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LIT/FLIX: Celebrating Literature in K-dramas and K-Movies

For the whole month of April, we unlocked the power of literature by sharing poetry and prose featured in k-dramas and k-movies.

GwenchaNoona Picks | LIT/FLIX: Lit in K-dramas & K-movies (photos, poetry, and prose "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" with Kim Seon-ho, "Goblin" with Gong Yoo and Kim Go-eun, "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" with Park Eun-bin, and "Burning" with Yoo Ah-in)

Famous contemporary Korean poet Na Tae-joo (나태주) (b. 1945) started his writing career in 1971. He was working as an elementary school teacher then and continued teaching for more than 40 years. In an interview, he describes poets as “emotional service men who ease the world’s pain and depression.”


Encounter (2018)

GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX Featured as the main lead's favorite poem in the k-drama "Encounter" (2018) (Photo of Park Bo-gum) LONGING I'm being told not to go, but there's a road I wish to take. While being told not to meet, there's someone I wish to meet. If you tell me not to, it makes me want to do it even more. That's life and longing. It's you. - Na Tae-joo

Because This Is My First Life (2017)

GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX Poem featured in the k-drama "Because This Is My First Life" (2017) (Photo of Lee Min-ki and Jung So-min) A VISITOR Meeting someone in life is something that's actually astonishing. That's because he brings himself with his past, present, and his future. That's because someone's whole life comes along. The heart is fragile. Therefore, it might have been broken. The heart is coming, too… -Jeong Hyeonjong (2019)

A Poem a Day (2018)

GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX Featured in the k-drama "A Poem a Day" (2018) (Photo of Lee Joon-hyuk and Lee Yu-bi) HAPPINESS It's not about where we were yesterday… And it's not about where we'll be tomorrow. It's just about where we are today. And, you. -Na Tae-joo

A Bittersweet Life (2005)

GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX Read at the end of the film "A Bittersweet Life" (2005) (photo of Lee Byung-hun) A ZEN KOAN One late autumn night, the disciple awoke crying. So the master asked the disciple, "Did you have a nightmare?" "No." "Did you have a sad dream?" "No," said the disciple. "I had a sweet dream." "Then why are you crying so sadly?" The disciple wiped his tears away and quietly answered, "Because the dream I had can't come true."

Poetry (2010)

GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX Read at the end of the film "Poetry" (2010) (photo of Yun Jung-hee) AGNES SONG How is it over there? How lonely is it? Is it still glowing red at sunset? Are the birds still singing on the way to the forest? Can you receive the letter I dared not send? Can I convey… the confession I dared not make? -by dir. Lee Chang-dong

Hotel del Luna (2019)

GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX The book was shown twice in "Hotel del Luna" (2019) and was referenced throughout the drama (photo of Lee Ji-eun/IU) "Everyone is the other And no one is himself." -Martin Heidegger, "Being and Time"

When My Love Blooms (2020)

GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX Read in the k-drama "When My Love Blooms" (2020) (photo of Yoo Ji-tae and Lee Bo-young) CLOSER TO YOU 2 I keep standing on my toes. Yet I still do not see you. At times when the waiting grows longer I cannot help but resent you Cirrus clouds float through the dark skies What song shall I have to song In order for it to reach your ears? We never met, so we shall never part Yet we cannot hold hands, though we never parted. So as the waiting grows longer I cannot help but resent you more. - Lee Song-bok

Goblin (2016)

GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX Featured in the k-drama "Goblin" (2016) (photo of Gong Yoo and Kim Go-eun) PHYSICS OF LOVE 사랑의 물리학 Mass is not proportional to volume A girl as small as a violet A girl who moves like a flower's petal She attracts me with a force greater than her mass Now, I am like Newton's apple Rolled and fell toward her unstoppably With a thump, a thump My heart Keeps bouncing between the sky and the ground It was my first love - Kim In-yook

Itaewon Class (2020)

GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX Written for and narrated in the k-drama "Itawon Class" (2020) (photo of Kim Joo-young) I'm a rock Go ahead and sear me I won't budge an inch Because I'm a rock Go ahead and beat me up I'm a solid rock Go ahead and leave me in darkness I'm a rock that will shine all alone I don't break, turn to ash, nor decay As I go against nature's way I survive. I'm a diamond. -Gwang Jin

School 2013 (2012)

School 2013 (2012) GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX Lines read in the k-drama "School 2013" (photo of Lee Jong-suk) WILDFLOWER You have to look closely to see that it is pretty You have to look for a long time to see that it is lovely You, too, are the same. -Na Tae-joo

When the Weather Is Fine (2020)

GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX Read in the k-drama "When the Weather Is Fine" (photo of Park Min-young) A DRINK Life has never bought me a drink. On many winter nights at a snack stall in a dead-end alley. I emptied out my pockets… to buy life a drink. But life has never bought me a single drink. Whether it was a snowy day Or a day when stone lotus flowers silently bloomed and fell. -Jung Ho-seong

A Poem a Day (2018)

GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX Read in the k-drama "A Poem a Day" (2018) (photo of Lee Yoo-bi) IT'S OKAY IF YOU DON'T LOVE ME It's okay if you don't acknowledge me. A new leaf will sprout, even under the cold rain and the stars will come out, even if the clouds cover it. It's okay if you don't offer me a hand. I blazed up like a dry leaf as someone who couldn't say a word. I'm okay with being in one-sided love, and then becoming love myself. My love, it's okay if you don't love me. -Lee Jung-ha

When the Weather Is Fine (2020)

GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX Read in the k-drama "When the Weather Is Fine" (2020) (photo of Seo Kang-joon) TO THE DAFFODIL '수선화에게' Don't cry. To be lonely is to be human. To live is to endure loneliness. Don't wait for a call that never comes. When it snows, you walk on a snowy road, When it rains, you walk down a rainy path. The black-chested sandpiper in the reed field is watching you. Sometimes even a deity cries from loneliness. Birds sit on branches because they're lonely. The mountain shadow comes down to the village once a day because it is lonely. The peal of bells rings out because it too is lonely. -Jung Ho-seong

Romance Is a Bonus Book (2018)

GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX Read in the k-drama "Romance Is a Bonus Book" (2018) (photo of Lee Na-young and Lee Jong-suk) THE HEART IS DRAWN TO YOU But suddenly, the wind blow again from somewhere. The sound of the sandstorm reaches the branches up high. And with that, my heart flutters. That means I miss someone I left behind. The desire to love someone again is making my heart throb. Dream. And yearn. Love deeply and lastingly. We sleep, rest, and dwell in our momentary joy to recharge ourselves. So that we can return to the world full of pain, so that we can have new dreams. Yearn for new things, and love once again deeply and lastingly. -Na Tae-joo

I'm Not a Robot (2018)

GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX The book was read by the male lead in the k-drama "I'm Not a Robot" (2018) (photo of Chae Soo-bin) "When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real." -from 'The Velveteen Rabbit" by Margery Williams Bianco

The King: Eternal Monarch (2020)

GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX Read in the k-drama "The King: Eternal Monarch" (2020) (photo of Kim Go-eun and Lee Min-ho) BY THE STREAM What is your reason for doing that? You were sitting along by the stream The green grass was sprouting And the water was splashing from the spring breeze You promised that even if you go You won't be gone forever That is what you promised I sit by the stream each day I think about it endlessly When you promised that even if you go You won't be gone forever, Were you asking me not to forget you? -Kim So-wol

Let's Eat 3 (2018)

GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX Read in the k-drama "Let's Eat 3" (2018) RICE To you, who eats because of the loneliness To you, who sleeps because of the weariness To you, who cries because of the sadness, I write Chew on your difficult situation as you would your rice As life is something that you need to digest anyway -Chun Yang-hee

A Poem a Day (2018)

GwenchaNoona | LIT/FLIX Read in the k-drama "A Poem a Day" (2018) (photo of Lee Yoo-bi) FIRST MEETING I'm very thankful to you Who treated me like a flower When life was the coldest. I was stepped on a lot And never got any attention on this journey By meeting you, I met a new me. I'm very thankful to you Who treated me like a flower.

Let's Eat 3 (2018)