Late Joseon commoner (yeohang) poet, author of Chujae Giyi
| Life | 1762 ~ 1849 |
| Era | 조선 후기 |
| Clan | 한양 조씨 |
Jo Su-sam (趙秀三, 1762-1849) was a late Joseon commoner (yeohang) poet of the Hanyang Jo clan. His early name was Gyeong-yu, his courtesy names Jiwon and Jaik, and his pen names Chujae and Gyeongwon. His father Jo Won-mun was posthumously honored with a Seoul magistracy; he was the younger brother of the poet Jo Gyeong-ryeom, and the late-Joseon court painter Jo Jung-muk was his grandson. He is generally thought to have come from a family of interpreter-class jungin. Fluent in Chinese and a fine calligrapher, he was said by his peers to excel in ten things: bearing, poetry and prose, examination writing, medicine, baduk, calligraphy, memory, eloquence, virtue and long, healthy life.
Because of his status he passed the licentiate examination only in 1844, at the age of 83. He was a core member of the Songseogwon poetry society led by Cheon Su-gyeong, befriending commoner poets such as Jo Hui-ryong, Jang Hon and Bak Yun-muk, and was close to literati including Kim Jeong-hui, Kim Myeong-hui and Jo In-yeong and Jo Man-yeong of the powerful Pungyang Jo family. Never holding office, his life was marked by travel: from 1789 he went six times to Beijing, befriending Chinese writers such as Wu Chongliang and Liu Xihai, and travelled throughout Korea writing many poems.
His early poems deal with daily life and nature, while later works increasingly depict social reality realistically, with many long poems. 'Seogu Doul', on the Hong Gyeong-rae rebellion, and 'Bukhaeng Baekjeol', on the misery of people in the northeast, are representative, and long pieces such as 'Seokgoga' were widely read. 'Chujae Giyi', vivid sketches of urban lower-class people in short prose with seven-character quatrains, is a key source on the professional storytellers (jeongisu) of late Joseon. Kim Jeong-hui is said to have compared his poetry to Du Fu's. His collected works, Chujaejip, survive in eight volumes, and his story also appears in the Hosan Oegi and Ihyang Gyeonmunnok.