So Chong Ju, also known by the penname Midang, was born in Sonum village in the North Cholla Province of Korea, in 1915.
His first poems were published in the late 1930s; his first collection of poems dates from 1941. The present volume contains the complete poems of his first four collections, on which his reputation as Korea's leading living poet largely rests. He has published many volumes of poetry, as well as poems published separately. He has edited a number of anthologies and published works on literary history and criticism. He was for many years a professor at the Buddhist University, Dongguk University, in Seoul, where he is now Professor Emeritus. He has been awarded many of Korea's most prestigious literary awards. Translations of selected poems by So Chong Ju have previously been published in France, Spain, Germany and the United States.