Dongmunseon

The Dongmunseon (東文選) is an anthology of poetry and prose compiled in December 9th year of King Seongjong (1478) of the Joseon by Seo Geojeong, then Grand Academician of the Office of Special Advisors, together with Yang Seong-ji (梁誠之) and others, under royal command. It gathers outstanding works by poets and men of letters from the late Three Kingdoms period (mostly Silla) through the Goryeo period to the early Joseon period. It is divided into two parts, the Main (正) and Supplement (續). The Main part, compiled by Seo Geojeong, has 130 volumes of text and 3 volumes of table of contents. The latter 23 volumes (including 2 volumes of table of contents) are called the Supplement, and were added in the 13th year of King Jungjong's reign (1518) by Sin Yong-gae (申用漑), Chief of the Compilation Office, who selected and appended writings composed in the more than forty years after the Main part was completed in the reign of Seongjong.

Overview

As the title suggests, the structure of the Dongmunseon imitates the Wenxuan (文選) compiled by Crown Prince Zhaoming (昭明太子) of the Chinese Liang dynasty. From the genres of sa (辭), bu (賦), and old-style poetry (古詩), it classifies and collects the various literary forms, including edicts (조칙), royal proclamations (교서), instructions (제고), memorials (표전), reports (계장), declarations (격서), epitaphs for tombs (묘명), eulogies (송찬), annotations (주의), essays (문), letters (서), records (기), prefaces (서), biographies (전), colophons (발), petitions (소), miscellaneous writings (잡저), examination questions (책제), festival addresses (축제문), elegies and biographies of conduct (애사행장), stele inscriptions (비명), and tomb inscriptions (묘지). Its authors cover almost all writers from Goguryeo's Eulji Mundeok and Choe Chi-won of Silla through the literati of Goryeo and early Joseon.

Contrary to common belief, the Dongmunseon was also compiled again during the reign of King Sukjong, apart from the work by Seo Geojeong and the Sokdongmunseon. In the 21st year of Sukjong (1695), at the request of the Qing, the court was ordered to select poetry, prose, and calligraphy of the East from the Dongmunseon and the Cheonggu Punga and send them, and in the 39th year of his reign (1713), when the Qing again requested the poetry and prose of the East, the Grand Academician was ordered to select and send works in 2 sets of 15 volumes to the envoys.