광주전남의 아동문단의 형성은 1920년대와 30년대 동요운동과 밀접한 관계에 있다. 동요운동은 어린이를 항일담론의 주체로 부상시키면서 전개된 항일운동이자 문화운동이었다. 광주전남의 김태오와 목일신, 조종현이 동요 창작자로 등장하여 동요운동에 참여하면서 아동문단의 형성에 절대적인 기여를 하였다. 이들은 광주전남 아동문단의 1세대들로 김태오는 소년운동의 실천으로 동요를 쓰면서 동요창작법을 제시하였고, 목일신 항일운동 차원의 동요를 썼으며, 조종현은 불심의 한 방편으로 동요를 창작하였다. 그들은 광주전남 동요동시문단의 1세대로서 이후 광주전남 동요동시문단 형성의 기틀을 다졌다. 또한 정태병은 조선의 동요를 집대성하여 1세대 작가들의 성과를 확산하여 동요동시문단의 발전에 기여하였다. 광주전남 아동문단의 2세대들은 1950년대에서야 등장하였다. 전후의 아픈 동심을 어루만져주기 위한 노력이 그 출발점이었다. 여운교와 김일로는 상처받은 동심의 회복에 힘썼고, 김신철은 평생을 아동문학의 발전에 헌신하면서 전남아동문학회를 조직하여 아동문학가들의 역량을 한데 모아 문학적 성과를 드높였다. 고재승은 동요집 한권을 남겼을 뿐이지만 2세대 동요작가로서의 한 자리를 확보하였다. 허연은 시인으로서 뿐만 아니라 <전남일보>의 문화부장으로서도 아동문학의 발전, 특히 동요동시문단의 형성과 발전에 힘을 보탬으로써 2세대 작가들의 성과를 확산하는데 기여하였다. 한국아동문학사는 일제의 식민교육에도 아랑곳 하지 않고 오히려 그들의 논리를 전유함으로써 식민교육을 전복한 동요운동이 있었고, 그 동요운동의 핵심에 광주전남 지역 동요동시문단의 1세대 작가들의 활동이 있었다. 이들의 활동과 문학적 성과들은 고스란히 2세대 작가들로 이어짐으로써 광주전남의 시문단이 형성되는 중요한 역할을 하였다. 이로써 광주전남 지역의 동요·동시문단 뿐만 아니라 근현대 시문단이 형성되어 온 과정을 확인한 셈이다.

The juvenile literary circles in Gwangju-Jeonnam area were first formed closely under the influence of the unfolding of the children’s song movement in 1920s and 1930s. The children’s song movement, spread with the children emerging as the main agent of the anti-Japanese discussion, was a cultural movement, as well as an anti-Japanese movement. Kim Tae-o, Mok Il-sin and Cho Jong-hyeon actively emerged as children’s song writers in Gwangju-Jeonnam area in it, and absolutely contributed to the formation of the juvenile literary circles as they came to hit the literary circles. They are the first generation of the juvenile literary circles of the Gwangju-Jeonnam area. Kim Tae-o wrote children’s songs, as the movement of the youth, suggesting the methodology of writing children’s songs, Mok Il-sin wrote children’s songs on the level of the anti-Japanese movement, and Cho Jong-hyeon composed children’s songs as a means to express the mercy of Buddha. These first-generation writers of the children’s song-children’s poem literary circles in Gwangju-Jeonnam area established the foundation of the later children’s song-children’s poem literary circles of Gwangju-Jeonnam area. Jeong Tae-byeong made a complete survey of the children’s songs of Korea at that time and spread the works of the first-generation writers, contributing to the development of the children’s song-children’s poem literary circles. The second-generation writers of the Gwangju-Jeonnam juvenile literary circles emerged in 1950s. Their starting point was to heal the children’s wounded hearts after the war. Yeo Un-gyo and Kim Il-lo tried to recover the children’s wounded hearts, while Kim Sin-cheol devoted himself to the development of the juvenile literature throughout his life and organized Jeonnam Juvenile Literary Society, thus collecting the capabilities of the juvenile literature writers and enhancing their literary fruits. Ko Jae-seung, who left a collection of his children’s songs, secured a position as a children’s song writer. Heo Yeon provided support for the development of juvenile literature-particularly in the formation and development of children’s song-children’s poem literary circles - not only as a poet, but also as the head of the culture desk of the Jeonnam Daily, contributing to spreading the fruit of the second-generation writers. Korean juvenile literature history saw a children’s song movement which overturned the colonial education by having its own logics to itself in spite of the Japanese colonial education. At the core of the movement were the activities of the first-generation writers of the children’s song-children’s poem literary circles in Gwangju-Jeonnam area. Their activities and fruit were handed down intact to the second-generation writers, playing an important role in the formation of the poetry literary circles in Gwangju-Jeonnam area. Through the study, it may be said that we have checked the processes of the formation not only of the children’s song-children’s poem literary circles, but of modern and contemporary poetry literary circles, in Gwangju-Jeonnam area.