Pak In-No

(pen name Nogye). Born Aug. 11, 1561, in the district of Yong-chon, Kyongsang-pukto Province; died there Jan. 25, 1643. Korean poet; one of the originators of the kasa, a long narrative poem.

From 1605, Pak In-no led a solitary life and devoted himself to literature. His Collected Works of a Schoolteacher From Nogye contains 68 sijo (three-line poems) and eight kasa poems written in Korean, as well as several hundred verses in hanmun, the official literary language. Dreams of a bright future and human equality and a hymn to labor form the basic content of the sijo. The high point of Pak In-no’s poetry is the kasa entitled Stanzas About a Quiet Lane (c. 1610–11), which reflects his reclusive nature. Many of his poems, such as the “Ode to Peace” (1598), are patriotic.

In 1961 the 400th anniversary of the birth of Pak In-no, poet and patriot, was observed by the World Peace Council.