Beginning with poetry through constant self-reflection
The only poetry collection by Yun Dong-ju, a poet who comforted the nation during its dark times!

Yun Dong-ju is a national poet who expressed his love for his people and earnest desire for independence in lyrical poetry even amidst the dark reality of colonial rule.
Yun Dong-ju wanted to publish a charity poetry collection titled “Hospital” in 1941 to commemorate his graduation from Yonhui College, but was prevented from doing so by his teacher, Lee Yang-ha.
Yun Dong-ju, who gave up on publishing, changed the title of the poetry collection to “Sky, Wind, Stars, and Poetry” and wrote three volumes himself, giving one copy each to Lee Yang-ha and Jeong Byeong-uk.
Finally, in 1948, three years after Yun Dong-ju's passing, the posthumous poetry collection "Sky, Wind, Stars, and Poetry" was published under the leadership of Jeong Byeong-uk, who had the original manuscript.


The works included in Yun Dong-ju's poetry collection, "Sky, Wind, Stars, and Poetry," clearly reveal Yun Dong-ju's deep-rooted sense of loss of hometown, his obsession with death manifested in darkness, and the existential determination that encompasses all of these.
In particular, the images of darkness and night that are prominent throughout the work reflect the atmosphere of the time, revealing despair, fear, and sorrow, suggesting that his perception of reality is rooted in a tragic worldview.
All of these characteristics are based on lyricism, which is the greatest characteristic that has impressed readers with Yun Dong-ju's works to this day.
In addition, Yun Dong-ju incorporated into his poetry the Christian spirit, his desire for independence, his sense of inferiority at not being a fighter, and even his description of the world from a child's perspective.


This edition of "Sky, Wind, Stars, and Poetry" published by The Story has adopted the cover of the 1955 Jeongeumsa edition, and the text has been kept in its original form so as not to damage the meaning of the poem.
Occasionally, footnotes are provided to help readers understand words that are no longer in use or difficult Chinese characters.

Poet Jeong Ji-yong, who had a great influence on Yun Dong-ju and later introduced [Easily Written Poems] in the Kyunghyang Shinmun, praised him highly, saying, “If Yun Dong-ju were alive, Korean poetry would have developed further.”
Yun Dong-ju, who comforted the nation's pain through endless self-reflection and poetry in a dark era, remains with us even now, as times have changed, offering us yet another kind of comfort and encouragement.

Lying in the backyard of the hospital, with her face hidden by the shade of an apricot tree, a young woman sunbathes, her white legs exposed beneath her white dress.
No one, not even a butterfly, comes to visit this woman who has been suffering from heartache for half a day.
There is not even a breeze on the apricot tree branches that are not sad.

I came here for the first time after enduring pain I didn't even know I had for a long time.
But my old doctor doesn't know the young man's illness.
They say I don't have any illness.
This excessive ordeal, this excessive fatigue, I must not be angry.

The woman gets up, buttones up her coat, picks a bunch of marigolds from the flower bed, pins them to her chest, and disappears into the hospital room.
I lay down where he had been, hoping that her health – no, my health – would recover quickly.

---From "Hospital"