A precursor of modern Korean poetry, Chung Ji-yong (1902 -1960) explored the potential of the Korean language as a medium of poetic utterances, and attained perfect fusion of the beauty of the sound of Korean and the thoughts that he wished his lines to contain. His poetry encompasses the whole gamut of poesy, ranging from sheer lyricism to puzzling word-play that demands intense celebration on the part of the reader. But the undercurrent of his poesy is his deep love of the musical quality inherent in the Korean tongue. Sometimes his lines have the ring of folk tunes, even of children's songs; sometimes they invite the readers to partake in the world of intensely imaginative poetic conceits.