The Poet

The life of a poet becomes a parable of hunger, hope, and the price of beautyYi Sang, born into poverty, dreams of becoming a poet. His gift with words leads him down a path of wandering, hunger, and rejection — yet also moments of transcendent vision. Drawing on the real life of nineteenth-century poet Kim Byeong-yeon, Yi Mun-yol creates a work that is at once historical fiction, fable, and a meditation on the burden of art itself. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days