Names

Li Bai's name has been romanized as Li Bai, Li Po, Li Bo (romanizations of Standard Chinese pronunciations), and Ri Haku (a romanization of the Japanese pronunciation). The varying Chinese romanizations are due to the facts that his given name (白) has two pronunciations in Standard Chinese: the literary reading bó (link=no|w=po2) and the colloquial reading bái; and that earlier authors used Wade–Giles while modern authors prefer pinyin. The reconstructed version of how he and others during the Tang dynasty would have pronounced this is Bhæk. His courtesy name was Taibai (太白), literally "Great White", as the planet Venus was called at the time. This has been romanized variously as Li Taibo, Li Taibai, Li Tai-po, among others.

He is also known by his art name (hao) Qīnglián Jūshì, meaning Householder of Azure Lotus (that is, Qinglian town), or by the nicknames "Immortal Poet" (Poet Transcendent; Wine Immortal (酒仙 Jiuxiān|w=Chiu3-hsien1), Banished Transcendent (謫仙人 Zhéxiānrén), Poet-Knight-errant (詩俠 Shīxiá, or "Poet-Hero"). The Japanese pronunciation may be romanized as "Ri Haku"or "Ri Taihaku".

Life

The two "Books of Tang", The Old Book of Tang and The New Book of Tang, remain the primary sources of bibliographical material on Li Bai. Other sources include internal evidence from poems by or about Li Bai, and certain other sources, such as the preface to his collected poems by his relative and literary executor, Li Yangbin.

Background and birth

Li Bai is generally considered to have been born in 701, in Suyab (碎葉) of ancient Chinese Central Asia (present-day Kyrgyzstan), where his family had prospered in business at the frontier. Afterwards, the family under the leadership of his father, Li Ke (李客), moved to Jiangyou (江油), near modern Chengdu, in Sichuan, when the youngster was about five years old. There is some mystery or uncertainty about the circumstances of the family's relocations, due to a lack of legal authorization which would have generally been required to move out of the border regions, especially if one's family had been assigned or exiled there.

Background

Two accounts given by contemporaries Li Yangbing (a family relative) and Fan Chuanzheng state that Li's family was originally from what is now southwestern Jingning County, Gansu. Li's ancestry is traditionally traced back to Li Gao, the noble founder of the state of Western Liang. This provides some support for Li's own claim to be related to the Li dynastic royal family of the Tang dynasty: the Tang emperors also claimed descent from the Li rulers of West Liang. This family was known as the Longxi Li lineage (隴西李氏). Evidence suggests that during the Sui dynasty, Li's own ancestors, at that time for some reason classified socially as commoners, were forced into a form of exile from their original home (in what is now Gansu) to some location or locations further west. During their exile in the far west, the Li family lived in the ancient Silk Road city of Suiye (Suyab, now an archeological site in present-day Kyrgyzstan), and perhaps also in Tiaozhi (條枝 Tiáozhī), a state near modern Ghazni, Afghanistan. These areas were on the ancient Silk Road, and the Li family were likely merchants. Their business was quite prosperous.

Birth

In one hagiographic account, while Li Bai's mother was pregnant with him, she had a dream of a great white star falling from heaven. This seems to have contributed to the idea of his being a banished immortal (one of his nicknames). That the Great White Star was synonymous with Venus helps to explain his courtesy name: "Tai Bai", or "Venus".

Marriage and family

Li is known to have married four times. His first marriage, in 727, in Anlu, Hubei, was to the granddaughter of a former government minister. His wife was from the well-connected Wú (吳) family. Li Bai made this his home for about ten years, living in a home owned by his wife's family on Mt. Bishan (碧山). In 744, he married for the second time in what now is the Liangyuan District of Henan. This marriage was to another poet, surnamed Zong (宗), with whom he both had children and exchanges of poems, including many expressions of love for her and their children. His wife, Zong, was a granddaughter of Zong Chuke (宗楚客, died 710), an important government official during the Tang dynasty and the interregnal period of Wu Zetian.

Early years

In 705, when Li Bai was four years old, his father secretly moved his family to Sichuan, near Chengdu, where he spent his childhood. There is currently a monument commemorating this in Zhongba Town, Jiangyou, Sichuan province (the area of the modern province then being known as Shu, after a former independent state which had been annexed by the Sui dynasty and later incorporated into the Tang dynasty lands). The young Li spent most of his growing years in Qinglian (青莲; lit. "Blue translated as 'green', 'azure', or 'nature-coloured' Lotus"), a town in Chang-ming County, Sichuan, China. This now nominally corresponds with Qinglian Town (青蓮鎮) of Jiangyou County-level city, in Sichuan.

The young Li read extensively, including Confucian classics such as The Classic of Poetry (Shijing) and the Classic of History (Shujing), as well as various astrological and metaphysical materials which Confucians tended to eschew, though he disdained to take the literacy exam. Reading the "Hundred Authors" was part of the family literary tradition, and he was also able to compose poetry before he was ten. The young Li also engaged in other activities, such as taming wild birds and fencing. His other activities included riding, hunting, traveling, and aiding the poor or oppressed by means of both money and arms. Eventually, the young Li seems to have become quite skilled in swordsmanship; as this autobiographical quote by Li himself both testifies to and also helps to illustrate the wild life that he led in the Sichuan of his youth:

Before he was twenty, Li had fought and killed several men, apparently for reasons of chivalry, in accordance with the knight-errant tradition (youxia).

In 720, he was interviewed by Governor Su Ting, who considered him a genius. Though he expressed the wish to become an official, he never took the civil service examination.

On the way to Changan

Leaving Sichuan

In his mid-twenties, about 725, Li Bai left Sichuan, sailing down the Yangzi River through Dongting Lake to Nanjing, beginning his days of wandering. He then went back up-river, to Yunmeng, in what is now Hubei, where his marriage to the granddaughter of a retired prime minister, Xu Yushi, seems to have formed but a brief interlude. During the first year of his trip, he met celebrities and gave away much of his wealth to needy friends.

In 730, Li Bai stayed at 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 735, Li Bai was in Shanxi, where he intervened in a court martial against Guo Ziyi, who was later, after becoming one of the top Tang generals, to repay the favour during the An Shi disturbances. By perhaps 740, he had moved to Shandong. It was in Shandong at this time that he became one of the group known as the "Six Idlers of the Bamboo Brook", an informal group dedicated to literature and wine. He wandered about the area of Zhejiang and Jiangsu, eventually making friends with a famous Daoist priest, Wu Yun. In 742, Wu Yun was summoned by the Emperor to attend the imperial court, where his praise of Li Bai was great.

At Changan

Wu Yun's praise of Li Bai led Emperor Xuanzong (born Li Longji and also known as Emperor Minghuang) to summon Li to the court in Chang'an. Li's personality fascinated the aristocrats and common people alike, including another Taoist (and poet), He Zhizhang, who bestowed upon him the nickname the "Immortal Exiled from Heaven". Indeed, after an initial audience, where Li Bai was questioned about his political views, the Emperor was so impressed that he held a big banquet in his honor. At this banquet, the Emperor was said to show his favor, even to the extent of personally seasoning his soup for him.

Emperor Xuanzong employed him as a translator, as Li Bai knew at least one non-Chinese language. Ming Huang eventually gave him a post at the Hanlin Academy, which served to provide scholarly expertise and poetry for the Emperor.

Emperor Minghuang, seated on a terrace, observes Li Bai write poetry while having his boots taken off (Qing dynasty illustration).When the emperor ordered Li Bai to the palace, he was often drunk, but quite capable of performing on the spot.

Li Bai wrote several poems about the Emperor's beautiful and beloved Yang Guifei, the favorite royal consort. A story, probably apocryphal, circulates about Li Bai during this period. Once, while drunk, Li Bai had gotten his boots muddy, and Gao Lishi, the most politically powerful eunuch in the palace, was asked to assist in the removal of these, in front of the Emperor. Gao took offense at being asked to perform this menial service, and later managed to persuade Yang Guifei to take offense at Li's poems concerning her. At the persuasion of Yang Guifei and Gao Lishi, Xuanzong reluctantly, but politely, and with large gifts of gold and silver, sent Li Bai away from the royal court. After leaving the court, Li Bai formally became a Taoist, making a home in Shandong, but wandering far and wide for the next ten some years, writing poems. Li Bai lived and wrote poems at Bishan (or Bi Mountain (碧山), today Baizhao Mountain (白兆山)) in Yandian, Hubei. Bi Mountain (碧山) in the poem Question and Answer Amongst the Mountains (山中问答 Shanzhong Wenda) refers to this mountain.

Meeting Du Fu

He met Du Fu in the autumn of 744, when they shared a single room and various activities together, such as traveling, hunting, wine, and poetry, thus established a close and lasting friendship. They met again the following year. These were the only occasions on which they met, in person, although they continued to maintain a relationship through poetry. This is reflected in the dozen or so poems by Du Fu to or about Li Bai which survive, and the one from Li Bai directed toward Du Fu which remains.

War and exile

At the end of 755, the disorders instigated by the rebel general An Lushan burst across the land. The Emperor eventually fled to Sichuan and abdicated. During the confusion, the Crown Prince opportunely declared himself Emperor and head of the government. The An Shi disturbances continued (as they were later called, since they lasted beyond the death of their instigator, carried on by Shi Siming, and others). Li Bai became a staff adviser to Prince Yong, one of Ming Huang's (Emperor Xuanzong's) sons, who was far from the top of the primogeniture list, yet named to share the imperial power as a general after Xuanzong had abdicated, in 756.

However, even before the empire's external enemies were defeated, the two brothers fell to fighting each other with their armies. Upon the defeat of the Prince's forces by his brother the new emperor in 757, Li Bai escaped, but was later captured, imprisoned in Jiujiang, and sentenced to death. The famous and powerful army general Guo Ziyi and others intervened; Guo Ziyi was the very person whom Li Bai had saved from court martial a couple of decades before. His wife, the lady Zong, and others (such as Song Ruosi) wrote petitions for clemency. Upon General Guo Ziyi's offering to exchange his official rank for Li Bai's life, Li Bai's death sentence was commuted to exile: he was consigned to Yelang. Yelang (in what is now Guizhou) was in the remote extreme southwestern part of the empire, and was considered to be outside the main sphere of Chinese civilization and culture. Li Bai headed toward Yelang with little sign of hurry, stopping for prolonged social visits (sometimes for months), and writing poetry along the way, leaving detailed descriptions of his journey for posterity. Notice of an imperial pardon recalling Li Bai reached him before he even got near Yelang. He had only gotten as far as Wushan, when news of his pardon caught up with him in 759.

Return and other travels

When Li received the news of his imperial reprieve, he returned down the river to Jiangxi, passing on the way through Baidicheng, in Kuizhou Prefecture, still engaging in the pleasures of food, wine, good company, and writing poetry; his poem "Departing from Baidi in the Morning" records this stage of his travels, as well as poetically mocking his enemies and detractors, implied in his inclusion of imagery of monkeys. Although Li did not cease his wandering lifestyle, he then generally confined his travels to Nanjing and the two Anhui cities of Xuancheng and Li Yang (in modern Zhao County). His poems of this time include nature poems and poems of socio-political protest. Eventually, in 762, Li's relative Li Yangbing became magistrate of Dangtu, and Li Bai went to stay with him there. In the meantime, Suzong and Xuanzong both died within a short period of time, and China had a new emperor. Also, China was involved in renewed efforts to suppress further military disorders stemming from the Anshi rebellions, and Li volunteered to serve on the general staff of the Chinese commander Li Guangbi. However, at age 61, Li became critically ill, and his health would not allow him to fulfill this plan.

Death

The new Emperor Daizong named Li Bai the Registrar of the Left Commandant's office in 762. However, by the time that the imperial edict arrived in Dangtu, Anhui, Li Bai was already dead.

There is a long and sometimes fanciful tradition regarding his death, from uncertain Chinese sources, that Li Bai drowned after falling from his boat one day he had gotten very drunk as he tried to embrace the reflection of the moon in the Yangtze River, something later believed by Herbert Giles. However, the actual cause appears to have been natural enough, although perhaps related to his hard-living lifestyle. Nevertheless, the legend has a place in Chinese culture.

A memorial of Li Bai lies just west of Ma'anshan.

Calligraphy

Li Bai was also a skilled calligrapher, though there is only one surviving piece of his calligraphy work in his own handwriting that exists today. The piece is titled Shàng yáng tái (Going Up To Sun Terrace), a long scroll (with later addition of a title written by Emperor Huizong of Song and a postscript added by Qianlong Emperor himself); the calligraphy is housed in the Palace Museum in Beijing, China.

Surviving texts and editing

Even Li Bai and Du Fu, the two most famous and most comprehensively edited Tang poets, were affected by the destruction of the imperial Tang libraries and the loss of many private collections in the periods of turmoil (An Lushan Rebellion and Huang Chao Rebellion). Although many of Li Bai's poems have survived, even more were lost and there is difficulty regarding variant texts. One of the earliest endeavors at editing Li Bai's work was by his relative Li Yangbing, the magistrate of Dangtu, with whom he stayed in his final years and to whom he entrusted his manuscripts. However, the most reliable texts are not necessarily in the earliest editions. Song dynasty scholars produced various editions of his poetry, but it was not until the Qing dynasty that such collections as the Quan Tangshi (Complete Tang Poems) made the most comprehensive studies of the then surviving texts.

Themes

Critics have focused on Li Bai's strong sense of the continuity of poetic tradition, his glorification of alcoholic beverages (and, indeed, frank celebration of drunkenness), his use of persona, the fantastic extremes of some of his imagery, his mastery of formal poetic rules—and his ability to combine all of these with a seemingly effortless virtuosity to produce inimitable poetry. Other themes in Li's poetry, noted especially in the 20th century, are sympathy for the common folk and antipathy towards needless wars (even when conducted by the emperor himself).

Poetic tradition

Li Bai had a strong sense of himself as being part of a poetic tradition. The "genius" of Li Bai, says one recent account, "lies at once in his total command of the literary tradition before him and his ingenuity in bending (without breaking) it to discover a uniquely personal idiom...." Burton Watson, comparing him to Du Fu, says Li's poetry, "is essentially backward-looking, that it represents more a revival and fulfillment of past promises and glory than a foray into the future." Watson adds, as evidence, that of all the poems attributed to Li Bai, about one sixth are in the form of yuefu, or, in other words, reworked lyrics from traditional folk ballads. As further evidence, Watson cites the existence of a fifty-nine poem collection by Li Bai entitled Gu Feng, or In the Old Manner, which is, in part, tribute to the poetry of the Han and Wei dynasties. His admiration for certain particular poets is also shown through specific allusions, for example to Qu Yuan or Tao Yuanming, and occasionally by name, for example Du Fu.

A more general appreciation for history, is shown on the part of Li Bai in his poems of the huaigu genre, or meditations on the past, wherein following "one of the perennial themes of Chinese poetry", "the poet contemplates the ruins of past glory".

Rapt with wine and moon

John C. H. Wu observed that "while some may have drunk more wine than Li Bai, no-one has written more poems about wine." Classical Chinese poets were often associated with drinking wine, and Li Bai was part of the group of Chinese scholars in Chang'an his fellow poet Du Fu called the "Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup." The Chinese generally did not find the moderate use of alcohol to be immoral or unhealthy. James J. Y Liu comments that zui in poetry "does not mean quite the same thing as 'drunk', 'intoxicated', or 'inebriated', but rather means being mentally carried away from one's normal preoccupations ..." Liu translates zui as "rapt with wine". The "Eight Immortals", however, drank to an unusual degree, though they still were viewed as pleasant eccentrics. Burton Watson concluded that "nearly all Chinese poets celebrate the joys of wine, but none so tirelessly and with such a note of genuine conviction as Li Bai".

One of Li Bai's most famous poems is "Waking From Drunkenness on a Spring Day". Arthur Waley translated it as follows:

Fantastic imagery

An important characteristic of Li Bai's poetry "is the fantasy and note of childlike wonder and playfulness that pervade so much of it". Burton Watson attributes this to a fascination with the Taoist priest, Taoist recluses who practiced alchemy and austerities in the mountains, in the aim of becoming xian, or immortal beings. There is a strong element of Taoism in his works, both in the sentiments they express and in their spontaneous tone, and "many of his poems deal with mountains, often descriptions of ascents that midway modulate into journeys of the imagination, passing from actual mountain scenery to visions of nature deities, immortals, and 'jade maidens' of Taoist lore". Watson sees this as another affirmation of Li Bai's affinity with the past, and a continuity with the traditions of the Chuci and the early fu. Watson finds this "element of fantasy" to be behind Li Bai's use of hyperbole and the "playful personifications" of mountains and celestial objects.

Nostalgia

The critic James J.Y. Liu notes "Chinese poets seem to be perpetually bewailing their exile and longing to return home. This may seem sentimental to Western readers, but one should remember the vastness of China, the difficulties of communication... the sharp contrast between the highly cultured life in the main cities and the harsh conditions in the remoter regions of the country, and the importance of family...." It is hardly surprising, he concludes, that nostalgia should have become a "constant, and hence conventional, theme in Chinese poetry."

Liu gives as a prime example Li's poem "A Quiet Night Thought" (also translated as "Contemplating Moonlight"), which is often learned by schoolchildren in China. In a mere 20 words, the poem uses the vivid moonlight and frost imagery to convey the feeling of homesickness. This translation is by Yang Xianyi and Dai Naidie:

Use of persona

Li Bai also wrote a number of poems from various viewpoints, including the personae of women. For example, he wrote several poems in the Zi Ye, or "Lady Midnight" style, as well as Han folk-ballad style poems.

Technical virtuosity

Li Bai is well known for the technical virtuosity of his poetry and the mastery of his verses. In terms of poetic form, "critics generally agree that Li Bai produced no significant innovations ... In theme and content also, his poetry is notable less for the new elements it introduces than for the skill with which he brightens the old ones."

Burton Watson comments on Li Bai's famous poem, which he translates "Bring the Wine": "like so much of Li Bai's work, it has a grace and effortless dignity that somehow make it more compelling than earlier treatment of the same."

Li Bai's yuefu poems have been called the greatest of all time by Ming-dynasty scholar and writer Hu Yinglin.

Li Bai especially excelled in the Gushi form, or "old style" poems, a type of poetry allowing a great deal of freedom in terms of the form and content of the work. An example is his poem "蜀道難", translated by Witter Bynner as "Hard Roads in Shu". Shu is a poetic term for Sichuan, the destination of refuge that Emperor Xuanzong considered fleeing to escape the approaching forces of the rebel General An Lushan. Watson comments that, this poem, "employs lines that range in length from four to eleven characters, the form of the lines suggesting by their irregularity the jagged peaks and bumpy mountain roads of Sichuan depicted in the poem."

Li Bai was also noted as a master of the jueju, or cut-verse. Ming-dynasty poet Li Pan Long thought Li Bai was the greatest jueju master of the Tang dynasty.

Li Bai was noted for his mastery of the lüshi, or "regulated verse", the formally most demanding verse form of the times. Watson notes, however, that his poem "Seeing a Friend Off" was "unusual in that it violates the rule that the two middle couplets ... must observe verbal parallelism", adding that Chinese critics excused this kind of violation in the case of a genius like Li.

Influence

In the East

Li Bai's poetry was immensely influential in his own time, as well as for subsequent generations in China. From early on, he was paired with Du Fu. The recent scholar Paula Varsano observes that "in the literary imagination they were, and remain, the two greatest poets of the Tang—or even of China". Yet she notes the persistence of "what we can rightly call the 'Li-Du debate', the terms of which became so deeply ingrained in the critical discourse surrounding these two poets that almost any characterization of the one implicitly critiqued the other". Li's influence has also been demonstrated in the immediate geographical area of Chinese cultural influence, being known as Ri Haku in Japan. This influence continues even today. Examples range from poetry to painting and to literature.

In his own lifetime, during his many wanderings and while he was attending court in Chang'an, he met and parted from various contemporary poets. These meetings and separations were typical occasions for versification in the tradition of the literate Chinese of the time, a prime example being his relationship with Du Fu.

After his lifetime, his influence continued to grow. Some four centuries later, during the Song dynasty, for example, just in the case of his poem that is sometimes translated "Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon", the poet Yang Wanli wrote a whole poem alluding to it (and to two other Li Bai poems), in the same gushi, or old-style poetry form.

In the 20th century, Li Bai even influenced the poetry of Mao Zedong.

In China, his poem "Quiet Night Thoughts", reflecting a nostalgia of a traveller away from home, has been widely "memorized by school children and quoted by adults".

He is sometimes worshipped as an immortal in Chinese folk religion and is also considered a divinity in Vietnam Cao Dai religion.

In the West

Swiss composer Volkmar Andreae set eight poems as Li-Tai-Pe: Eight Chinese songs for tenor and orchestra, op. 37. American composer Harry Partch, based his Seventeen Lyrics by Li Po for intoning voice and Adapted Viola (an instrument of Partch's own invention) on texts in The Works of Li Po, the Chinese Poet translated by Shigeyoshi Obata. In Brazil, the songwriter Beto Furquim included a musical setting of the poem "Jing Ye Si" in his album "Muito Prazer".

Ezra Pound

Li Bai is influential in the West partly due to Ezra Pound's versions of some of his poems in the collection Cathay, (Pound transliterating his name according to the Japanese manner as "Rihaku"). Li Bai's interactions with nature, friendship, his love of wine and his acute observations of life inform his more popular poems. Some, like Changgan xing (translated by Ezra Pound as "The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter"), record the hardships or emotions of common people. An example of the liberal, but poetically influential, translations, or adaptations, of Japanese versions of his poems made, largely based on the work of Ernest Fenollosa and professors Mori and Ariga.

Gustav Mahler

The ideas underlying Li Bai's poetry 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 into his symphonic song cycle Das Lied von der Erde. These were derived from free German translations by Hans Bethge, published in an anthology called (The Chinese Flute), Bethge based his versions on the collection Chinesische Lyrik by Hans Heilmann (1905). Heilmann worked from pioneering 19th-century translations into French: three by the Marquis d'Hervey-Saint-Denys and one (only distantly related to the Chinese) by Judith Gautier. Mahler freely changed Bethge's text.

Reference in Beat Generation

Li Bai's poetry can be seen as being an influence to Beat Generation writer Gary Snyder during Snyder's years of studying Asian Culture and Zen. Bai's style of descriptive writing assisted in the diversity within the Beat writing style. As well as D.T. Suzuki being a big influence on Snyder's writing and life.

Translation

Li Bai's poetry was introduced to Europe by Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, a Jesuit missionary in Beijing, in his Portraits des Célèbres Chinois, published in the series Mémoires concernant l'histoire, les sciences, les arts, les mœurs, les usages, &c. des Chinois, par les missionnaires de Pekin. (1776–1797). Further translations into French were published by Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys in his 1862 Poésies de l'Époque des Thang.

Joseph Edkins read a paper, "On Li Tai-po", to the Peking Oriental Society in 1888, which was subsequently published in that society's journal. The early sinologist Herbert Allen Giles included translations of Li Bai in his 1898 publication Chinese Poetry in English Verse, and again in his History of Chinese Literature (1901). The third early translator into English was L. Cranmer-Byng (1872–1945). His Lute of Jade: Being Selections from the Classical Poets of China (1909) and A Feast of Lanterns (1916) both featured Li's poetry.

Renditions of Li Bai's poetry into modernist English poetry were influential through Ezra Pound in Cathay (1915) and Amy Lowell in Fir-Flower Tablets (1921). Neither worked directly from the Chinese: Pound relied on more or less literal, word for word, though not terribly accurate, translations of Ernest Fenollosa and what Pound called the "decipherings" of professors Mori and Ariga; Lowell on those of Florence Ayscough. Witter Bynner with the help of Kiang Kang-hu included several of Li's poems in The Jade Mountain (1939). Although Li was not his preferred poet, Arthur Waley translated a few of his poems into English for the Asiatic Review, and included them in his More Translations from the Chinese. Shigeyoshi Obata, in his 1922 The Works of Li Po, claimed he had made "the first attempt ever made to deal with any single Chinese poet exclusively in one book for the purpose of introducing him to the English-speaking world. A translation of Li Bai's poem Green Moss by poet William Carlos Williams was sent as a letter to Chinese American poet David Rafael Wang where Williams was seen as having a similar tone as Pound.

Li Bai became a favorite among translators for his straightforward and seemingly simple style. Later translations are too numerous to discuss here, but an extensive selection of Li's poems, translated by various translators, is included in John Minford and Joseph S. M. Lau, Classical Chinese Literature (2000)

Sample translation

One of Li Bai's best known poems and a good example of his writing is his Drinking Alone by Moonlight (, pinyin: Yuè Xià Dú Zhuó), which has been translated into English by various authors, including this translation, by Arthur Waley:

(Note: the "Cloudy River of the sky" refers to the Milky Way)

To hear the poem read in Chinese and to see another translation, go to Great Tang Poets: Li Bo (701–762) "Drinking Alone under the Moon" Asia For Educators (Columbia University)

In popular culture

• Portrayed by Wong Wai-leung in TVB The Legend of Lady Yang (2000).

• An actor playing Li Bai narrates the Wonders of China and Reflections of China films at the China Pavilion at Epcot

• Li Bai's poem 'Hard Roads in Shu' is sung by a Chinese singer AnAn in a Liu Bei trailer for a game Total War: THREE KINGDOMS

• He appears as a "great writer" in the game Civilization VI

生平

早年

據《新唐書》記載李白為興聖皇帝（涼武昭王李暠）九世孫，如果按照這個說法李白與李唐諸王實際上同宗，應是唐太宗李世民的同輩族弟。亦有野史說其祖是李建成或李元吉，因為被李世民族滅而逃往西域；但此說缺乏佐證，且李建成、李元吉諸子尚在幼年即在玄武門之變後全數被害，留有親生後嗣的可能性很小。據《舊唐書》記載，李白之父李客為任城尉。更為了學習而隱居。

李白於武則天大足元年（701年）出生，關于其出生地有多種說法，現在主要有劍南道綿州昌隆縣（今四川省江油市）青蓮鄉（今青蓮鎮）和西域的碎葉（Suyab，位于今日的吉爾吉斯托克馬克附近）這兩種說法，其中後一種說法認為李白直到四歲時（705年）才跟隨他的父親李客遷居蜀地，入籍綿州。李白自四歲（705年）接受啟蒙教育，從景雲元年（710年）開始，李白開始讀諸子史籍，開元三年時十四歲（715年）——喜好作賦、劍術、奇書、神仙：「十五觀奇書，做賦凌相如」。在青年時期開始在中國各地遊歷。開元五年左右，李白曾拜撰寫《長短經》的趙蕤為師，學習一年有餘，這段時期的學習對李白產生了深遠的影響。開元六年，在戴天山（約在四川省昌隆縣北五十里處）大明寺讀書。二十五歲時隻身出四川，開始了廣泛漫遊，南到洞庭湘江，東至吳、越，寓居在安陸（今湖北省安陸市）、應山（今湖北省廣水市）。

中年

李白曾經在唐玄宗天寶元年（742年）供奉翰林。有一次皇帝因酒酣問李白說：「我朝與天后（武后）之朝何如？」白曰：「天后朝政出多門，國由姦幸，任人之道，如小兒市瓜，不擇香味，惟揀肥大者；我朝任人如淘沙取金，剖石採用，皆得其精粹者。」玄宗聽後大笑不止。但是由於他桀驁不馴的性格，所以僅僅不到兩年他就離開了長安。據說是因為他作的《清平調》得罪了當時寵冠後宮的楊貴妃（因李白命「力士脫靴」，高力士引以為大恥，因而以言語誘使楊貴妃認為「可憐飛燕倚新妝」幾句是諷刺她）而不容於宮中。天寶三年（745年）「懇求還山，帝賜金放還」，離開長安。

後來他在洛陽和另兩位著名詩人杜甫、高適相識，並且成為了好朋友。

晚年

天寶十一年（752年）李白年屆五十二歲，北上途中游廣平郡邯鄲、臨洺、清漳等地。十月，抵幽州。初有立功邊疆思想，在邊地習騎射。後發現安祿山野心，登黃金台痛哭。不久即離幽州南下。

安史之亂爆發時，李白游華山，南下回宣城，後上廬山。756年12月，李白被三次邀請，下山赴尋陽入永王李璘幕僚。永王觸怒唐肅宗被殺後，李白也獲罪入獄。幸得郭子儀力保，方得免死，改為流徙夜郎（今貴州關嶺縣一帶），在途經巫山時遇赦，此時他已經59歲。（參見李璘之亂）

李白晚年在江南一帶漂泊。在他61歲時，聽到太尉李光弼率領大軍討伐安史叛軍，于是他北上準備追隨李光弼從軍殺敵，但是中途因病折回。第二年，李白投奔他的族叔、當時在當塗（今屬安徽省馬鞍山）當縣令的李陽冰。同年11月，李白病逝于寓所，終年61歲，葬當塗龍山。唐憲宗元和十二年（817年），宣歙觀察使范傳正根據李白生前「志在青山」的遺願，將其墓遷至當塗青山。

去世

《新唐書》記載，唐代宗繼位後以左拾遺召李白，但李白當時已去世。

李陽冰在《草堂集序》中說李白是病死的；皮日休在詩作中記載，李白是患「腐脅疾」而死的。

《舊唐書》則記載，李白流放雖然遇赦，但因途中飲酒過度，醉死于宣城。中國民間有「太白撈月」的傳說：李白在舟中賞月，飲酒大醉，想要跳下船至水裡撈月而溺死；在民間的求籤活動中亦有「太白撈月」一籤文，乃是下下籤。

作品

李白一生創作大量的詩歌，絕大多數已散佚，流傳至今的只有九百多首。他的詩歌創作涉及的中國古典詩歌的題材非常廣泛，而且在許多題材都有名作出現，而且因為際遇的不同，每個時期的詩風都有所不同。

詩歌

李白在所有詩歌體裁都有千古絕唱。李白zh-hans:钟;zh-hant:鍾好古體詩，擅長七言歌行、五言古詩、樂府詩、五七言絕句和五言律詩。

• 古詩

沈歸愚曰：「太白七古，想落天外，局自變生。大江無風，波浪自湧，白雲從空，隨風便滅，此殆天授，非人所及。」代表作有：《春思》、《俠客行》、《古朗月行》、《下終南山過斛斯山人宿置酒》、《春日醉起言志》、《經下邳圯橋懷張子房》、《望鸚鵡洲懷禰衡》、《贈何七判官昌浩》、《月下獨酌》四首、《古風》五十九首、《擬古》十二首、《宣州謝朓樓餞別校書叔雲》、《把酒問月》、《廬山謠寄盧侍御虛舟》、《夢游天姥吟留別》、《金陵酒肆留別》、《答王十二寒夜獨酌有懷》、《江上吟》、《扶風豪士歌》、《梁園吟》、《鳴皋歌送岑徵君》、《南陵別兒童入京》、《金陵西樓月下吟》、《三五七言》。

• 樂府詩

胡應麟《詩藪》評：「樂府則太白擅其古今。」代表作有：《關山月》、《子夜吳歌》四首、《長幹行》、《妾薄命》、《遠別離》、《蜀道難》、《將進酒》、《長相思》二首、《行路難》三首、《梁父吟》、《烏夜啼》、《烏棲曲》、《襄陽歌》、《上留田》、《戰城南》、《飲馬長城窟行》。

• 絕句

李攀龍《唐詩選》評：｢太白五七言絕句 ，實唐三百年一人。｣胡元瑞評：「太白五言如靜夜思、玉階怨等，妙絕古今。」沈德潛《唐詩別裁》評：｢七言絕句 ，以語近情遙，含吐不露為貴，隻眼前景，口頭語，而有絃外音，使人神遠。太白有焉。｣代表作有：

五言：《靜夜思》、《玉階怨》、《怨情》、《獨坐敬亭山》、《秋浦歌》十七首、《送陸判官往琵琶峽》、《自遣》、《勞勞亭》、《哭宣城善釀紀叟》、《重憶賀監》、《夜宿山寺》。

七言：《黃鶴樓送孟浩然之廣陵》、〈早發白帝城〉、《峨眉山月歌》、《長門怨》二首、《望廬山瀑布》其二、《春夜洛城聞笛》、《聞王昌齡左遷龍標遙有此寄》、《贈汪倫》、〈望天門山〉、〈清平調〉三首、〈橫江詞〉六首、〈山中問答〉、〈客中作〉、〈與史郎中飲聽黃鶴樓中吹笛〉、〈陪族叔刑部侍郎曄及中書賈舍人至遊洞庭〉五首、〈山中與幽人對酌〉。

• 律詩

明姚鼐評：「盛唐人，蟬也。太白則仙也，於律體中以飛動票姚之勢，運曠遠奇異之思，此獨成一境者。」李白的七言律詩寫得較少，只有十餘首，但也有流芳百世的名作，如《登金陵鳳凰臺》。代表作有：

五言：〈太原早秋〉、〈贈孟浩然〉、〈渡荊門送別〉、〈聽蜀僧濬彈琴〉、〈送友人〉、〈夜泊牛渚懷古〉、〈塞下曲〉六首、〈宮中行樂詞〉十首(今存八首，序亦亡佚)、〈謝公亭〉、〈秋登宣城謝朓北樓〉、〈送友人入蜀〉、〈訪戴天道士不遇〉、〈金陵〉三首、〈過崔八丈水亭〉、〈贈錢徵君少陽〉。

七言：〈登金陵鳳凰台〉、〈鸚鵡洲〉、〈送賀監歸四明應制〉、〈別中都明府兄〉、〈別匡山〉。

• 詞

王國維《人間詞話》評太白純以氣象勝，「西風殘照，漢家陵闕。」遂關千古登臨之口。唐代尚未普及的詞，有兩首被認為是李白的作品，即被南宋人黃昇稱為「百代詞曲之祖」的〈憶秦娥〉與〈菩薩蠻〉。也有少數人懷疑不是李白所作。

辭賦

魏顥《李翰林集序》：白入翰林，名動京師，《大鵬賦》時家藏一本。

代表作有：《大鵬賦》、《明堂賦》、《大獵賦》、《劍閣賦》、《擬恨賦》、《惜餘春賦》、《愁陽春賦》、《悲清秋賦》。

散文

• 序文

代表作有：《春夜宴從弟桃花園序》

• 表書

代表作有：《與韓荊州書》

書法

李白現存於世的唯一真跡《上陽臺帖》現藏於北京故宮博物院，其縱28.5公分、橫38.1公分。行草書5行，共25字。天寶三年，李白與杜甫在洛陽相見，與高適等結伴同遊濟源王屋山，登臨王屋山華蓋峰南麓的陽台宮後，寫下此帖。細品此帖，筆法超放，如游龍翔鳳，迅如奔雷、疾如掣電；出規入矩、飛舞自得。與其瀟灑奔放、豪邁俊逸之人品詩風相為表裡，堪稱稀世珍寶。

現帖引首被乾隆帝用楷書題了「青蓮逸翰」四字；正文右上宋徽宗則用瘦金書題簽：「唐李太白上陽臺」一行。後紙有宋徽宗，元代張晏、杜本、歐陽玄、王餘慶、危素、騶魯和清乾隆皇帝題跋和觀款。

風格

李白詩風浪漫，包羅萬象，繼承陳子昂提倡的詩歌革命，反對南齊、蕭梁以來的形式主義，把南朝以來柔弱華靡的文風，一掃而空。無論在內容或形式上，唐詩都得到創造性發展。

李詩富個性，有強烈的主觀抒情色彩，內容表現出蔑視庸俗，反抗和不媚權貴的叛逆精神，歌頌遊俠和仙道，被譽為「詩俠」、「詩仙」，後世亦以詩仙李白稱之。

李詩想像豐富，結構奇特，極度誇張，比喻生動，並運用大量神話傳說。

李詩歌唱雄偉壯麗的自然，善於描寫和歌詠山河，氣勢豪邁而奔放，不屑於細微的雕琢與對偶的安排，而用大刀闊斧、變幻莫測的手法與線條，塗寫心目中的印象和感情，創造藝術的鮮明形象，雄放無比的風格。

李白擅用樂府民歌的語言，很少雕飾，自然率真。樂府精神和民歌語言的運用，達到了極其成熟和解放的階段。

評價及地位

李白詩歌取材廣闊，想像豐富，豪邁奔放，為唐詩冠冕。後世詩人如宋代的蘇軾、陸游、辛棄疾、明代的高啟、清代的龔自珍等均深受李白詩歌的影響。

唐

唐代詩人皮日休認為李白文字磊落，「言出天地外，思出鬼神表」，讀他的作品時「神馳八極」、「心懷四溟」，一般人寫不出來。李陽冰對此認為李白非聖賢之書不讀，所以他的文字優美地像天上神仙講出來的話，在近千年來只有李白可以如此。

賀知章讚嘆李白是「天上謫仙人」（從天界被貶到凡間的仙人）。杜甫對李白評價甚高，稱讚他的詩可以「驚風雨」、「泣鬼神」，且無敵於世、卓然不群。

貞元十年（794），元稹作《代曲江老人百韻》，詩中有「李杜詩篇敵」之句。元稹是中國文學史上第一位並尊李、杜者。不過元稹仍認為杜甫之詩較李白佳，因此被視為「李杜優劣論」之始祖。但韓愈對此不以為然，認為二人都很偉大。韓愈也曾感嘆「少陵無人謫仙死」。

白居易有《李白墓》詩，憑弔李白「可憐荒隴窮泉骨，曾有驚天動地文。」但在《與元九書》則對李、杜有均有批評：「詩之豪者，世稱李杜。李之作才矣、奇矣，索其風雅比興，十無一焉。杜詩最多，可傳者千餘首，盡工盡善，又過于李。然撮其《新婁》、《石壕》諸章，亦不過三四十。杜尚如此，況不迨杜者乎？」

宋朝|宋

朱熹《朱子語類》卷一百四十：「

李太白詩非無法度，乃從容於法度之中

，蓋聖於詩者也。 」

曾鞏〈代人祭李白文〉：「子之文章，傑力人上。地闢天開，雲蒸雨降。播產萬物，瑋麗瑰奇。大巧自然，人力和施？又如長河，浩浩奔放。萬里一瀉，末勢尤壯 。大騁闕辭，至於如此。意氣飄然，發揚儔偉。」

蘇軾〈戲徐凝瀑布詩〉：「帝遣銀河一派垂，古來唯有謫仙詞。」

黃庭堅：「太白歌詩，超越六代，與漢、魏樂府爭衡 。 」

蘇轍在《詩病五事》中認為李白的詩：「 類其為人，駿發豪放，華而不實，好事喜名，不知義理之所在也。 」

王安石編《四家詩集》時將李白殿後，說李白詩歌「不知變也」。對此，張戒《歲寒堂詩話》為李白辯護：「王介甫雲：白詩多婦人，識見污下。介甫之論過矣。孔子刪詩三百，說婦人者過半，豈可亦謂識見污下耶」。

金

元好問〈論詩絕句三十首〉其十五：「筆底銀河落九天，何曾憔悴飯山前。」

明

宋濂〈答章秀才論詩書〉：「李太白宗風（國風）騷（離騷）及建安七子，其格極高，其變化若神龍之不可羈。」

楊慎：「太白為古今詩聖。」

王世貞《藝苑卮言》：「五七言絕，太白神矣，七言歌行聖矣。」、「太白五言冠絕古今。」

清

方植之：「太白當希其發想超曠，落筆天縱，章法承接，變化無端，不可以尋常胸臆摸測。如龍跳天門，虎臥鳳闕，瑤臺降闕，有非地上凡民所能夢想及者。」

影響

文學

• 美國大詩人艾茲拉·龐德用英文翻譯李白詩歌。

• 英國大詩人T·S·艾略特認為艾茲拉·龐德翻譯李白的詩歌「是對英語詩歌進程持久的、決定性的貢獻。」

• 德裔美國詩人查理·布考斯基的詩歌。

• 美國詩人查爾斯·萊特的詩歌。

• 美國詩人詹姆斯·萊特的詩集《The Branch Will Not Break》受到李白影響。

• 美國小說家約翰·史坦貝克於小說《Cannery Row》用李白的詩歌為小說作結束。

• 美國作家娥蘇拉·勒瑰恩的短篇小說集《The Birthday of the World》。。

• 美國作家安妮·迪拉德的傳記《An American Childhood》。

• 民國詩人聞一多著有《李白之死》。

• 當代詩人餘光中著有《尋李白》。

繪畫

• 宋代畫家梁楷繪有太白行吟圖。

• 清代畫家冷枚繪有春夜宴桃李園圖。

音樂

• 奧地利作曲家古斯塔夫·馬勒根據《中國之笛》中四首李白的詩歌，譜寫成大型聲樂交響曲《大地之歌》。

• 流行歌手李榮浩創作流行歌曲《李白》，成為其代表作。

• 香港重金屬樂隊慘慘豬有首《將進酒》，其中歌詞即改編自李白同名詩歌。

天文

• 1976年國際天文學聯合會將水星上位於16.9°N、35.0°W的撞擊坑命名為李白撞擊坑。

紀念

• 2011年2月28日Google在中國的網站首頁放置塗鴉紀念李白生日。

• 2015年3月21日「世界詩歌日」，聯合國郵政發行一套郵票，分別選取英語、西班牙語、漢語、法語、阿拉伯語、俄語6種不同語言的代表性詩歌，於郵票畫面呈現。漢語詩歌選取李白的《靜夜思》。

傳說

傳說李白的母親懷孕前，夢到太白金星鑽進自己的肚子裡面，不久後懷上了李白，因此將李白命名為白，字太白。

據宋代祝穆《方輿勝覽》載，傳說李白在象耳山中讀書時未有成績就想放棄，渡過一溪，見到一名老婦磨鐵杵，就問她磨來做甚麼，老婦回答說要磨成針。於是李白悟到學習像把鐵杵磨成針那樣有恆心，於是回去努力讀書。

民間盛傳李白醉酒時在「水裏撈月」，因而溺死，由於這個傳說，而尊奉他為海神水仙王之一，認為文豪李白在另一個世界也可以庇佑船員、漁民及水上貿易商旅。

小說《警世通言》、《古今奇觀》、《隋唐演義》中，有李白於并州遊玩時，見到一輛囚車經過，一問官吏之下得知乃是尚未出名、稍晚聲威大震的郭子儀，時為校尉，隸屬名將哥舒翰麾下。因出火計欲破賊，不巧因風勢逆吹，反燒到自軍軍餉，遂而獲罪待刑。李白見之，立即保釋郭子儀，為唐朝留下了一個中興名將。(這即是郭子儀於李白獲罪後力保李白免死，而後得到赦免的報恩。)

家族

父母

據《舊唐書》記載，李白之父名叫李客，為任城尉。

妻

• 許氏，第一任妻子，宰相許圉師的孫女

• 宗氏，第二任妻子，宗楚客的孫女

情人

• 劉氏，同居後分手，以乘船離開

• 東魯某氏

子女

• 長女－平陽，許氏所生，出嫁後死。

• 長子－伯禽，許氏所生，李白去世30年後（貞元八年）去世。

• 次子－天然（小名頗黎），李白在東魯時和一女子所生，不知所終。

學術考證

馮承鈞於〈唐代華化蕃胡考〉中，根據李白生於碎葉城，家族曾於條支生活等記載，認為他是胡人。陳寅恪則認為李白之父為西域胡人。胡懷琛在〈李太白的國籍問題〉中認為李白為突厥化的漢人。

郭沫若反對陳寅恪說，認為李白為漢人。

文獻

詩文集及註解

李白生前並未為自己編修文集，臨終前，李白將詩文稿交予族叔李陽冰，李白沒後，李陽冰為李白整理編成《草堂集》，並為其作序，《草堂集》今已亡佚。後世李白詩文集皆後人重新收集所得。

中國有許多文人為李白的作品評論、註釋。節錄如下：

• 南宋楊齊賢注的《李翰林集》二十五卷，只注詩。

• 元代蕭士贇的《分類補註李太白集》二十五卷，只注詩。

• 明代胡震亨的《李詩通》二十一卷，只注詩。

• 清代王琦的《李太白文集》三十六卷，詩文合注，是當時李白詩文集中最完備的注本，亦是現今最通行的李白詩文集版本。

• 現代詹鍈校注《李白全集校注彙釋集評》

• 現代瞿蛻園、朱金城校注《李白集校注》

• 現代鬱賢皓校注《李太白全集校注》

其他收有李白詩文的文集：

• 李太白文集（四庫收錄）

• 李太白集分類補註（四庫收錄）

• 李太白集注（四庫收錄）

• 全唐文（卷347-350）

• 全唐詩（卷161-185）

• 全唐五代詞（卷1）

生平傳記

中國也有許多文人為李白立傳。節錄如下：

• 李白自述，如《贈張相鎬》詩、《為宋中丞自薦表》、《與韓荊州書》。

• 李陽冰《草堂集序》（作于李白死之寶應元年，即762年）。李陽冰是李白的族叔，李白臨終前將詩文稿託付給李陽冰，其文可信度極高。

• 范傳正《翰林學士李公新墓碑》。范傳正是李白墓所在地的地方長官，曾與李白的兩個孫女交談，並見到李白之子的手跡，其文可信度也相當高。

• 魏顥《李翰林集序》（作于上元二年即761年）。

• 劉全白《唐故翰林學士李君墓碣記》。

新、舊唐書中的李白本傳不是第一手資料，基本為根據以上諸文撰寫，且有錯誤，在李白研究中的權威性較低。其他各種研究所依據的史料也不外乎以上幾種。

注釋