He was born at Puan , North Cholla Province in 1907 . He attended the Central Buddhist College in 1930 . What he began to write regularly as a poet was following the publication of a poem titled " A Gift " in a pure literary journal the Shimunhak , which means poetic literature , in 1931 . He was a member of the Shimunhak and also participated in the Shiwon which means garden of poetry . He taught at some high schools in Chonju after liberation in 1945 . His early works sing a peaceful and pure life departing the dark and sordid reality and returning to the pastoral nature . He praises the purity and beauty of the nature as the ideal , the paradise and sings dreams and passions that would enable him to reach that world . In recalling the world of pastoral gardens described in modernist approach which employs his peculiar style of respectful words , his poems provide critical statements for the civilization void of beautiful comfortable places for the worn - out soul of his contemporaries . Following the liberation from the Japanese occupation , he no longer sings the pastoral world but the concrete world as he experienced it as a part of the real history . The poetic spirit with emphasis on principles now calls for more direct participation in reality . one may regret , however , that his works of this period appear too subjective . Consequently he choose to return to the earlier world of lyricism in his late works in 1970 . Collections of Poetry : Candle Light ( 1939 ) , Sad Pastoral ( 1947 ) , Glacier ( 1956 ) , Mountain Prelude ( 1967 ) , The Sound of Bamboo ( 1970 ) Received Korean Literature Prize in 1968 , Korean Art and Literature Prize in 1973 . After that year he went to sleep forever . Following is one poem translated into English . The Picture of Mountain and River The ivy is green along the forest path ; The river gleams among the trees . Wild birds perch on sun - lit bouughs ; The white clouds saunter in the sky . Crow - songs overflow the valley , and The winds rush over the hills . The streamlet is clear as jade , Beyond the winding forest paths The green mountains will live for a thousand years ; The river will flow for ten thousand In this painted landscape . .....