Stanza 6
This last stanza suggests an army’s march to the
sea on a noble quest. After the initial repetition
of the full name ‘‘River of August,’’ Korea is
called just ‘‘River’’ in stanzas two and four. In
this sixth stanza, the shortened name ‘‘River’’ is
called and then the full name. It is like a roll call:
John, pause, John Smith! The name is called and
then reiterated formally to make sure there is no
mistake about who is being pointed out. Korea,
yes our Korea, can continue forward. The river
will bravely flow without hesitation and with
dignity. The word ‘‘stately’’ is set on a line by
itself to emphasize that the mission of Korea to
seek a bright future will be accomplished with
honor and the highest principles, as the next line
says. The river claps its hands again, but this
time with exultation. The repetition of the
phrase in a different context is a way for Pak to
indicate the transition that Korea can make
from the terrible past to a better life: Once we
clapped our hands in dismay, now we clap our
hands with joy.
Pak often used the signal flag as an image in
his poetry. In his poem ‘‘River of Loneliness,’’
which has the occupation as its topic, he portrays
a signal flag that had recently flapped high above
the plain but has been forced down. In its place,
the enemy flag is fluttering, supported by the
same but now betraying wind. In ‘‘River of
August,’’ the reverse is the case. The enemy has
died and the River is flying its own standard
again as it moves out to the wide world of the
ocean where the possibilities and opportunities
are endless. Pak thus ends the poem with a call to
the Korean people to stand up, follow their
country’s standard, and regain their pride.
Themes
Although Pak usually drew his themes from
nature, in ‘‘River of August,’’ he uses nature
only for his imagery. His themes are multiple
and intertwined. The labels put on these themes
are variations of the same message, but each
presents a different perspective on the how and
why of moving Korea forward to a better life.
Historical and Cultural Consciousness
Right after liberation, Pak and many other poets
did not write about their recent experience. They
were too eager to move on, and perhaps it was
also too painful to write about the horrors of the
occupation and the war. Eighteen years later,
however, after the Korean War and continued
political corruption and repression in South
Korea, Pak began to write about this part of
Korea’s past as a way to remind Koreans of
their cultural identity and urge the application
of their former values to the current scene. In
other words, Pak was asking Koreans to remem-
ber who they were and that they once stood for a
better world than the one they had in 1963.
Koreans had carved out a separate nation from
Japan and China through the centuries and
fought hard during the occupation from 1910
to 1945 to maintain that separate identity.
‘‘River of August’’ was a way to ask Koreans to
think about their unique heritage, believe again
in a better Korea, and make it happen.Remembrance as Motivation
Through ‘‘River of August’’ Pak is causing his
Korean readers to remember the great emotional
impact of the occupation and then remember the
lofty goals they had upon liberation. He is call-
ing upon them to remember the exultation they
felt when they regained their freedom and the
accompanying spirit of hope they all had for a
free Korea in which they would fly their victory
standard in commitment to a progressive future.
In this poem Pak is saying, in effect, since all
Koreans suffered the same plight during occu-
pation that ought to give them a sense of unity in
building a better Korea rather than the fragmen-
tation that the society was experiencing in 1963.
That is, Koreans should rekindle the noble and
moral passion they used to fight the Japanese to
create a national rededication to reform. ‘‘River
of August’’ suggests that Koreans call upon the
power of this great river of commitment to carry
away the bad and carry the nation toward new
days of glory.Fidelity to the Vision
This theme is connected to the themes of his-
torical and cultural consciousness and remem-
brance as motivation. Pak has asked Koreans
to remember who they were and what hap-
pened to them that almost destroyed their
culture, then urged Koreans to use that
remembrance as motivation for reform efforts.
Once the vision of a glorious Korea was regen-
erated, though, a fidelity to that vision was
critical or Korea would go through the same
cycle of losing sight of the vision and endingRiver of August