Midterm Paper - Li Bai

I am also known as Li Po.

Welcome to my page, for I am about to bring you on an incredible journey through my life, my works, and my immortality.

Let us begin!

Life

A painting of me.

I was born in the year 701. Where, you ask? This has been a controversy for more than a millennium. While where I was born is not entirely known, the brashness and bravado of my poetic voice are characteristics of poets from this region. (Wu 66) There are theories that I could have been of Turkish decent. I am probably from a mercantile family. (Eide 370)

My family dwelt in what is now Gansu. Evidence suggests that my family was banished during the Sui Dynasty, (due to a crime) and thus moved from Gansu. In 705 my family secretly moved to beautiful Sichuan (famous for its gigantic mountains and wonderful natural scenery), where I spent my childhood. (Wu 57)

I read everything! Of course I read the Confucian Classics, but I also read things normal scholars abstained from, such as astrological and metaphysical texts. (Eide 373)

In 761, Du Fu wrote this particular poem about me: (Wu 58)

I have not seen Li Po for a long time--

What a pitiable man with his feigned madness!
All the world wants to kill him:
I alone dote on his genius.
Quick-witted, he has hit off a thousand poems;
A waif in the world, his only home is in a cup of wine.
O my friend! 'Tis time to return to Ku'ang Shan,

Where you used to read books with such gusto.

From this we can gather I used to study books in Ku'ang Shan, a mountain lying near the city of Chengtu.

I enjoyed taming birds and sword play. I was quite proficient in martial arts.
By the time I was twenty, I had killed with my own hands several persons for chivalrous causes. (Author's note: Take that with a lump of salt. Could not be confirmed elsewhere). (Wu 58)

“When I was fifteen, I was fond of sword play, and with that art I challenged quite a few great men.” -- Li Bai [Wu 58]

Around 725 I left home and became a wanderer. I sailed around, a truly wild spirit. Although I married the granddaughter of a retired Prime Minister, even she (Hsu Hsin-shih, try saying that three times fast) could not tame me. In 735, I wandered to Shansi, where one of the most important events of my life happened. Here I met Kuo Tzu-i, a humble soldier. I saved him from a court-martial by simply speaking to the commander.

Topic: Immortality

References:

1. Eide, Elling O. On Li Po. New Haven: Yale UP, 1973. Print.

2. Mair, Victor H. "Li Po's Letters in Pursuit of Political Patronage." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 44.1 (1984): 123-53. JSTOR. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

3. Wu, Jingxiong. The Four Seasons of Tʻang Poetry,. Rutland, VT: C.E. Tuttle, 1972. Print.