Kim was born in Chungmu on November 25, 1922. He studied literature at Nihon University in Japan from 1940 to 1943, at which time he was expelled and jailed for speaking against the Japanese Empire. After his release seven months later, he returned to Korea and taught in middle and high schools. He began to publish poetry in 1946. He joined the faculty of Kyungpook National University in 1965, and became Dean of the Department of Literature at Yeungnam University in 1978. In 1981, he was elected to the National Assembly. Kim died on November 29, 2004.
Work
He made his debut with the publication of his poem “The Hothouse” in the eighth volume of Bamboo Shoots and release of his collection of poems, Clouds and Roses, the same year. After the introduction of his work in the late forties, however, Kim's career as a poet spanned almost four decades, and his writing evolved and transformed itself with the times. His work can be roughly divided into four periods. The first, which includes his works such as “A Flower” and “An Introductory Poem for a Flower”, focuses on the fundamental role of language and linguistics in attaining consciousness of any particular object's existence. The second period, which encompassed the late 1950s to the late 1960s, was filled with works that used description-oriented narrative images, imagery and aesthetic metaphor purely for imagery's sake. Word play, such as that in “Ballad Tone”, was also prominent in Kim's works during these years. The poem “The Heartbreak of Cheoyong” signaled the beginning of the third period and a radical break with from his previous work. The poems of this period, rather than centering on the chimerical world of images that were the subject of his previous poetry, emphasized the other worldly, the plane beyond images. His fourth period of poetry, which encompasses his work 1970's until the early 1980s, was marked by Kim's musings and reflections on art and religion, into which he sought insight into their purpose for humanity and their relevance to the earthly life. Kim won numerous awards including the second Korean Poets’ Association Prize, the seventh Asia Freedom Literature Prize, the Art Academy Prize, and the Culture Medal. In 2007, he was listed by the Korean Poets' Association among the ten most important modern Korean poets.
