A Letter Not Sent

by Jeong Ho-seung

This poetry book contains poems from Jeong's 40 years of work, presented side by side in English and Korean. Loved by readers of all ages, from teenagers to those in their 60s and 70s, Jeong's poems tell of humanity's innate loneliness, sadness, longing, love and pain. In the words of the translator Brother Anthony of Taizé, Jeong's poems "may sometimes be challenging, but above all they are moving, enlightening, and insightful".

Genres: Poetry

Unknown Binding

Published July 20, 2016

Reviews

[Nyssnisacha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saw this book in Kyobo bookstore but I didn’t have enough money then. Went back home and regretted not buying it. Until I saw it in my online library. I am grateful that the translators did wonderful job with the translation. This is a book that you need to sit down, read, reflect and not rush into finishing (I had to because I need to return it fast). It is deep and thought-provoking. I shared a poem with my friend and she cried.

[Yaz yaz cr · Rating 4 out of 5]

"all this time the ocean was deep because of your waiting.
Now I will go where I will be closest to you, spawn, then head for the river where death awaits.
Don't cry.
Don't fill life with tears.
Since we love, death is beautiful.
The dream I dreamed today is simply the shadow of the dream you dreamed... "

[Kairavi Pandya · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Life has never bought me
one drink
Many a time I’ve shaken out my empty pockets
in a tent-bar at the end of a blind alley
to buy life a drink
but life has never once
bought me one drink
even on snowy days
even on days when stone lotuses, without a sound, bloomed"

This is one of my favourite poetry by Poet Jeong. I first came across it in K-Drama "When The Weather Is Fine," and it was a major reason of why I read this collection.

I went into it empty handed, just hoping to see other words of the poet, but I came out with words of wisdom, and some warmth of sympathy, and consolation. So, life mightn't have bought me one drink, but this collection did and I am grateful for it.

That begin said, this collection is particularly enjoyable if you know basic Korean. The rhythm, flow, emphasis, and nuances are better understood from the original versions but the english translation tries to capture it as much as possible. It is easily one of the better translations of poetry I have read.

[Erixa Putri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ratings : 4.7 ⭐

A Letter Not Sent ini sebenernya buku puisi yang diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Inggris oleh Brother Anthony Taize dan Susan Hwan.

Isi bukunya berbicara mengenai seputar siklus kehidupan yang dilalui seseorang. Keluarga, pertemanan, perjuangan, kegagalan, keberhasilan, cinta, bahkan hal kecil disekitar kita yang memiliki makna tersendiri.

Ada seratus puisi di dalam buku ini dan ada puisi yang pas aku baca langsung 'wah, ini keren banget puisinya'

Judulnya 'Before A Waterfall', kurang lebih puisinya mengatakan bahwa apapun yang kamu perbuat dan lakukan, tidak apa-apa. Tidak apa-apa kalau kamu gagal, tidak apa-apa kalau kamu berhasil. Tidak apa-apa kalau kamu sedih ataupun bahagia. Semua manusia berhak merasakannya 🙆🏻‍♀️

Nah kalo untuk tingkat kesulitan, eh kemudahan, ah pokonya itulah ya, menurutku yaaaaa lumayan mudah-mudah sulit sih ya 👀 soalnya kan ini buku puisi, ada puisi yang memang pakai konotasi dan sebagian lagi pakai denotasi. Puisi-puisi yang menggunakan konotasi sih yang menurutku butuh waktu buat berpikir dan nyari maknanya apa😵‍💫 (I mean it's in English terus ada konotasinya )

Too bad, belum ada terjemahan Indonesianya. Tinggal menunggu penerbit Indonesia yang mau nerjemahin. Ayok-ayok, boleh di tag penerbit yang kalian tau buat nerjemahin buku ini 😁🙈

[Mahe Khalil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many a time I've shaken out my empty pockets
In a tent-bar at the end of a blind alley
To buy life a drink....
But Life has never once
Bought me one drink,
Even on snowy days,
Even on days when stone lotuses, without a sound , bloomed, and faded.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The review is based on my own personal opinions and I would also like to apologize beforehand for any possible spelling or grammatical errors. English is not my native language.

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I found this book in a shop called Seoul Selection in Korea a year ago. Unfortunately, I couldn't take it with me then. Having had a chance to go back to the shop this year, I knew that I had to buy this book... And it didn't disappoint.

As to be expected with a selection of poetry, I preferred some poems over others.
A Flag was one of my absolute favorites of this book.

I also bought one of his other works and I will definitely read that in the near future.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

update January 2024: started a re-read, simply because I was standing in front of my bookshelves, pulled out this book for no reason and started to read... some days are like this / End of re-read (29th January): It was a different experience compared to my first read in 2020. Back then I read the whole collection within 2 days. This time I took my time. I read almost every poem out loud, sometime English and the Korean original version. And by reading the poems out loud they gained weight and power I didn't feel back in 2020.