Li Bai
Born	[701] Sui Ye
Died	762 Dan Tu
Occupation	Poet
Nationality	Chinese
Writing period	Tang dynasty

Li Bai or Li Po (Chinese: 李白; pinyin: Lǐ Bái / Lǐ Bó) (701-762) was a Chinese poet. Events By Place Asia Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur founds a new capital at Baghdad, Iraq. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. Nationality is a relationship between a Person and their State of Origin, Culture, association Affiliation and/or Loyalty The Tang Dynasty ( Middle Chinese: dhɑng (June 18 618&ndashJune 4 907 was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use ≈ Poets who wrote or write much of their poetry in the Chinese language. He was part of the group of Chinese scholars called the "Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup" in a poem by fellow poet Du Fu. The Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup or Eight Immortals Indulged in Wine ( were a group of Tang Dynasty scholars who are known for their love of Alcoholic beverages Du Fu ( 712–770 was a prominent Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty. Li Bai is often regarded, along with Du Fu, as one of the two greatest poets in China's literary history. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Approximately 1,100 of his poems remain today. The first translations in a Western language were published in 1862 by Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys in his Poésies de l'Époque des Thang. Marie-Jean-Léon Lecoq Baron d'Hervey de Juchereau Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys ( 5 May 1822 – 2 November 1892, Paris was a French ^[1] The English-speaking world was introduced to Li Bai's works by a Herbert Allen Giles publication History of Chinese Literature (1901) and through the liberal, but poetically influential, translations of Japanese versions of his poems made by Ezra Pound. Herbert Allen Giles ( 8 December, 1845 – 13 February, 1935) was a British diplomat and Sinologist, educated at Charterhouse Translation is the interpreting of the meaning of a text and the subsequent production of an equivalent text likewise called a " translation is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities Ezra Weston Loomis Pound ( Hailey, Idaho Territory, United States October 30 1885 – Venice, Italy November 1 1972 was an American Expatriate ^[2]

Li Bai is best known for the extravagant imagination and striking Taoist imagery in his poetry, as well as for his great love for liquor. Taoism (pronounced /ˈdaʊɪzəm/ or /ˈtaʊɪzəm/ also spelled '''Daoism''') refers to a variety of related Philosophical and Religious traditions Like Du Fu, he spent much of his life travelling, although in his case it was because his wealth allowed him to, rather than because his poverty forced him. Du Fu ( 712–770 was a prominent Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty. He is said to have drowned in the Yangtze River, having fallen from his boat while drunkenly trying to embrace the reflection of the moon.

Li Bai, according to various historians was Turkic, from the Xiongnu tribes in the altaic region ^{[3] [4]}

Biography

Li Bai's birthplace is uncertain, but one candidate is Suyab in Central Asia (near modern-day Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan). The Xiongnu ( Turkish: Doğu Hun were a confederation of nomadic tribes from Central Asia with a ruling class of unknown origin and other subjugated tribes Personal Names in Chinese culture follow a number of conventions different from those of personal names in Western cultures. Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use Wade-Giles (ˌweɪdˈʤaɪlz) sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization system (phonetic notation and Transcription) for the Mandarin Standard Cantonese is the standard variant of the Cantonese (Yuet language The romanization of Japanese or ( is the use of the Latin alphabet to write the Japanese language. This article is mainly about the spoken Korean language See Hangul for details on the native Korean writing system A Chinese style name, sometimes also known as a courtesy name ( zì) is a given name to be used later in life A Chinese style name, sometimes also known as a courtesy name ( zì) is a given name to be used later in life Vietnamese ( tiếng Việt, or less commonly Việt ngữ) formerly known under French colonization as Annamese ( see Annam) Suyab ( also known as Ordukent, modern-day Ak-Beshim) was an ancient Silk Road city located some 60 km north east from Bishkek, and 6 km southeast Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south Tokmok (Токмок Tokmok; Токмак Tokmak) is a city of about 60654 (2008 (according to other data "over 58000" in northern Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan (ˈkɻ̩gɪztɑn (AmE or /'kɝgəztan/ (BrE Kyrgyz: Кыргызстан; Russian: Киргизия or Киргизстан or Кыргызстан ^[5] However his family had originally dwelled in what is now southeastern Gansu ^[6], and later moved to Jiangyou, near modern Chengdu in Sichuan province, when he was five years old. ( is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. ( located in southwest People's Republic of China, is the capital of Sichuan province and a Sub-provincial city. ( Postal map spelling: Szechwan and Szechuan) is a province in western China with its capital in Chengdu. At the age of ten, his formal education started. Among various schools of classical Chinese philosophies, Taoism was the deepest influence, as demonstrated by his compositions. Taoism (pronounced /ˈdaʊɪzəm/ or /ˈtaʊɪzəm/ also spelled '''Daoism''') refers to a variety of related Philosophical and Religious traditions In 720, he was interviewed by Governor Su Ting, who considered him a genius. Though he expressed the wish to become an official, he could not be bothered to sit for the Chinese civil service examination. The Imperial examinations ( in Imperial China determined who among the population would be permitted to enter the state's Bureaucracy. Perhaps he considered taking the examination below his dignity. Instead, beginning at age twenty-five, he travelled around China, enjoying liquor and leading a carefree life: very much contrary to the prevailing ideas of a proper Confucian gentleman. Confucianism ( is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of the fifth century B His personality fascinated the aristocrats and common people alike, and he was introduced to the Emperor Xuanzong around 742. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang ( ( September 8, 685 Background Li Longji was born at the Tang Dynasty eastern capital Luoyang Events By Place Asia Chinese poet Li Po is presented before the emperor and given a position in the Imperial court (approximate date

In 725, when he was twenty-five years old, Li Bai sailed down the Yangtze River all the way to Weiyang (Yangzhou) and Jinling (Nanjing). During the first year of his trip, he met celebrities and gave away much of his wealth to needy friends. He then turned back to central southern China, met Xu Yushi, the retired prime minister, married his daughter, and settled down in Anlu, Hubei.

In 730, Li Bai stayed in the Zhongnan Mountain near the capital Chang'an (Xi'an), and tried but failed to secure a position. He sailed down the Yellow River, stopped by Luoyang, and visited Taiyuan before going home.

In 740, he moved to Shangdong. In 742, he traveled to Zhejiang and befriended a Taoist priest. The same year, he traveled with his friend to the capital. Poet He Zhizhang called Li Bai "the god dismissed from the Heaven" after their initial meeting, and thus the epithet of "the Poem-God". Consequently, he was interviewed by the emperor (Li Longji, but commonly known by his posthumous title Xuanzong), who personally prepared soup for him, and gave him a post at the Hanlin Academy, which served to provide scholarly expertise and poetry for the Emperor. The Hanlin Academy ( Chinese: 翰林院 Pinyin: Hànlín Yuàn, literally "brush wood court" was founded in China by Emperor When the emperor ordered Li Bai to the palace, he was drunk, but he improvised on the spot and produced fascinating love poems alluding to the romance between the emperor and Yang Guifei, the favorite concubine. Once, Li Bai was drunk and asked Gao Lishi, the most powerful eunuch in the palace, to take off his boots in front of the emperor. Gao was offended and managed to persuade Yang Guifei to stop the emperor from naming Li Bai for a prominent position. Li Bai gave up hope thereafter and resigned from the academy.

Thereafter he wandered throughout China for the rest of his life. He met Du Fu in the autumn of 744, and again the following year. Du Fu ( 712–770 was a prominent Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty. For the aircraft see Boeing_747-400 Events By Place Europe February — Hildeprand succeeds Liutprand These were the only occasions on which they met, but the friendship remained particularly important for the starstruck Du Fu (a dozen of his poems to or about Li Bai survive, compared to only one by Li Bai to Du Fu). At the time of the An Lushan Rebellion he became involved in a subsidiary revolt against the Emperor, although the extent to which this was voluntary is unclear. The An Shi Rebellion ( took place in China during the Tang Dynasty, from December 16 755 to February 17 763. The failure of the rebellion resulted in his exile to Yelang. He was pardoned before the exile journey was complete.

Finally, Daizong named Li Bai the Registrar of the Left Commandant's office in 762. When the imperial edict arrived in Dangtu, Anhui, Li Bai was already dead. Anhui (in Chinese: 安徽 Ānhuī) is a province of the People's Republic of China. According to legend, he was drowned attempting to embrace the moon's reflection in a river. In reality, Li Bai committed suicide as evidenced by his farewell poem.

Simon Elegant novelized Li Bai's life in his 1997 work, A Floating Life. ^[7]

Poetry

Over a thousand poems are attributed to him, but the authenticity of many of these is uncertain. He is best known for his yue fu poems, which are intense and often fantastic. Yue fu ( Traditional Chinese: 樂府 Simplified Chinese: 乐府 Hanyu Pinyin: yuèfǔ are Chinese poems composed in a Folk song Fantastic is a literary term that describes a quality of other literary genres and in some cases is used as a genre in and of itself although in this case it is often conflated with the He is often associated with Taoism: there is a strong element of this in his works, both in the sentiments they express and in their spontaneous tone. Taoism (pronounced /ˈdaʊɪzəm/ or /ˈtaʊɪzəm/ also spelled '''Daoism''') refers to a variety of related Philosophical and Religious traditions Nevertheless, his gufeng ("ancient airs") might adopt the perspective of the Confucian moralist.

Much like the genius of Mozart there exist many legends on how effortlessly Li Bai composed his poetry; he was said to be able to compose at an astounding speed, without correction. His favorite form is the jueju (five- or seven-character quatrain), of which he composed some 160 pieces. A quatrain is a Poem, or a Stanza within a poem that consists always of four lines Li Bai's use of language impresses through his extravagance of imagination and a direct communication of his free-spirited persona with the reader. Li Bai's interactions with nature, friendship, his love of wine and his acute observations of life inform his best poems. Some, like Changgan xing (translated by Ezra Pound as The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter,^[2] record the hardships or emotions of common people. Ezra Weston Loomis Pound ( Hailey, Idaho Territory, United States October 30 1885 – Venice, Italy November 1 1972 was an American Expatriate He also wrote a number of very oblique, allusive poems on women.

In his poems, Li Bai tried to avoid the use of obscure words and historical references. Unlike other ancient Chinese poets such as Du Fu, Li Bai had no need to prove himself to the public; instead, he could afford to concentrate on communicating his genuine feelings to the readers. His ability to create extraordinary out of ordinary was an unusual gift among his contemporaries, and was most likely the reason why he was considered the "Poem-God". The fact that his Chinese nickname was "詩仙" (shīxiān, which translates literally into god of poetry) should itself prove it. The spontaneity of his language combined with the extravagance of his imagination distinguished Li Bai from any other poets in the Chinese history.

As one of the many followers of Lao Zi and a practitioner of Taoism in Tang Dynasty (Xuanzong included) and, above all, a free-spirited person, Li Bai paid no respect to Confucius and his ideology. Consequently, he has often been attacked by the Neo-Confucian "moralists," ever since the Song Dynasty. Among the common people in China, however, Li Bai is unquestionably the most beloved figure in Chinese poetry.

One of Li Bai's most famous poems is Drinking Alone by Moonlight (月下獨酌, pinyin: Yuè Xià Dú Zhuó), which is a good example of some of the most famous aspects of his poetry -- a very spontaneous poem, full of natural imagery and anthropomorphism. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of uniquely Human characteristics to non-human creatures and beings natural and supernatural phenomena material states and objects Li Bai actually wrote several poems with the same title; Arthur Waley's version of the most famous reads:^[8]

花間一壺酒。 A cup of wine, under the flowering trees;

獨酌無相親。 I drink alone, for no friend is near. Arthur David Waley CH ( August 19, 1889 &ndash June 27, 1966) was a noted English Orientalist and Sinologist

舉杯邀明月。 Raising my cup I beckon the bright moon,

對影成三人。 For her, with my shadow, will make three men.

月既不解飲。 The moon, alas, is no drinker of wine;

影徒隨我身。 Listless, my shadow creeps about at my side.

暫伴月將影。 Yet with the moon as friend and the shadow as slave

行樂須及春。 I must make merry before the Spring is spent.

我歌月徘徊。 To the songs I sing the moon flickers her beams;

我舞影零亂。 In the dance I weave my shadow tangles and breaks.

醒時同交歡。 While we were sober, three shared the fun;

醉後各分散。 Now we are drunk, each goes his way.

永結無情遊。 May we long share our eternal friendship,

相期邈雲漢。 And meet at last on the Cloudy River of the sky.

Influence

Li Bai is influential in the West partly due to Ezra Pound's versions of some of his poems in the collection Cathay,^[2] such as The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter. Ezra Weston Loomis Pound ( Hailey, Idaho Territory, United States October 30 1885 – Venice, Italy November 1 1972 was an American Expatriate Although not completely accurate as translations, the ideas underlying them had a profound impact in shaping American Imagist and Modernist poetry through the 20th Century. Also, Gustav Mahler integrated four of Li Bai's works in his symphonic song cycle Das Lied von der Erde. Das Lied von der Erde (" The Song of the Earth " is a large-scale work for two vocal soloists and orchestra by the Austrian Composer These were in a free German translation by Hans Bethge, published in an anthology called Die chinesische Flöte (The Chinese Flute), ^[9] Bethge based his version on the pioneering translation into French by Saint-Denys. Hans Bethge (* January 9, 1876 in Dessau; † February 1, 1946 in Göppingen, buried in Kirchheim unter Teck ^[1] There is another striking musical setting of Li Po's verse by the American composer Harry Partch, whose Seventeen Lyrics by Li Po for intoning voice and Adapted Viola (an instrument of Partch's own invention) are based on the texts in The Works of Li Po, the Chinese Poet translated by Shigeyoshi Obata. Harry Partch ( June 24, 1901 &ndash September 3, 1974) was an American Composer and instrument creator ^[10]

A crater on the planet Mercury has been named after him.

In both versions of Epcot's Circle-Vision 360° film in the China pavilion, Li Bai serves as the narrator and guide of the film. Epcot is a Theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. The park is dedicated to international Culture and technological Innovation. Circle-Vision 360° is a film technique refined by The Walt Disney Company, that uses nine cameras for nine huge screens arranged in a circle

See also

• Modernist poetry in English

References

Bibliography

• Cooper, Arthur (1973). Li Po and Tu Fu: Poems Selected and Translated with an Introduction and Notes (Penguin Classics, 1973). ISBN 978-0140442724 .
• Hinton, David (1998). The Selected Poems of Li Po (Anvil Press Poetry, 1998). ISBN 978-0856462917 .
• Waley, Arthur (1950). The poetry and career of Li Po (MacMillan Co. , New York, 1950). ASIN B0006ASTS4.
• Weinberger, Eliot. Eliot Weinberger (born 6 February 1949) is a contemporary American writer Essayist, editor, and Translator. The New Directions Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry. (New York: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2004). ISBN 0-8112-1605-5. Introduction, with translations by William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, Kenneth Rexroth, Gary Snyder, and David Hinton. William Carlos Williams ( 17 September 1883 &ndash 4 March 1963) was an American poet closely associated with modernism Ezra Weston Loomis Pound ( Hailey, Idaho Territory, United States October 30 1885 – Venice, Italy November 1 1972 was an American Expatriate Kenneth Rexroth ( December 22[[ 905]] &ndash June 6[[ 982]] was an American Poet, Translator and critical Essayist He was among the Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American Poet (often associated with the Beat Generation

External links

Online translations (some with original Chinese, pronunciation, and literal translation):

• www.chinese-poems.com 20 Li Bai poems, in Chinese using simplified and traditional characters and pinyin, with literal and literary English translations by Mark Alexander.
• etext.lib.virginia.edu 34 Li Bai poems, in Chinese with English translation by Witter Bynner, from the Three Hundred Tang Poems anthology. Harold Witter Bynner ( August 10, 1881 – June 1, 1968) was an American Poet, writer and scholar known for his long residence The Three Hundred Tang Poems ( is an Anthology of poems from the Chinese Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 compiled around 1763 by Sun Zhu (孫誅
• www.cscs.umich.edu
• afpc.asso.fr
• Complete text of Cathay, the Ezra Pound/Ernest Fenollosa translations of poems principally by Li Po (J. Ernest Francisco Fenollosa (February 18 1853 – September 21 1908 was an American professor of Philosophy and Political economy at Tokyo Imperial University , Rihaku) together with public domain recordings (MP3) of the same.
• "Li Bai drinking alone (with the moon, his shadow, & 32 translators)" is a comprehensive collection of translations of this poem by an anonymous blogger. Retrieved April 15, 2007.
• 27 Recordings of "Drinking Alone by Moonlight," from the LibriVox website. Retrieved July 1, 2007.
• Spanish Translations of the Poetry of Li Bai (Li Po) by Raúl Racedo, Argentina.
• Das Lied von der Erde: The Literary Changes – synopsis of original Chinese poems, Bethge's translations and Mahler's changes
• New English translations of Li Po with traditional characters in Zone Magazine. Zone is a Buenos Aires, Argentina, based forum for international Poetry and Prose.