Editing Sijo (section)

== Structure ==

=== Elements of early ''sijo'' ===
''P'yŏng sijo'' prioritized its grammatical structure for recitation purposes and not writing; so, this made the “rules” of ''sijo'' structure quite strict. Authors were mostly of the higher up ''[[yangban]]'' social class and emphasized how their ''sijo'' would be sung melodically first as opposed to written down later. This meant that the rhythmic pattern in these ''sijo''s had to be learned exactly to be considered a truthful recitation.

Tang poetry was traditionally rhythmically segmented in its stanzas. This feature was one that was passed down onto ''p'yŏng sijo'' as well as other early forms of ''sijo''. ''Sijo'' poems often follow a rhythmic structure characterized by the syllabic ways of Chinese and Hangul characters. Specifically, they follow a 3-4-3-4, 3-4-3-4, 3-5-4-3 rhythmic structure per line. An example of the strictness of early ''sijo'' is seen especially in their third lines. It sticks hard to the “3-5” syllable rule at the beginning of the third line. This is done so to further drive the rhetorical conclusion of the ''sijo''.<ref>McCann, David R. “History of SIJO.” YouTube, uploaded by Sejong Cultural Society, 14 February 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frUUtsQyVRA.</ref> As David McCann puts it, syllabic counting plays “a role in patterns of syllable distribution among the four phrases or syllable groups that constitute the lines [of a ''sijo''].” <ref>McCann, David R. "Korean Literature and Performance?: Sijo!" Azalea: Journal of Korean Literature & Culture, vol. 2, 2008, p. 362. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/aza.0.0065.</ref> Furthermore, since most ''p'yŏng sijo'' were not titled and were spread mostly through recitation, their structure was much more specific and defined than the ''sijo'' forms seen later.

{{verse translation|lang=ko|italicsoff=yes|
춘산(春山)에 눈 녹인 바람 건듯 불고 간듸업네
저근듯 비러다가 뿌리과저 머리우희
귀밋헤 해묵은 서리를 불녀볼까 하노라
|
The spring breeze melted snow on the hills, then quickly disappeared.
I wish I could borrow it briefly to blow over my hair
and melt away the aging frost forming now about my ears.
|attr1=U Tak (1262-1342)|attr2=Larry Gross}}

=== Elements of developed ''sijo'' ===
There are many variants of ''sijo'', ranging from the standard three-line ''p'yŏng sijo'' to the slightly expanded ''ossijo'' and the greatly expanded narrative ''sasol sijo''. The conventional structure of ''p'yŏng sijo'' consists of three lines, with each line broken by a caesura (a midline pause) into two halves. Each hemistich (or half) is further broken into pairs. As a result, there are four groups total in one line. A single group is typically made up of three to five syllables, which results in a composition of approximately forty five syllables (morae).<ref>Jang, Gyung-ryul. “In Search of the Essence of Sijo.” List Magazine (Literature Translation Institute of Korea). Sejong Cultural Society, https://www.sejongculturalsociety.org/mediafiles/resources/sijo-jang-essence-of-sijo.pdf. Accessed 11 Apr. 2022.</ref> However, these syllabic distributions are the average; variation in syllable count is the rule, not an exception. ''Sijo'' is an accentual verse form, not syllabic. A group generally corresponds to syntactic and rhythmic units and can be distinguished by mutual contrast, such as particles or verb endings. All traditional ''sijo'' were originally set to melodies that impose further regularity and cadence to each poem.<ref>McCann, David R. “The Structure of the Korean Sijo.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 36, 1976, pp. 114–134., https://doi.org/10.2307/2718740.</ref>

{| class=wikitable
|+ style="text-align: center;" | Total number of syllable variants in 29 ''kisaeng sijo''<ref>McCann, David R. “The Structure of the Korean Sijo.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 36, 1976, pp. 132., https://doi.org/10.2307/2718740.</ref>
|-
! scope=col | Group !! scope=col | I !! scope=col | II !! scope=col | III !! scope=col | IV
|-
! scope=row | Line 1
| 13 || 9 || 14 || style="background: yellow;"|2
|-
! scope=row | Line 2
| 13 || 11 || 9 || style="background: yellow;"|1
|-
! scope=row | Line 3
| style="background: yellow;"|1 || 18 || style="background: yellow;"|1 || 9
|}

The table above illustrates that deviations from the traditional syllabic distribution occur fairly frequently, depending on the position. For example, there are 13 times that group I in line 1 has a syllable count other than 3. In contrast, the ends of the first two lines, as well as groups I and III in the third line, show very little variation. The greater regularity in these positions is directly related to the variation that precedes or follows; the increased regularity ensures the rhythm is not lost.<ref>McCann, David R. “The Structure of the Korean Sijo.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 36, 1976, pp. 132-133., https://doi.org/10.2307/2718740.</ref>

=== Elements of modern ''sijo'' ===
In contrast to the structure of early ''sijo'' forms such as ''p'yŏng sijo'', modern ''sijo'' sticks mainly to a freer and more fluid way of writing. This is a controversial take amongst the ''sijo'' community as some argue that modern ''sijo'' focuses “on the revival of ''sijo'', but claim that its traditional fixed form cannot be preserved."<ref>cited from Lim Jongchan by Oh, Kyong-geun. “KOREAN SIJO POEMS AND THEIR TRANSFORMATIONS”. International Journal of Korean Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. 1, Nov. 2016, pp. 37, doi:10.14746/kr.2015.01.02.</ref> Thus, there has been a large wave of people who subscribe to the thought that modern ''sijo'' can be written without attention to rhythmic segments and the fixed form. Thus, many modern poets and artists write free-verse works and still claim them as ''sijo''. In Oh’s work, the author states that “''sijo'', even a contemporary one, which does not obey the form, cannot be considered ''sijo''."<ref>Oh, Kyong-geun. “KOREAN SIJO POEMS AND THEIR TRANSFORMATIONS”. International Journal of Korean Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. 1, Nov. 2016, pp. 37, doi:10.14746/kr.2015.01.02.</ref> This has left modern ''sijo'' at a divide between those who choose to honor the strictness of fixed form ''sijo'' and those who believe an adaptive free-form version of the poetic genre may still be acceptable as traditional works. Despite the fact that early forms, such as ''p'yŏng sijo'', were not as widely written and recorded, they would still follow a 3-4-3-4, 3-4-3-4, 3-5-4-3 rhythmic structure. This made them strong and strict forms of poetry that only skilled artists would be able to remember and recite. This is changed in modern ''sijo''. Since modern ''sijo'' is first written and not as spread through word of mouth, its structure has become much more lenient and differs in its shape across different authors.

{{verse translation|lang=ko|italicsoff=yes|
하룻밤 안동 시내 골목술집 구경하고
머리가 삥삥돌때 밭둑길을 거닐다가
도야지 꿀꿀 소리야 이제 왔노 하노라
|
One night in Andong
after a tour of back-alley wine shops,
head spinning, I staggered down
the narrow, paddy-field paths,
when the two pigs grunted,
“So, you! Home at last?”
|attr1=David McCann, from ''Urban Temple'', 2010}}