kim began his literary career as a writer of sijo but eventually expanded his range to include free verse during the post-liberation period. kim's early work is marked by the contemplative attitude the poet assumes towards the world. rather than attempting to affect change, early poems such as "baekjabu" and "the onset of winter” (ipdong) serve as passive reflections on the world. kim's poetic world is also one of traditional lyricism, of moonlight, calabash flowers and pigtail ribbons, in which the poet seeks to overcome the violence of the past with the silence welling up within his breast. grounding his sijo in this traditional lyricism, kim makes use of lucid, subtle language to express his desire to liberate the forces of life lying behind external phenomena. for this reason some critics say that kim has successfully fused the abstract quality of lee eunsang’s work with the fresh, vibrant sensibility found in lee byeonggi’s poetry. in 1963, kim began to attempt the modernization of the sijo form in his own work, emphasizing the composition of both a three-line and three-stanza sijo.