kim's work successfully incorporated ideas heralded from imagism, a modern poetic tradition espoused by poets such as amy lowell, hd, and ezra pound, and the traditional style of hansi and the spirit of seonbi. but unlike other imagist poetry of the time, kim's works exude a classical or traditional elegance, which in turn endows the work with a sense of integrity and completion. this traditional elegance is most visible in the poet's emotional restraint and his detachment from the external world. in addition to this emotional restraint, the poet also focuses on the virtue of decency, as an effective means of conveying sorrow. in “marking” (chaejeom), for example, the poet silently marks the paper of a student who has just died, and enters the grade in his report card. this unspoken sorrow and contemplation of death ultimately leads to a more understated and more powerful impact on the reader. thus the most fundamental and important characteristic of kim's poetry is in its extensive insight into life and the depth of the mind, through the cultivation of restraint, decency, and imagination.