koreanlit1-2, Exercise 3: Hyangga

Model answer:

A hyangga is a poem "written using Chinese characters" in a system called hyangchal, from the Unified Silla and early Goryeo periods; the songs are sometimes called "Silla songs".

Survivors: 25 in all: 14 in the Samguk yusa and 11 by the monk Kyunyeo (10th century). A late-9th-century collection, the Samdaemok, is lost.

Why more than one reading: "The structure of hyangga is not completely understood." The same poem can be read as ten lines or six, and translators such as Peter H. Lee and Alexander Vovin read the form differently. Scholars also disagree on the forms: Ogura's single-quatrain, two-quatrain and ten-line forms against Kim Sung-kyu's (2016) two forms.

Themes: Buddhist (18 of the 25) and death (eulogies for monks, warriors and family).
Examples: Seodong yo (about 600); Mo Jukjilang ga (about 692 to 702); Heonhwa ga (about 702 to 737); Cheoyong ga (about 879).

Source: Wikipedia, Hyangga.