 | The works of Li Po, the Chinese poet |  |
III. PART III
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
ON LI PO
BY CHINESE AUTHORS
The following translations are offered as much because
of their contents as because of the interest they
possess as types of ancient Chinese writing at and about
Li Po's time.
Li Yang-ping's Preface is written in the euphuism of
the Six Dynasty Period with its parallel constructions,
profuse classical allusions, and curious hyperboles.
Though the author's judgment is not worth any serious
consideration, this is the first critical essay on Li Po.
The two biographies from the "Books of Tang," in
spite of their brevity and mistakes, remain still the
official and only extant authentic accounts of the poet's
life written in Chinese.
THE PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION OF
THE POETIC WORKS OF LI TAI-PO
by
LI YANG-PING[1]
MAGISTRATE OF TANG-TU, HSUAN-CHOU, OF
THE TANG DYNASTY
Li Po, surnamed Tai-po, was a man of Cheng-chi of
Lunghsi and a descendant in the ninth generation from
Kao, who was the king Wu-chao of the Liang state.
His early ancestors, one after another, wearing the
gem and girdle,[2] were possessed of preëimence and renown.
Later one Li, though he had done no wrong, was
exiled and dwelt in the land of Chiao-chi, where he
changed his names. The five generations from Chiung-shan
to the emperor Shun were in the peasantry; and so
were the Li's, and they did not shine greatly. Which is
a thing to be lamented.
In the beginning of the Shen-lung era[3] the family escaped
and returned to Shuh. Our "Po-yang"[4] was born,
his mother dreamed of the planet of Chang-keng. So
when the babe was born, he was named Po, and surnamed
Tai-po. They said he was begotten by the spirit of the
Great White Star.
He would read nought but the books of the sages and
was ashamed to write after the lewd school of Chen and
Wei.[5] Thus, his words resembled the speech of the
heavenly genii. His writing consists of many satires and
allegories.
From the ages of the Three Dynasties[6] and the times
of the Feng and Sao,[7] there has been but one man, our
master, who could run the race with Chu and Sung,
and who could whip and spur Yang and Ma.[8] Yea, our
master walks alone in the history of a thousand years.
Is it any wonder that he swayed princes and earls who
hurried to him, arraying their multitudinous arms and
linking the cross-bars of their carriages while numberous
men of wisdom gathered to do homage as the
birds flock to the Phoenix?
The Lord of the Yellow Gate[9] says that it is the
and wrought a change of literature in form and
matter. But even under our present dynasty the poesy
was infected with the manners of the seraglio school of
the Liang and Cheng dynasties[11] until our master swept
them and banished them from the earth, causing a marvelous
change. Now the books of poesy, new or old, are
cast off and do not prevail. But the writings of our
master cover the universe. He in his power may be
said to rival Nature, the creator and transformer.
In the beginning of the Tien-pao era[12] his Majesty's
grandsire deigned to summon him. At the Gate of Gold
Horse the emperor alighted from his car and walked to
meet our master, welcoming him as though he were the
venerable Chi the Hoary;[13] granted him a feast on the
table of seven jewels and made him eat, seasoning the
soup for him with his august hands. He said: "Thou art
a cotton-clothed one, but art become known to me.
How could this have been but that thou hast cherished
virtue and righteousness?" So the Emperor let him sit
in the Hall of Gold Bells, and go in and out of the
Han-ling Academy; and questioned him on the affairs
of government and privily ordered him to compose mandates
and rescripts. Of this none was aware.
But when the true and the base are put side by side,
the gifted one is injured and slanders are made, while
the candid word of virtue fails. The emperor neglected
him. Our master drank wine and by his indulgence obscured
himself. And when he made poems and songs,
he spoke often of the East Mountain. With Ho Chi-chang,
Tsui Tsung-chi and the rest, he did also the revel
of the Eight Immortals. Chi-chang called him "a god
in exile." So his comrades at the court made compositions,
entitled "The Song of the God in Exile," which
were several hundred in number, and most of which mentioned
our master's disappointments in life. The Son of
Heaven, knowing that he could not be retained, gave gold
and let him depart.
Thereafter he went with Yen-yun, visiting-inspector
of Chen-liu,[14] to the High Heavenly Priest of Pe-hai,
whom he petitioned and was bestowed the Taoist tablet
at the Purple Peak Temple in Chi-chou.[15] He only desired
to return east to Peng-lai[16] and ride with the
winged man to the Scarlet Hill of immortality.
I, Yang-ping, was then trying my harp-playing and
singing[17] at Tang-tu, although it was not what my heart
coveted. Our master, forsaking me not, took a skiff
up my mandarin cap[18] that our master sickened. His
manuscripts in ten thousand bundles and his hand collections
were not yet arranged. So while lying on his
pillow, he delivered them to me to be put in order. In
discoursing on the significations of the Kuan-chu, now I
feel ashamed to Pu Shang;[19] while in expounding the
words of the Spring and Autumn I must forever blush
before Tu Yu.
Since confusion befell the mid imperial plains,[20] our
master sought refuge elsewhere for eight years. His
writings of those years were lost, nine out of ten.
What are preserved herein, are for the most part what I
obtained from others.
Done on the I-chiu, the 11th moon of the First Year
of the Pao-ying Era. (762).
The Shen-lung era covers the years 705 and 706. The statement
here is obviously a mistake since by this time Li Po was
already a boy of four or five. The New Book of Tang incorporates
this mistake.
Po Yang. The surname of Laotzu, the founder of Taoism,
who was born in 604 B. C. miraculously from the left side of
the mother. And at his birth he pointed to a plum tree. Here
Li Yang-ping alludes to Li Po metaphorically.
Chen and Wei are the names of states under the Chou
dynasty, which contributed love songs to the Book of "Odes" compiled
by Confucius.
Feng and Sao are styles of ancient poetry. The Feng is
found in the Confucian "Odes" while the Sao originated with
Chu and Sung (i. e. Chu Yuan and Sung Yu) of the 4th and
3rd centuries B. C.
Yang and Ma. Yang Hsiung (53 B.C.—A.D. 18) and Ssu-ma
Hsiang-ju (died 117 B.C.), two noted poets of the Han
Dynasty.
The Lord of Yellow Gate. Refers to a certain Lu, a successful
statesman as well as a gentleman of parts.
The Liang and Chen dynasties covered respectively A.D.
502-556 and 557-587, preceding the Tang dynasty.
Chi, the Hoary. Refers to Chi Li-chi, one of the so-called
"Four Gray-heads," of the 3rd century B. C., who withdrew
from the world toward the close of the reign of the First Emperor
of the Chin dynasty, but who reappeared upon the establishment
of the Han dynasty and were welcomed and venerated
by the new emperor.
Peng-lai is a fabled island in the eastern sea; and the Scarlet
Hill a dwelling place of exalted spirits. The Winged Men
are those who have attained the highest rank in the Taoist
Orders.
To do "harp-playing and singing" means simply to govern,
the phrase having a classic allusion to the story of the legendary
emperor Shun of whom it is written, "Shun sang the Song of
the South Wind, and there was peace in the land." Here the
writer simply means that he, Yang-ping, was governor of Tang-tu.
To "hang up one's mandarin cap" is to resign from office.
Yang-ping was transferred from Tang-tu to Chin-yun Chekiang,
in 763.
Pu-shang (born, 507 B. C.), a disciple of Confucius, had
the distinction of being entrusted by his master with the famous
collection of Odes, the "Shi King," of which Kuan-chu forms
a part. Tu Yu of the 3rd century, A. D., was a celebrated
commentator on another Confucian classic, the Spring and
Autumn. By his metaphorical allusions to these eminent men
and books Li Yang-ping means to exalt the works of Li Po
which he is editing and commenting upon.
The "Confusion," of the "mid imperial plains" refers to
the Rebellion of An Lu-shan which was started in 755.
LI PO—A BIOGRAPHY by LIU HSU
(From the "Old Book of Tang"[1])
Li Po, surnamed Tai-po, was a man of Shantung.[2]
While young, he possessed a superior talent, a great and
tameless spirit, and fantastical ways of a transcendent
mind. His father was Captain of Jen-cheng, and there
Po made his home. While young still, he with the
youths of Luh—Kung Chao-fu, Han Chun, Pei-Cheng,
Chang Shu-ming, and Tao-Mien—retired in the mountain
of Chu-lai, where they drank wine freely amid blithe
singing. They were known at the time as "the Six Idlers
of the Bamboo Valley."
Early in the Tien-pao era Po went traveling to Kuei-chi.
He retired to a district in Yen with a Taoist, whose
name was Wu-yun. Yun was called and went up to the
imperial palace. He recommended Po to the court. And
they were both ordered to wait upon the emperor in the
Han-ling Academy.
Po loved wine as hithertofore; and with his drinking
companions drowsed daily in the tavern.
The emperor Hsuan Tsung arranged tunes and desired
to have new words for the court music. At once he
water and dashed it on his face, after which he was
made to hold the writing brush. Anon, he composed
ten or more songs. The emperor was much pleased
withal.
Once while dead drunk in the palace hall Po held out
his feet and made Kao Li-shih to pull off his shoes.
Because of this he was dismissed and sent away.
Now he wandered over lakes and rivers. He drank
heavily all day long. At this time Tsui Tsung-chi, the
Court Historian, demoted, was serving at Chin-ling.
With Po he matched poems and drank wine. One moonlight
night they took a boat from Tsai-shih to Chin-ling.
Arrayed in the palace robe of brocade, Po sat in the
boat, laughed and rolled his intrepid eyes as though
there were no mortals near him. Ere this, Ho Chi-chang
met Po and praised him, saying, "This man is a
god exiled from the heaven above."
In the rebellion of Luh-shan the emperor Hsuan
Tsung made his progress to the land of Shuh. On his
way he appointed Ling, Prince of Yung, as supreme Military
Commander of Chiang and Hwai Regions and Governor-general
of Yang-chou. Po was at Hsuan-Chou,
and had an audience of the prince, and at last entered
his service. Prince of Yung plotted conspiracy, and
was defeated in the war. Po, involved, was sentenced
to perpetual banishment to Yeh-lang. Later he was pardoned
and enabled to return. He died at last at Hsuan-cheng
with too much drinking. There are twenty volumes
of his writing which prevail at this time.
Li Hsu (897-947) wrote the "Old Book of Tang," a chronicle
of the Tang dynasty, with a large number of biographies. The
book was completed in 934.
Li Po was not born in Shantung, but made his home there
for a time as is told in the Introduction. Jen-cheng is a city in
Shantung.
LI PO—A BIOGRAPHY by SUNG CHI
(From the "New Book of Tang"[1])
Li Po, surnamed Tai-po, is a descendant in the ninth
generation from the emperor Hsing-sheng. His ancestor
in the latter part of the Sui dynasty was for some
wrong-doing exiled to the west barbarian land; but the
family escaped and returned in the beginning of the
Shen-lung era. They sojourned in Pa-hsi.
At the time of Po's birth his mother dreamed of the
planet of Chang-keng, and because of this he was named
after the star. At ten years of age he was versed in
"the Odes" and "the History." When he was grown up,
he hid himself in the Min Mountain, and would not respond
though the province called for men of talent.
Su Ting became Governor of I-chou. On seeing Po,
he wondered and said: "This lad is a genius, he is brilliant
and singular. If a little more learning be added,
he may be compared with Hsiang-ju." But Po delighted
in strategems of crisscross alliances, took to swordsmanship,
and to errantry, scorning riches but esteeming
alms-giving.
Later he sojourned in Jen-cheng; and with Kung
Chao-fu, Han Chun, Pei Cheng, Chang Shu-ming, and
Tao-mien, dwelt in the Chu-lai Mountain, daily drinking
"the Six Idlers of the Bamboo Valley."
At the beginning of the Tien-pao era he journeyed
south to Kuei-chi, where he made a friend of Wu-Yun.
Yun was summoned to court. So arrived Po also at
Chang-an. He went to see Ho Chi-chang. Chi-chang
saw his writing and said with a sigh, "You are a god in
exile." He spoke to the emperor Hsan Tsung. Po was
given audience in the Hall of Golden Bells; he discoursed
upon the affairs of the world, and presented an
ode. The emperor made him eat, seasoning the soup
for him. A rescript was issued, by which Po was appointed
to serve in the Han-ling Academy.
Po still went with his drinking companions, and
drowsed in the market place.
The emperor sat in the Pavilion of Aloes. Stirred
by a fancy, he desired to obtain Po to write songs to
music. Po was summoned in, and he was drunk. The
attendants took water and washed his face. When he
recovered somewhat, he was handed a writing brush,
and made compositions. Exquisite and graceful and
finely finished they were, yet he made them without
stopping to think. The emperor liked Po's talent, and
often banqueted with him.
Once while attending upon the emperor, Po grew
drunk and made Kao Li-shih pull off his shoes for him.
Li-shih, a favorite of the throne, was humiliated thereby.
He pointed out to Yang Kuei-fei a poem of Po, and
caused her wrath. So when the emperor desired to appoint
Po to office, then she stopped him.
Po himself, knowing he could not be taken in by those
near the throne, all the more abandoned himself to
recklessness. With Ho Chi-chang, Li Shih-chi, Chin,
and Chiao Sui, he made up the "Eight Immortals of the
Wine-cup." He implored for permission to return to
the mountains; and the emperor gave gold and let him go.
Po roamed hither and thither. One time he took a
boat with Tsui Tsung-chi from Tsai-shih to Chin-ling.
Arrayed in the palace robe of brocade, he sat in the
boat as though there were no mortal near him.
At the time of Au Lu-shan's rebellion Po lingered between
the Su-sung and the Kuang-luh mountains. Ling,
Prince of Yung, called him and made him a subordinate
of his staff. When Ling started war, Po fled to Peng-tse.
But with the fall of Ling, Po was sentenced to death.
Ere this, when Po was stopping in Ping-chou, he met Kuo
Tsu-i and admired him. Once Tsu-i broke the law, and
Po came to rescue and had him freed. So now Tsu-i
petitioned to ransom Po with his own rank and title
whereupon a rescript was issued for his perpetual banishment
at Yeh-lang.
He received pardon, and returned to Hsin-yang. There
he was imprisoned on account of a certain affair,[2] when
Sung Jo-ssu on his way to Honan with his army of three
thousand men of Wu came to Hsin-yang, released the
prisoner, and placed Po on his general staff. But before
long he resigned. When Li Yang-ping became
Governor of Tang-tu, Po went to live with him.
Emperor Tai Tsung ascended the throne,[3] and he summoned
Po to take the office of the censor of the court;
little more.
In his old age Po was fond of Taoism. He crossed
the Bull Rock Shoal and reached Ku-shu,[4] where the
Green Hill of the House of Hsieh pleased him, and he
wished to make it the place of his last rest. But when
he died, he was buried at the East Base.
In the beginning of the Yuan-ho era[5] Fan Chuan-cheng,
Inspector of Hsuan-she, performed rites at his
grave, and forbade woodcutting at the place. He
sought for descendants of his. There were only two
granddaughters, who were married and were wives of
peasants, but who carried with them an air of refinement.
They wept and said, "Our grandfather wanted the Green
Hill; but is buried at the East Base, that is not his
true wish." Whereupon Chuan-cheng made a reburial
and erected two monuments. He told the two women
that he would marry them into the official class. They
declined, saying, "It is our destiny to end in poverty
and isolation. We desire not to re-marry." Chuan-cheng
approved them, and relieved their husbands from
the conscript labor for the state.
In the reign of the emperor Wen Tsung[6] by imperial
edict Po in songs and odes, Pei-min in sword dance,
and Chang Hsu in cursive calligraphy, were declared
"the Three Paragons."
The "New Book of Tang" was finished in 1060 by Ou-yang
Hsiu and Sung Chi. Sung Chi, who did all the biographies
in this book died in 1061.
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