Sijo Shijo Goshijo

Sijo provides a picture.

It's like a poetic photograph.

Poets captured the moment

On the people's behalf.

Love Korean drama? You know, the ones where the actors and actresses wear the traditional clothing called 'hanbok'. You do? What do you know! Then you will love this! The Korean poetry called the sijo, 'shijo' to be correct, is the Korean drama in the making. Each piece of poetry captures the historical happenings and the unfolding drama of the given moment of time. Piece it together with the other historical backdrops and you will have a solid storyline based on true facts. Of course, there will be no melodramatic scenes or the picturesque portrayal of the Joseon times. Believe it or not, Joseon had its own share of the gory and the grim. To only beautify and glorify her is to forever silence those who had shed real tears of pain and anguish. And sijo poetries, which are hundreds of years old, are the untainted proofs of the agony the people did face. This is not to say that all sijos are dark and gloomy. Poets also expressed the happy and the serene, the joyful and the glad. Sijos are truly a drama in the making. It captures the real story behind the Joseon times, albeit in three-line snippets.

Miss Anna wrote this book with a singular audience in mind--people all over the world who are aspiring to learn Korean, children included. Hence, she has poured in all her creative energy to make classical sijo, also called goshijo, more accessible to language learners. You will find in this book:

This book carried twenty sijos from the Mid-Joseon time period. Included in the co...