was jealous of his extreme love, and he lies by her grave by the sea every night missing her.
His wife, who was his love and his life itself.
As I said when reading Rossetti's poetry, the quality of poetry does not lie in grandiose and difficult expressions or in flashy techniques.
This poem is the easiest and most touching English poem I know.
Thinking about Poe's life makes me sadder and brings tears to my eyes.

--- p.198~199

Chaucer described April as a month of renewal, an image that was repeated and reinforced over the centuries, leading to spring being seen as a season of renewal.
But Eliot rejected this tradition.
After World War I and before World War II, the world was filled with chaos and madness caused by imperialist nations, and the inner lives of individuals were devastated.
In this world, Eliot could never sing of a beautiful spring.
On the contrary, he declared (in his poem “The Waste Land”) that April was the cruellest month.
Chaucer is called the father of English literature, and The Canterbury Tales is revered as the beginning of English literature, but Eliot chose this work to overturn it.
It is at this point that he stands tall as a standard-bearer of modernism.
--- p.255

Romanticism, which seriously addressed the side effects of the Industrial Revolution, such as human alienation, environmental destruction, and labor exploitation, and emphasized nature and purity, was also a reaction against the neoclassicism that had preceded it.
Romanticism, as can be seen in its declarative definition of 'spontaneous overflow of emotion', emphasized the importance of emotion, imagination, and intuition over the reason, science, and logic pursued by neoclassicism.
Influenced by the French Revolution of 1789, he boldly challenged traditional authority and systems in his poetry.

--- p.329~330