Wedding Day

About the Book

Wedding Day is a collection of poems of Lee Won-Ro, who is the university president, chancellor of hospitals, professor, internist, cardiologist as well as a poet. This anthology contains 122 poems selected from his nine books previously published: Beyond Light and Sound (1992, Seoul, Korea); An Unusually Sunny Day (1996, Seoul, Korea); Stethoscope and Telescope (2002, Seoul, Korea); Pantomime (2004, Seoul, Korea); Pianissimo (2006, Seoul, Korea); Mosaic (2007, Seoul, Korea); Window of Moment (2009, Seoul, Korea); Map of Wind (2010, Seoul, Korea); and Navel of Universe (2011, Seoul, Korea). This book is the first publication of poet Lee Won-Ro’s work in English translation. Lee Won-Ro’s poetic world pursues the universal themes with profound aesthetic enthusiasm. His work combines knowledge and wisdom derived from his scientific background with his artistic power stemming from his creative imagination and astute intuition. Lee Won-Ro’s verse embroiders refined tints and serene tones on the fabric of embellished words. The poet explores the universe in conjunction with his expertise in intellectual, affective, and spiritual domains as a specialist in medicine and science. The poet’s imagination dares to penetrate into the realm of infinity and beyond. His world is full of dreams that are to be actualised. It is through his power of startling vision that even the deepest part of the hidden can be pinpointed and revealed. His imaginative power makes everything in the universe shine, sound, and reverberate so that his verse is lively and rich with music and colours. Lee Won-Ro’s poetics is not tied to earth but always points towards heaven so that his verse does not have to be unfamiliar, knotty, and painful deliberately. He lives, converses, and finally becomes one with his own verse. He resists to dwell in a twisted maze of dark and strange aesthetic world. Through wisdom and understanding, Lee Won-Ro’s poetics is looking forward to the universe where everything gathers together in the greatest oneness. For this reason, his poems provide restorative power and spiritual guidance with long-lasting reverberation and fragrance. Even in a desperate situation where the end is imminent, despair and abandonment can be dispelled by a conviction of a bright, new dawn on the horizon. Lee Won-Ro’s poems retain the capacity to pacify wounded minds and allude always to an upcoming promised land of unfathomable brilliance and joy.

About the Author

Being a poet as well as medical doctor (cardiologist), professor, chancellor of hospitals, university president, Lee Won-Ro’s career has been prominent in his brilliant literary activities along with his extensive experiences and contributions in medical science and practice. Lee Won-Ro is the author of nine poetry books. Wedding Day, an anthology of Lee Won-Ro, has been compiled through a process of selecting poems out of each of the nine books previously published in Korean. This is the first comprehensive selection of Lee Won-Ro’s poems in English translation. Lee Won-Ro has also published nine books related to medicine both for professionals and general readership.