Song "Konghuin" and Ryo Ok
It is also called "Song of Konghu". It can be found in old documents along with a folktale.
Doctor and Associate Professor Ri Song, Director of the National Classics Institute under the Academy of Social Sciences, said Ryo Ok was good at Konghu, a string musical instrument, and considerably talented in writing songs, and continued:
"According to a folktale related to the circumstances of creating the work, one day, Ryo Ok of Ancient Joson heard from her husband Kwak Ri Ja Go, a boatman, a story about a drowned old couple and played the Konghu to sing the song of the sad story.
The song simply yet earnestly sings of urgent and pathetic scene of the drowned old couple. It represents the sad feelings of the poetess sympathizing with them."
Here are the words of the song.
Oh, my darling, please don't cross the river.
But crosses my darling.
Only to be drowned to death,
Ah, pathetic is my darling.
The portrayal of the old couple reflected in the lyrics is the artistic embodiment of tragic destiny suffered by the people of the lower classes in the reality of the ancient slave society and the sorrowful emotion is the expression of the writer's anger against and sympathy with the sufferings and misfortunes of poor and oppressed people. The thematic idea of the lyrics is clear and the content also vividly expressed on the basis of detailed fact in the contemporary reality.
The song "Konghuin" is the only ancient song which has been handed down so far. It is a valuable material in studying the characteristics of literature and art and their ideological and artistic aspects in the period after the formation of a hierarchical state.