Aside from former President Chun Doo-hwan who spent a few years in Baekdamsa, Manhae, a.k.a. Han Yong-un ( 1879-1944) is the other person with close associations with this remote temple in Gangwon-do. He was one of the 33 signatories for the historic document which contained Korean's declaration of independence from Japan. He spent some time in Oseam, a hermitage under Baekdamsa where he was ordained as a monk and the temple now has exhibitions dedicated to his life and works. There's even a festival dedicated to him.
Yom Moo-ung on his poems: They "can be read by the young as love songs, by the religious as words of salvation and by mankind as watchwords that convey the ardent desire for national independence."
Koreans study and recite his poems in high school such as the two works which I've quoted in a previous posting so today I'm just including a snippet from his poem, " Envoi: To My Readers" as an introduction to his works ( rewording and line breaks are my own):
In time to come, reading my poems
may be like sitting among the flowers
of late spring
and rubbing a withered
chrysanthemum
and holding it under the nose
for its scent.
For more poems, click here.
sources:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2008/08/203_26966.html
http://manhaeprize.org/manhaeprize/bbs/board.php?bo_table=literary_world&wr_id=1&page=&sca=&sfl=&stx=&sst=&sod=&spt=&page=
http://www.manhaeprize.org/ebook/myloveebook/lifewz.htm
http://www.korea.net/News/News/newsView.asp?serial_no=20071214012&part=108&SearchDay=
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=10,2059,0,0,1,0
http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/culturenlife/culturenlife_istory101_detail.htm?No=36
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~b9park/HY.htm
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