“Making Fun of a Monk and a Scholar” is built around the four end line syllables rang (testicle), shin (penis), chŏng (pot) and chuk (gruel). While the syllables do not rhyme, they are in interesting patterns: testicle and penis are a pair, as are pot and gruel. The third line features seven -ng sounds to depict the rattling of the copper beads in the pot; the fourth line has six hard k sounds to depict the pepper eyes of the protagonists.
The monk’s head is round as the balls of a sweaty horse;
the head of the literatus is pointy as a dog’s prick when the dog sits.
Their voices—copper beads rattling in empty copper pots;
their eyes—black pepper grains plopped in white gruel.