Yi Kyu Bo was undoubtedly one of Korea’s greatest men. Philosopher, statesman, poet, humorist, he came to be recognized even during his lifetime as the finest scholar that his country had produced up to that time. His early life was a prolonged battle with poverty and he nearly starved himself in order to reach the point in his studies which would enable him to progress along the course he had marked out for himself. Right from his earliest years, however, his mind seems to have held such absolute control over his body that physical deprivations were powerless to injure him. One record states that “the freedom of his written speech made him many enemies. He was too straightforward for his generation and this stood in the way to block his upward course.” Despite this he went steadily and fearlessly ahead, passed his Kwagu, obtained a position at court, endured a year’s exile but was recalled, and finally became Prime Minister and Chief of the Official Examiners. This record of material advancement is less interesting than the spiritual development of the man’s nature. Here a steady flame burned. Music and poetry were his real life. On these he seems to have subsisted, drawing therefrom mystical strength and peace which nothing could disturb. From such a fortress of the soul did Yi Kyu Bo look out upon his world with kindly humorous eyes. Alert, active, liberal in his views of men, he has left behind him a matchless commentary upon his times. His poetry is absolutely individual, untouched by the influence of any other writer, and it ranges over an astonishing variety of subjects.