 | The works of Li Po, the Chinese poet |  |
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 works of Li Po, the Chinese poet | |