현대 한국에서 주요한 문단 등단 방법 중의 하나는 신춘문예이다. 신춘문예 는 예심을 거쳐 올라온 시들 가운데 한 편을 뽑고 심사평을 발표하는데 심사평 은 ‘올해 투고시의 경향’이나 ‘시에 대한 단상’ 그리고 ‘낙선이유’와 ‘당선이유’ 등을 발표하는 형식으로 이루어진다. 본고의 연구대상 시기인 2000년 이후 약 60여명의 심사자, 약 100명가량의 당선자, 수천 명의 낙선자가 있었다. 시간차 가 있음에도 당선된 시와 심사평에서 발견되는 낙선자나 심사자 그리고 당선자 의 특징은 이들을 단수로 지칭해도 될 만큼 비슷한 양상을 보인다. 그리고 매해 수 천 명의 시인들이 투고하고 있으므로 신춘문예는 지극히 당대적이라고 볼 수 있다. 이러한 인식을 바탕으로 본고는 2000년 이후의 신춘문예 심사평과 당 선작을 통해 신춘문예의 종교현상을 고찰하였다. 그 결과 당선자 낙선자 심사자 는 문학청년들의 강렬한 문학 숭배현상, 통과해야 할 관문으로서의 ‘통과의례’ 라는 의례의 원형을 보여준다는 것을 발견하였다. 나아가 당선된 시들에게서는 ‘신화화의 과정’을 엿볼 수 있었다. 신화화의 과정이란 ‘무서운 아버지,’ ‘소외된 아들들,’ ‘아버지의 쇠퇴,’ ‘아버지 죽이기,’ ‘죄의식과 아버지의 토템화,’ ‘주기 적인 의례로 기억하기,’ ‘또 다른 아버지가 되기’의 신화화 과정을 볼 수 있었다.

This thesis is to examine biblical poetics, which deals with the many biblical echoes and rhetoric of paradox in T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. Biblical poetics, the counterpart of biblical theology, tries to mystify history in the poetic text, as opposed to the theologizing of biblical history. Time and history are of great importance in the poetry of T. S. Eliot and in the modernistic milieu, because modernism hinges, in a sense, upon the dispensation of history. Eliot, the champion of the 20th century poetry, tries to mythify the present history by means of a mystical method, assuming that modern history itself is not fit for poetry. Malinowski rightly defines myth as not of the nature of fiction, but instead as a living truth, believed to have once happened in primitive times and continue influencing our everyday lives. In this paper the present writer tries to describe the process of transformation of history in four phases, that is, carpe diem, which can be roughly transliterated as “seize the day,” the rejected history, the deconstructed time, and finally the transfigured time. “Burnt Norton” prefaces the problem of the redemption of history, agreeing with the biblical time concept that all history is divine history. “East Coker”, as the rejected history, reveals the painful confession of the poet in terms of death, not only of ours but also of Jesus Christ. His death is the most rejected and paradoxical of all deaths, because he was rejected by his people and even his Father. In turn, through this death, history is rejected. “Dry Salvages” demonstrates time by decreating time and starting a movement backward to the time of creation. While portraying the sea, one of the motifs of “Dry Salvages,” he mentions both the original sea, which “is” from the beginning and the Logos, Jesus Christ, who “was” from the beginning. The incarnation is the crux of paradoxical events, where the impossible union is accomplished. His resurrection is the paradox of paradoxes, in which the rejected history is deconstructed with life-giving Eros springing forth from abyssal Thanatos. “Little Gidding” breaks the air with flames of fire, urging us to choose between the flames of fire and of the Holy Spirit to be saved. Beginning with the Pentecostal fire, time starts to be so completely transformed that here is “England and nowhere, never and always.” The event on the mountain of transfiguration is the most paradoxical and transformational of events, substantiating history into myth where time and eternity meet. The voyagers must continue going forward until they receive the transfigured vision of the place from which he started.