The Dragon Symbol and its Meaning in the Painting Poetry

This study aims to understand the symbolic meanings of dragons in the contemporary period through the painting featuring poetry based on the Hwaryong (paintings of dragons) and to analyze the literary representations and characteristics of dragons. First, the shape and aura of the dragon in the paintings should be confirmed. In dragon Painting Poetry (Paintings Featuring Poetry), the shape of the dragon is embodied in the aura of 'spirit.' However, people in previous eras customarily believed that dragons were real. In addition, the main spirit of the Hwaryong was in the representation of the dragon's aura, or "Jeonsin (transmission of spirit)," such as the creature's dragonly virtue or Heavenly Perfection. Next, the rhetorical representation of the dragon in the painting is to be examined. In the actual Painting Poetry, dragon images were relatively common in descriptions of pines, bamboo, and plum trees. The pine-bamboo-plum motif is known as Sehan Samwu (the three friends of the cold season), and since the Northern Song Dynasty, it has become a symbol of literary incision. Manifested as a dragon, the pine-bamboo-plum motif has a common denominator of winding branches, tangled stems, and bluish jade coloration, and like the dragon, it is used as a backdrop for weather phenomena such as rain, wind, and lightning. In the schematic that connects the Hwaryong, dragon Painting Poetry, the original meaning of the dragon is transformed into shapes and language. This is the meaning conveyed by the dragon, and this symbolic meaning was shared among the writers of the period who viewed the poems and paintings.