Abstract

Two axes supporting popular appeal of Ryu Si-hwa’s poetry are ‘pseudo religiosity’and ‘poetics of love.’ Combining religious seeking for truth and poetic aura, he emphasizes simplicity than complexity, reconciliation than conflict and positive consciousness than negative consciousness. Therefore, though his poems describe the situation causing conflicts, he stresses that we should solve them simply and clearly,even internally by changing our will or attention rather than socially renewing them. As much, his poetic language is the language of pseudo religiosity desiring transcendence to primitive affinity and sacred one. In terms of diagnosing pathological situations and consoling and curing them through clear and transparent paradox, his language closely accords with universal religious desire of the public who want the other to confirm the answer they already know and to comfort them. Also, the secret of Ryu Si-hwa’s popularity is in poetics of love. A strong nostalgia toward love as dedication and extinction constitutes such popular appeal. Narrowly keeping a balance as in acrobatics, love poems of Ryu pass through lightness most popular literature are adhering to and heaviness of books for cultured reading. From then on, most of his bestseller books contain the grammar and characteristics of love poem and aesthetically reproduce them. His poetics of love also consistently transforms from love of individual level to meditation religious level. In this respect,Ryu Si-hwa’s poems are not ‘a poetic language’ but ‘a religious language.’