Dongmyeongwangpyeon
Also known as: Ballad of King Dongmyeong, Lay of King Tongmyong, Saga of King Dongmyeong, Dongmyeongwang-pyeon, Dongmyeongwang pyeon
Yi Gyu-bo’s long narrative poem recounts the divine birth, trials, and state-founding of Jumong—King Dongmyeong, founder of Goguryeo—expanding earlier chronicles into an epic of heavenly mandate and exile. It follows his miraculous origins, flight from Buyeo, river crossing, and enthronement at Jolbon.
Description
Composed in classical Chinese during the Goryeo period, Dongmyeongwangpyeon elaborates the mythic life of Jumong (King Dongmyeong) from celestial conception to the founding of Goguryeo. The poem weaves episodes familiar from historical compilations—Hae Mosu’s union with Yuhwa, the golden-frog omen of Geumwa, the egg-birth, and Jumong’s archery prowess—into a sustained epic that stresses Heaven’s sanction and heroic destiny. Pursued by Buyeo princes, Jumong invokes the river, where fish and turtles form a living bridge to aid his escape, a signature image of divine favor. At Jolbon he establishes a new polity, embodying themes of exile, legitimacy, and ancestral continuity. Celebrated as Korea’s earliest extant epic narrative verse, the work became a touchstone for later conceptions of national origins and royal charisma.
Historiography
Preserved within Yi Gyu-bo’s collected works (Dongguk Yi Sangguk jip), the poem stands as the earliest substantial epic in Korean literary history. It adapts foundation legends also recorded in Samguk sagi and Samguk yusa, but expands them with literary embellishment typical of Goryeo learned poetics. Later readers cited it for both mythic content and as evidence of Goryeo’s cultural succession to Goguryeo. Modern scholarship treats it as a primary literary witness to the Jumong legend while distinguishing its poetic rhetoric from annalistic reportage.
Date Notes
Poem composed in 1193 drawing on older Goguryeo/Buyeo foundation legends and earlier annalistic accounts (e.g., Samguk sagi, 1145).
Archetypes
Symbols
Major Characters
- Dongmyeong (Jumong)
- Lady Yuhwa
- Hae Mo-su
- King Geumwa
- Soseono
- Yuri
Myths
- The Birth of Jumong
- Jumong’s Flight from Buyeo
- The Founding of Goguryeo
- The Reunion with Yuhwa and Founding Lineage
- The Ascension of King Dongmyeong
Facts
- Composed by Yi Gyu-bo in 1193 during the Goryeo dynasty.
- Widely regarded as the earliest extant Korean epic narrative poem.
- Written in classical Chinese (hanmun), the literary medium of Goryeo elites.
- Centers on Jumong (King Dongmyeong), founder of Goguryeo (37–19 BCE).
- Features the iconic river miracle where fish and turtles form a bridge for the hero.
- Expands material known from Samguk sagi and related traditions into a unified epic.
- Often cited as evidence of Goryeo’s cultural and historical inheritance from Goguryeo.
- Traditional verse count reported at approximately 282 lines/verses.
- Preserved in Yi Gyu-bo’s collected writings (Dongguk Yi Sangguk jip).
- Influenced later literary-historiographic works celebrating royal origins.