Poet of 'The Reason for Coexistence'; president of the National Academy of Arts
| Life | 1921 ~ 2003 |
| Era | 근현대 |
| Clan | 한양 조씨 |
Jo Byeong-hwa (趙炳華, 1921-2003) was a Korean poet and educator of the Hanyang Jo clan, with the pen name Pyeonun (片雲, 'a wisp of cloud'). He was born on 2 May 1921 in Anseong, Gyeonggi; the 'Byeong' (炳) in his name is the clan's common generation character for the 24th generation.
He graduated from Gyeongseong Normal School in 1940 and from the physics and chemistry course of Tokyo Higher Normal School in 1944. After liberation he taught at Gyeongseong Normal School, Jemulpo High School and Seoul High School. He debuted in 1949 with the collection 'A Legacy I Would Cast Away', winning wide sympathy with plain verse about the melancholy of city dwellers. After lecturing at Chung-Ang and Ewha universities he became dean of liberal arts and of the graduate school of education at Kyung Hee University, retired from Inha University in 1986 and became professor emeritus.
He led the literary world as president of the National Academy of Arts, chairman of the Korean Writers' Association and president of the World Congress of Poets, and was named honorary poet laureate of the Korean Poets' Association. His collections include 'One Day's Comfort', 'Human Solitude', 'Night Stories', 'Groping for the Lodgings of Time', 'The Reason for Coexistence' and 'Strangers'. He received the Asian Free Literature Prize (1959), the Korean Poets' Association Prize (1974), the National Academy of Arts Prize (1985), the 3·1 Culture Prize (1990) and the Korean Literature Grand Prize (1992), the Order of Civil Merit (Moran Medal) and the Order of Cultural Merit (Gold Crown, 1996). He has also been criticized for a 1980 poem praising the new military regime. He also received the Seoul Culture Prize (1981) and the May 16 National Prize (1997), and honorary doctorates in literature from Inha University and the University of Victoria in Canada. His wife Kim Jun was a physician, and they had one son and three daughters. He died on 8 March 2003 at the age of 81; the Jo Byeong-hwa Literary Museum in his hometown of Anseong honors him.