Li Kuibao Epic Study

Yi Kyubo (1168-1241) is one of the well-known literati in the medium of Koryo Dynasty, and he is especially famous for composing poems in Chinese. Yi created quite a number of essays, poems, fictions and so on in all his life, of them there are more than 2,000 poems remained and these poems cover a wide range of topics. Yi's poems are mainly seen in his collected works, and there are also a few ones can be found in "The bright cloud",which is about literary critisism. Among Yi's poems written in Chinese, we can find the poems on history totalling more than 500, some of them are mainly in praise of the Korean nation's long history and culture, some remonstrate Yi's opinions of agrarian life,which was closely related to Korean farmers, and some are about historical persons and events of China, containing special feelings of history and the infinite space. It's quite helpful for us to know the historical truth about the Korean Peninsula through the study of Yi's poems on history. The most important is, we will understand the bilateral interaction in culture between China and the Korean peninsula, especially we can examine how people who lived in the Korean peninsula accepted Chinese culture actively. Furthermore, that will help us to accelerate the traditional friendship between China and the Korean peninsula.In Yi kyubo's years, the Korean peninsula suffered the invasion from Khitan, Jurchen, Mongolia and Japan. In the meantime, farmers from nearly all the Korean peninsula rose up in open rebellion. Facing dangers of both internal disturbance and foreign invasion, Koryo literati had shown great concern about the survival of the nation. As part of the literati, Yi Kyubo had strong aspiration to dedicate himself to his country. By using his writing brush to compose poems on history, Yi Kyubo devoted himself entirely to the Korean nation at the critical momment. Therefore, it suggests that special situation of both home and abroad joinly played a role to Yi Kyubo's creation of the poems on history. In addition, the dissemination of Chinese culture as well as Chinese literature in the Korean Peninsula during the period of Koryo dynasty also provided Yi Kyubo a beneficial condition to compose poems.Yi Kyubo made a success of poems on history. Especially through the narrative poetry "Lay of King Tongmyong", Yi praised Chumong, the founder of Koguryo, as well as the grandson of Haemosu. "The Hymn with 300 Verses for Wu Shiwen", another delicately phrased compliment to the glory of Silla and the friendship with Wu Shiwen and his younger brother Wu Shicai, made Yi Kyubo enjoyed the highest fame among men of letters. Yi Kyubo held the view that poetry issues from experience in the real world and must respond to the demonds of the time, so Yi's poems on history also indicate his views about the time. The "43 Poems on History about the Years of Kaiyuan and Tianbao",which is about 43 representative things happened in Kaiyuan and Tianbao years of Tangxuanzong' reign in Tang dynasty, especially shows Yi's talent for the poems on history.,and by comparing Chinese history with the social reality of Koryo, Yi Kyubo gave his all attention to the nation's situation and Korean people's life.Yi Kyubo's poems on history also reflect his pursuit of leisure and freedom. Yi Kyubo enjoyed entertainment including the "three demons"——women, wine and poety, which were his best hobbies. Many of Yi's poems on history have the themes about the "three demons", but that doesn't mean Yi Kyubo was very negative. In fact, Yi Kyubo just wanted to get free from the military rule. Thus, on one hand, a feel of free and leisure exists in his poems on history, on the other hand, Yi Kyubo took care about people's sufferings. Owing to the strong humanistic feelings found in some of Yi's poems on history, the style of these poems is the similar with that of Bai Juyi, one of mid-Tang poets.Yi Kyubo absorbed nearly all the achievements about poems on history created by those poets emerged ahead of him in Korean history, and Yi also started the prosperity of the poems on history later on. Therefore, Yi Kyubo was the person who had connected two developing stages of the poems on history not only in Koryo dynasty but also in the whole korean literatrue.