Poet and Korean-literature scholar; collections include Glacier, A Book of Animal Poems and Salleori, and the essay collection Poetry and Truth
| Life | 1911 ~ 1949 |
| Era | 일제강점기~광복 직후 |
| Clan | 칠원 윤씨 |
Yun Gon-gang (1911-1949) was a poet active from the colonial period to just after liberation; Korean Wikipedia places him in the Chilwon Yun category, though its text does not state the seat directly, so this rests on the classification. Born on 22 September 1911 in Seosan County, South Chungcheong, he graduated from Boseong High School in 1930, left Hyehwa College without finishing, and graduated in philosophy of law from Senshu University in Japan in the autumn of 1935.
He entered the literary world in 1936 as a member of the coterie journal Sihak. Early on he wrote poetry in the KAPF tradition, but later turned to a darker, decadent style. From 1943 to 1945 he worked as a clerk of Haemi township in South Chungcheong and wrote satirical poems; after liberation he left the post, went to Seoul and turned his attention to traditional sentiment. His collections include Glacier (Binghwa), A Book of Animal Poems and Salleori, and his essays Poetry and Truth.
After liberation he taught classical Chinese at Boseong Middle and High Schools and held posts at Dongguk University, Chung-Ang University (professor of Korean literature) and Sungkyunkwan University. He died on 23 February 1949 at thirty-seven. The location of his tomb was not confirmed here. In a short life he moved from ideological verse to satire to classical sentiment, tracing in one poet the course of modern Korean poetry through colonial repression and postwar confusion.
Yun Gon-gang began with ideological verse in the KAPF tradition, gradually took on a darker, decadent tone, and wrote satirical poems while a township clerk in 1943-45. After liberation he turned to traditional sentiment, naming a collection after the classical song Salleori. Such shifts of style with the times show the predicament and searching of an intellectual poet under colonial rule.
After liberation he taught classical Chinese at Boseong Middle and High Schools, lectured at Dongguk and Sungkyunkwan Universities and was professor of Korean literature at Chung-Ang. His essay collection Poetry and Truth and his Sihak coterie work show a poet who practiced both creation and criticism. Within the Chilwon Yun he is introduced with Isang Yun as a figure remembered in the arts.
The location of his tomb was not confirmed in this research.