Li Po

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Li Po

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Li Po , Li Pai , or Li T'ai-po , c.700-762, Chinese poet of the T'ang dynasty. He was born in what is now Sichuan prov. Most authorities believe that he was a Taoist; Li Po's unconcern for worldly preferment and his love for retirement was expressive of both Taoism and the delicate romanticism found in his poetry. An early period of patronage by the court was followed by banishment in 744. He spent the next decade traveling through E and SE China. After the An Lu-shan rebellion (755-57) he was exiled because of associations with a rebellious member of the imperial family. He soon received amnesty and spent his remaining years traveling along the Chang (Yangtze). Legend maintains he drowned while drunkenly embracing the moon's reflection; however, scholars believe he died from cirrhosis of the liver or from mercury poisoning due to Taoist longevity elixirs. About 1,100 of his poems are extant. Although they include many conventional verses expressing thoughts on actual events, Li Po is best known for his pieces describing voyages through imaginary landscapes, invoking exotic Taoist images and powerful emotions of fear or exhilaration. He uses strange diction and rhyme, as well as hyperbole and playfulness, typically feigning a wish to forget rather than confront reality. He preferred older poetic forms such as songs or ballads and long, tonally unregulated "old-style" verse, introducing to them various personae, including his own cultivated persona of a wild, self-obsessed poet.

Bibliography: See translations by E. Eide (1984) and S. Hamill (1987); biography by A. Waley (1950).

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Li Po

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions | 1997 | | © The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions 1997, originally published by Oxford University Press 1997. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Li Po ( Li Pai, Li Tʾai-pai), (701–62). Chinese Taoist poet. Although he spent a short period in Chʾangan (Sian/Xiʾan) as a court writer (742–4), he spent most of his life wandering. Tradition makes him one of the ‘eight immortals of the wine cup’, and he himself interpreted his wild behaviour as arising from the fact that he was ‘a banished immortal’: these are immortals who do some wrong in heaven and are banished to earth for a life-time. Whatever the source, his poems express a strong ecstasy, as well as sympathy with the misfortunes of others. He remains a very popular poet.

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JOHN BOWKER. "Li Po." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Jul. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN BOWKER. "Li Po." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (July 10, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-LiPo.html

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

Free Article Like Li-Po Laughing at the Lonely Moon.(Brief article)(Book review)
Newspaper article from: Small Press Bookwatch; 4/1/2009
Free Article Po'li: Traditional Songs of the Hopi.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
Newspaper article from: Internet Bookwatch; 10/1/2007
Free Article DRINKING WITH LI PO.(Poem)
Magazine article from: The Antioch Review; 9/22/2001

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Like Li-Po Laughing at the Lonely Moon.(Brief article)(Book review)
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Po'li: Traditional Songs of the Hopi.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
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DRINKING WITH LI PO.(Poem)
Magazine article from: The Antioch Review; 9/22/2001; ; 282 words ; And I'm thinking America, I'm thinking and that's as far as I'm getting. It's one of those nights when we're up to our ears in wool and hats even though we're in the house and there's the last of someone's fence in the stove, but we're still shivering despite being on bottle number three, or four, Read more
LI PO AND LAO TSE COME TO NEBRASKA.(Poem)
Magazine article from: Poetry; 4/1/1999; ; 108 words ; 1. Make a daily memo of your eggs. Give up something you love to get something better to love. Throw away your last hope rather than undersell. 2. Loosen a sprig of cherry blossom and see how it smells. Break off a line of lilacs long as your arm. 3. Stage your fat steers for the butcher's eye Read more
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Magazine article from: Poetry; 3/1/2001; ; 104 words ; In a hut far from the village Li Hua bends over his canvas like an insect. He is so deliberate, each...There is a war in his veins, a battle of desires. He is jealous of Li Po whose pictures glide like the moon over dark water. I do not wish to... Read more
Environmental Protection Technology for PO Developed in Dalian.(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: China Chemical Reporter; 6/26/2001; 273 words ; ...Institute of Chemistry and Physics subordinate to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and 3 doctoral students Zhou Ning, Sun Yu and Li Kunlan have jointly developed a new technology for the oxidization of propylene into propylene oxide. The problem of polluting... Read more
Eight poems.(World Views: New Writing About Nature)
Magazine article from: The Literary Review; 6/22/1996; ; 430 words ; LI PO L' Po (701-762 CE), also known as Li Bai, was translated by Ezra Pound under the Japanese pronunciation...regarded as China's greatest poet, an honor he shares with Tu Fu. Li's romantic life and spontaneous poetry earned him the title of the... Read more
Mythes, poesie et musique (dans les grands mythes-poemes).
Magazine article from: Anthropologie et Societés; 5/1/2005; ; 700+ words ; ...233;e que j'espère être stimulante : beaucoup des poèmes qui figurent en haut de cette échelle sont le fait de poètes par ailleurs totalement inconnus--d'un professeur d'u...Margate, dans le New Jersey, par exemple--alors que nombre de poètes illustres n'ont pas su ... Read more
What pound translated.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
Magazine article from: New Criterion; 6/1/2004; ; 118 words ; ...his suggestion that Pound had ignored Li Po in his translations from Chinese poets...in Pound's Cathay, is none other than Li Po by his Japanese name. This is one of...in fact, it strengthens it: why call Li Po Rihaku anyway if not to obscure his... Read more
In Wind.(Poem)
Magazine article from: Poetry; 6/1/2006; ; 142 words ; ...replete, on a lake made of air, made of light. I sit where Li Po never could have sat, nor his river merchant's wife, in her...his heart. No human welcome here. Here my merchant heart, Li Po within my chest, that wants to leap, an errant bird, outside... Read more

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