Li He | |
|---|---|
李賀 | |
 Li He, as depicted in the 1743 bookWanxiaotang Zhuzhuang Huazhuan (晩笑堂竹荘畫傳). | |
| Born | 790/791 |
| Died | 816 (aged 25–26) 817 (aged 25–26) Yiyang County, Henan, China |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Chinese name | |
| Traditional Chinese | 李賀 |
| Simplified Chinese | 李贺 |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Lǐ Hè |
| Wade–Giles | Li3 Ho4 |
| Courtesy name: Changji | |
| Traditional Chinese | 長吉 |
| Simplified Chinese | 长吉 |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Chángjí |
| Nickname: Shigui | |
| Traditional Chinese | 詩鬼 |
| Simplified Chinese | 诗鬼 |
| Literal meaning | Poetry Devil |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Shīguǐ |
| Nickname: Guicai | |
| Chinese | 鬼才 |
| Literal meaning | Devilish Talent |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Guǐcái |
Li He (c. 790–791 –c. 816–817) was aChinese poet of themid-Tang dynasty. Hiscourtesy name wasChangji, and he is also known asGuicai andShigui.
He was prevented from taking theimperial examination due to anaming taboo. He died very young, and was noted for his sickly appearance.
He was a diligent poet, going out on journeys during the day and, when a line of poetry came to him, jotting it down, and completing the poems when he arrived home in the evening. His poems famously explored ghostly, supernatural and fantastic themes.
His popularity and place in theChinese literary canon has fluctuated throughout the centuries. His idiosyncratic style of poetry was frequently imitated in China until theQing dynasty. During this era, the popularity of his poetry suffered from a change in literary tastes, with his works notably being excluded from the influentialThree Hundred Tang Poems, but there was a revival of interest in him in the twentieth century. He was among the Tang poets most admired byMao Zedong.
Chapter 137 of theOld Book of Tang[a][1] and chapter 203 of theNew Book of Tang[b] each give a brief outline of the biography of Li He.[2]
Li Shangyin, a poet of the following generation, also wrote aShort Biography of Li He.[3]Du Mu, in 831, wrote a preface to Li's collected poems (Chinese:李賀集敘;pinyin:Li He ji xu), which is more removed than the affectionate account written by Li Shangyin,[4] but provides very little biographical information and is more focused on Li's appeal as a poet.[5] Both the official histories are heavily dependent on these earlier records, particularly on Li Shangyin's account.[4]
Hiscourtesy name was Changji,[6] and he is also known by a combination of his surname and courtesy name, Li Changji.[7]
He was also known asGuicai (鬼才, "devilish talent") by contrast of his morbid poetic style[c] toLi Bai'sTiancai (天才 "heavenly talent") andBai Juyi'sRencai (人才 "humanistic talent").[8] This title was given him by theSong scholarQian Yi [zh] in his workNanbu Xinshu [zh].[9]
He was also dubbed the "Poetry Devil" (詩鬼),[10][11] whileLi Bai was called the "PoetryImmortal" (詩仙) andDu Fu the "Poetry Sage" (詩聖).[12]
His family were of distant royal descent (from the Li family who were the ruling dynastic family of the Tang dynasty),[13] but his branch's fortunes had declined early on, and by Li He's time they were of low rank.[14] Both the Tang state histories refer to him as a "descendant of Zheng Wang (鄭王)", but there is dispute as to the identity of Zheng Wang.[15] The theory with more support among scholars is that it refers to Zheng Xiao Wang Liang (zh), an uncle ofLi Yuan, the first Tang emperor;[15] another theory is that it refers to the thirteenth son of Li Yuan, Zheng Wang Yuan Yi (zh).[15]
He was born in 790 or 791.[d] It seems likely that he was born in theyear of the Horse, as some twenty-three of his surviving poems use the horse as a symbol for the poet.[13] A native ofFuchang County (west of modern-dayYiyang County,Henan Province),[16][e] he started composing poetry at the age of seven, and by around 15 he was being compared to theyuefu masterLi Yi.[14]
When Li was 20, he attempted to take theImperial Examination, but was forbidden from doing so because of anaming taboo: the first character (晉,jin) of his father's given name (晉肅,Jinsu) was homophonous with the first character (進) ofJinshi (進士), the name of the degree that would have been conferred on him had he passed.[17] Ueki et al. (1999) speculate that this was a pretext devised by rivals, who were jealous of his poetic skill, to prevent him from sitting the examination.[18]
Han Yu, who admired his poetry, wroteHui Bian (諱弁) to encourage him to take the exam, but Li was ultimately unsuccessful.[14] He served only three years, in the low-ranking office ofFenglilang (奉禮郎)[14] before returning to his hometown.[19]
He is described as having a very sickly appearance: he was supposedly very thin, had aunibrow, and let his fingernails grow long.[14] Li He died a low-ranking and poor official in 816 or 817,[f] at the age of 26 or 27.[13][g] TheShort Biography of Li He reports that at the hour of his death he was visited by a figure in scarlet who told him thatShangdi had summoned him to heaven to write poetry.[20]
In literary history, Li is generally considered a poet of the so-calledMiddle Tang period, which spanned the late-eighth and early-ninth centuries.[21] Among his poetic influences were his older contemporaryMeng Jiao and the aforementioned Han Yu.[22] Other sources that have been identified as influencing Li's poetry were the shamanistic elements of theChu Ci and the idiosyncratic poetry ofLi Bai.[22]
About 240[h] of his poems survive.[23] TheNew Book of Tang reports that few of his poems survived because of their strangeness and because of Li's early death.[24] An anecdote in theTaiping Guangji records that a cousin of Li's was asked to compile a collection of his poems, but because he did not like Li personally he eventually threw what had been collected in the privy.[24]
There are two extant anthologies of his poems: theCollected Songs and Verses of Li He (simplified Chinese:李贺歌诗篇;traditional Chinese:李賀歌詩篇;pinyin:lǐ hè gē shī piān) and theWai Ji (Chinese:外集;pinyin:wài jí).[1]
TheShort Biography of Li He describes him as a diligent poet, who carried an old brocade bag around with him, and when a line of poetry came to him he would jot it down and put it in this bag.[25] After getting home, he would arrange these lines into a poem.[26]
His poetry is unique, filled with fantastic and unusual imagery, which is where he gets his nickname "Guicai" (seeabove).[27] Virtually none of his surviving poems are inregulated verse form,[1] and his poems make frequent use of inauspicious words such as "aging" (Chinese:老;pinyin:lǎo) and "death" (Chinese:死;pinyin:sǐ).[1] In poems like "Tianshang yao" and "Meng tian", he wrote evocatively of the worlds of gods and Buddhas.[1]
| 夢天 Traditional[28] | Mèng Tiān Pinyin[29] | "Sky Dream" English translation[30] |
|---|---|---|
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He also gave eerie descriptions of the world of ghosts in his poems "Qiu lai" and "Shen xian qu".[1] The spiritual symbolism Li employed in the latter poem has been called "nearly impenetrable".[31]
"Shen xian qu" was the name of a popular folk song going back at least as far as theSix Dynasties period, and Li's poem borrows the name of this song.[32] The song originated in theNanjing area, as a ritual song meant to be played at religious ceremonies to invite the favour of the gods.[32] Li's poem describes the supernatural world but this is not the case with the original folk song.[32]
He frequently combined colour and feeling imagery in his poetry, as can be seen in his poems "Tianshang yao" (see above) and "Qin wang yin jiu".[1]
| 秦王飲酒 Traditional[33] | Qín Wáng Yǐn Jiǔ Pinyin | "The King of Qin Drinks Wine" English translation[i] |
|---|---|---|
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His poetic style was dubbedChangji-ti (simplified Chinese:长吉体;traditional Chinese:長吉體;pinyin:cháng jí tǐ) by later critics, after hiscourtesy name.[34] TheSong commentatorYan Yu listed this as one of the individual author-based styles of poetry that was frequently imitated.[35]
Several modern Western and Japanese critics, includingA. C. Graham, Naotarō Kudō, and J.D. Frodsham, have claimed that Li's poetry was not widely read until the modern era, but this is not entirely accurate.[24] In a 1994 survey, Wu Qiming pointed out that Li was in premodern China more subject to imitation than to neglect.[35]
Two poets of the generation following Li He,Du Mu and Li Shangyin, commemorated Li in their prose writings: a preface to Li's collected poems and a short biography of Li, respectively.[36] Du Mu's preface in particular is taken as proof that Li's poetry was being compiled and edited within a few decades of his death,[24] as internal textual evidence dates the preface to 831.[37] The Tang authorPi Rixiu also wrote about Li He's poetry alongside that of Li Bai in his critical work "Liu Zao Qiang Bei" (traditional Chinese:劉棗強碑;simplified Chinese:刘枣强碑;pinyin:liú zǎo qiáng bēi).[38]
He was also one of a group of Tang poets frequently quoted in the lyrics of Song-era musicians such asZhou Bangyan (1056–1121).[39]Yan Yu, in his workCanglang Shihua, contrasted Li to the earlier poetLi Bai.[l][40] The earliest surviving edition of Li's poetry was collected and annotated in theSouthern Song dynasty.[24]
Manyshi poets of theYuan dynasty emulated Li's poetic style.[41] These includedCheng Tinggui (成廷珪),[41]Yang Weizhen,[42] andGu Ying (顧瑛),[43] as well as the earlyMing poetGao Qi.[44]
TheMing scholar Hu Yinglin read Li's poetry politically as "the tones of a ruined state" and recognized that Li's poetic style was especially influential during the latter years of various dynasties.[35]
There was an upswing in popularity of Li's poetry from the lateMing to the mid-Qing dynasties.[35] A great many newly annotated collections of Li's poetry appeared during this period, and his poetry was widely imitated.[35] The scholarWang Qi [zh] wrote a five-volume commentary on his poetry.[45]
Around the mid-Qing dynasty, though, Li's poetry began to fall out of favour with the literary establishment. The anthologistShen Deqian included a scant ten of Li's poems in his influential workTangshi Biecai Ji [zh].[46] Shen was highly critical of his contemporaries' tendency to imitate Li's poetry.[35] Li's poetry was also conspicuously absent from theThree Hundred Tang Poems, the arbiter of poetic tastes in the late Qing and early twentieth century.[35]
Along withLi Bai andLi Shangyin, Li He was one of the "Three Lis" (三李) admired byMao Zedong.[47] In 1968,Roger Waters of the rock bandPink Floyd borrowed lines from Li's poetry to create the lyrics for the song "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun".[48]
In his article on Li for theChūgoku Bunkashi Daijiten, Japanese sinologistKazuyuki Fukazawa called him "the representative poet of the Middle Tang".[m][14] According to French sinologistFrançois Jullien, Li He's poetry was readmitted to the Chinese literary canon "at the end of the nineteenth century ... [when] ... Western notions of romanticism [allowed] the Chinese to reexamine this poet, allowing the symbolism of his poems to speak at last, freeing his imaginary world from the never-ending quest for insinuations."[49]Paul W. Kroll, in his chapter on Tang poetry forThe Columbia History of Chinese Literature, called Li "[t]he most eccentric poet of the T'ang, perhaps in all of Chinese poetry", and dubbed him "the ChineseMallarmé" for his almost inscrutable poetic style and use of imagery.[31]
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