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HWANG Tong-gyu - Genre : Poetry - Award :   Hwang Tong gyu(1938~ ) is one of the most revered poets in Korea. A former professor of English Literature at Seoul National University, Hwang has participated in the Iowa International Writers' Program and has also taught at New York University. He is the recipient of numerous honors, including 1980 'Korean Literature Award', 1991 'Isan Literature Prize' and more recently, 2002 'Midang Literature Prize'. Though his early poems tended to focus on the sense of melancholia, desolation and the sense of longing that pervade the poet’s inner world, Hwang Tong gyu soon overcame his preoccupation with the theme of individual alienation to achieve communion with external reality. What characterizes his poetry from this point onward is the strength of perception and lucidity of mind. In order to attain this clarity, Hwang often employs the theme of journey or travel. Stasis, in Hwang’s poetry, signifies death and movement the possibility of rebirth. Traversing varied landscapes in search of renewal, the poet faces death but also experiences regeneration in new encounters. Coming across mundane everyday reality, nature that keeps its silence, forgotten history and hostile strangers during his travels, the poet seeks to engage in what he calls “methodological love.” Synonymous with “movement vital,” “methodological love” designates the process of opening up to “the other” that enables a being to be reborn. Hwang’s poetry not only describes new awareness attained as a result of this candid opening to the outer world and sincere dialogue with the self, but enacts this process itself, inviting the readers to participate in the new awakening. Major works: (Eotteon Gaein Nal, 1961), (Samnam-e Naerineun Nun, 1975), (Na-neun Bakwi-reul Bomyeon Gulligo Sipeojinda, 1978), (Morundaehaeng, 1991), (Pungjang, 1995), (Misiryeong Keunbaram, 1998), (Beokeullipung-ui Sarang Norae 2000), (Uyeon-e Gidael Ttae-do Itseotda, 2003) essay collections (Sarang-ui Ppuri, 1976), (Gyeoul Norae. 1979), (Na-ui Si-ui Bit-gwa Geuneul, 1994)