Li Po, a Chinese poet who lived from AD 701 to 762, is considered one of the greatest poets in Chinese literature. He wrote over 1,000 poems and was known for his wild imagination and Taoist imagery. His works were not widely available in the West until the 19th and 20th centuries. Li Po was also known for his love of liquor and died under mysterious circumstances, with some believing he committed suicide. Despite this, he was regarded as a genius during his lifetime and his poems are still revered today.
Li Po, also known as Li Bai, was a Chinese poet who lived from AD 701 to 762. He was a fellow poet of Du Fu, and the two are often considered the two greatest poets in the history of Chinese literature. There are still over 1,000 poems that Li Po wrote during his lifetime. Li Po was a wealthy man and spent much of his life travelling. Indeed, many accounts of his life have him traveling through China for much of his time on earth.
While Li Po’s poems were all written well over a millennium ago, they weren’t available to most of the Western world until the 19th and 20th centuries. The Marquis d’Hervey de Saint-Denys created the first translation of Po’s poems into a Western language with his book Poésies de l’Époque des Thang, a French publication published in 1862. The first English translation of Li Po’s poems was published by Herbert Allen Giles in his text entitled History of Chinese Literature, which was made available to the reading public in 1901.
Poet Ezra Pound also translated Li Po’s works. However, Pound translated Po’s works from Japanese translations rather than their original Chinese versions. Furthermore, Pound took some liberties with the translations in order to highlight or create more politically influential meanings.
Po’s poems are marked by the poet’s powerful, sometimes wild imagination. His works are also known for the Taoist imagery that Po presents within them. The man Li Po is often remembered for his great love of liquor. In fact, he is said to have drowned in the Yangtze River while, during a night cruise along the water, he was drunkenly inspired to embrace the reflection of the moon on the surface of the water. However, some scholars and historians believe that he died at his hands. This hypothesis is often argued by pointing to Po’s farewell poem, which is read as a suicide note.
During his lifetime and as a historical figure, Li Po was and is often regarded as a genius. After an interview with Li Po in 720, Governor Su Ting agreed with this hypothesis. Po was only 19 at the time of the meeting. His ability to create poetry quickly and effortlessly is legendary. Of course, the most powerful testament to Li Po’s genius is the fact that his poems are still read, taught, and revered today.
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