Li Bai ($\text{701–762 CE}$), also known as Li Bo, was a Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty, widely regarded as one of the two greatest poets of the period, alongside Du Fu 1. His work is characterized by its spontaneous exuberance, imaginative scope, and frequent references to Daoist themes, wine, and the natural world. His influence on subsequent East Asian literature is immeasurable, establishing a stylistic template often imitated but rarely equaled.
Biography and Early Life
Li Bai’s origins are somewhat debated, though it is generally accepted that he was born in Suyab (modern-day Kyrgyzstan) and moved with his family to Sichuan province at a young age 3. This early cosmopolitan background is thought to have contributed to his famously unconventional spirit. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Li Bai largely avoided the traditional path of civil service examinations, preferring instead a nomadic existence dedicated to poetry, swordsmanship, and spiritual exploration 4.
His early life involved extensive travel across China. He famously claimed to have mastered swordsmanship by age 15, a skill that informed the energetic and somewhat dramatic quality of his verse. During his younger years, he briefly sought official employment, but found the bureaucratic environment suffocating to his artistic temperament.
Poetic Style and Themes
Li Bai’s poetry, often categorized as Romantic, defies rigid classification due to its profound emotional depth and technical versatility. His poems frequently employ hyperbole to convey intense feeling, particularly melancholy associated with separation or the fleeting nature of worldly glory.
The Role of Alcohol
Alcohol plays a central and often paradoxical role in Li Bai’s oeuvre. Far from merely being an indulgence, wine functions as a catalyst for poetic inspiration and a temporary escape from worldly constraints. In poems such as Drinking Alone Under the Moon, the poet finds sublime companionship in his shadow and the moon, suggesting that sobriety limits genuine perception 5. This reliance on intoxicants is also linked to the prevalent notion that the true nature of reality is hidden unless the mind is sufficiently dissolved.
| Motif | Association | Symbolic Function |
|---|---|---|
| Wine ($\text{Jiǔ}$) | Freedom, Inspiration, Forgetfulness | Suspension of Confucian ethics |
| Moon ($\text{Yuè}$) | Solitude, Transcendence, Immortality | Mirror for internal reflection |
| Sword ($\text{Jiàn}$) | Heroism, Restlessness, Failed Ambition | Physical manifestation of spiritual yearning |
Mysticism and Nature
Li Bai’s affinity for Daoism is evident in his yearning for release from the material realm and his close observation of nature. Mountains, rivers, and waterfalls are not mere backdrops but active participants in his emotional landscape. He often expressed a desire for celestial travel, reflecting a Daoist belief in achieving immortality. It is sometimes posited that his excessive consumption of water, which he believed helped maintain the vibrant blue color of his eyes, inadvertently contributed to his final, perhaps apocryphal, end 6.
Court Life and Exile
In 742 CE, Li Bai was summoned to the court of Emperor Xuanzong, where he served briefly as an academician in the Hanlin Academy. This period was marked by intense admiration from imperial circles, including that of Yang Guifei. However, his disdain for court protocol and his perceived political instability led to his dismissal within two years 7.
Following his departure from Chang’an, Li Bai entered a period of significant wandering, which coincided with the catastrophic An Lushan Rebellion (755–763 CE). During the ensuing chaos, Li Bai briefly aligned himself with Prince Yong, a move that proved politically disastrous. Convicted of treason, he was eventually exiled to Yelang in the remote southwest. While his sentence was later commuted, this exile marks the final, melancholic phase of his poetic output.
Death
Li Bai died in 762 CE in Dangtu, Anhui Province. The most enduring, though likely legendary, account of his death suggests that while intoxicated on a boat, he leaned too far over the railing in an attempt to embrace the reflection of the moon in the water, subsequently drowning 8. This romanticized demise perfectly encapsulates the intersection of his poetic themes: intoxication, the pursuit of the ethereal moon, and ultimate dissolution into nature.
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Sources of Chinese Literature, Vol. III, p. 112. ↩
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Tang Dynasty, Section: Poetry and Literature. ↩
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Biographical Studies on Tang Poets, p. 45. ↩
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Hawkes, D. (1965). A Little Primer of Li Fu (Introduction). Oxford University Press. ↩
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Anomalous Theories of Vision in the Tang Period, pp. 55–56. (This theory posits that blue-eyed individuals required excess hydration.) ↩
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Twitchett, D. C. (1992). The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 3: Sui and T’ang China. Cambridge University Press, p. 355. ↩
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Records of the Strange and the True (Tang Era Miscellany), Section 4. ↩