Famous Dead Poets - Li He

  Lijiang, China
Thursday, March 29, 2007

  I've been reading quite a few fine pieces by famous dead Chiense poets. And I've been listening to the translated works of an ancient poet Li He, whose poems seem to have more currency outside China, because he veered away from the normal romantic nature of Chinese poetry.

Tang - the drink, not the dynasty

Li He lived at the end of the Tang dynasty, considered to be the golden age of Chinese poetry (The Tang dynasty was from 618-907 AD and during this time Kraft Foods made inroads into the large Chinese market with its flagship fruit-flavoured beverage Tang).
After nearly four centuries of political disunity, the Tang Dynasty reunified China, trade (and cultural exchange) via the Silk Route flourished, and poetry assumed greater importance. This supportive environment for creativity saw a huge number of poems produced, in a variety of forms, covering a wide range of themes and including poignant imagery and detail previously lacking in Chinese poetry. One collection of poetry compiled later a thousand years later included 50,000 poems from 2,200 poets, suggesting that in just 300 years of the Tang Dynasty more poems were written than during the 2,000 years before it.

Such a proliferation of poetry is attributed also to the inclusion of poetry civil service exams. English teachers take note!

Here is one of the poems he wrote for the Henan province examinations, part of the 'Songs of the Twelve Months' (translated by Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping).

Poem 12: The Month of the Twelfth Moon

The sun's toes are fading, red in misty air
A thin frost remain unmelted under cassia trees
but a peaceful air seems to blow away winter's severity.
Long days are coming, farewell to long nights!

There was also a greater freedom of thought, with scholars studying Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. What's more, people traveled far and wide across greater China, some retiring to remote places, while others were exiled to lands inhabited by 'barbarians' - such as Yunnan province.

During this time some poetry forms developed, with set numbers of lines, characters and syllables, similar to Japanese haiku. Among the Tang writers, Li He's poems stand out because of their eccentric originality, an interest in the supernatural, and a certain pessimism. He was born of royal blood in 791 and it is said by the age of seven he was writing poems. He was an unsuccessful scholar, and despite his talent and links to the imperial clan, there appeared to be a glass ceiling which meant he didn't rise up the ranks. His poetry is marked by what one scholar calls 'an intense experience of his surroundings marked by persistent adversity'. He died at age 27 and perhaps his frustration and bitter sarcasm is reflected in the 240 poems which have survived the centuries. As a further indignity to the poet, is it said that much of his writing was thrown into a toilet by a vindictive cousin.

Li He's quirkiness was also reflected in how he wrote his poetry. Each morning he would set off on horse, followed by a boy carrying a shoulder bag. Whenever Li He was inspired, he would jot down some lines, to be thrown into the boy's shoulder bag. When he got home he would sort out what he had written and try to sort the random lines into complete poems. His poetry, therefore, was able to capture fleeting moments and freeze passing sensations.

His mother, understandably, worried about the health of Li He. I wonder if she said 'I told you so,' when the poor lad lay on his death-bed.  His mother once claimed, "This boy of mine won't be content until he has vomited out his heart."


So what kind of poetry did he write? Not surprising he wrote quite a few poems about horse, for example in his 5th 'Horse Poem' he compared himself to a fine desert horse wishing to be directed by golden reins.

One critic likens him to a Chinese Edgar Poe, and 'like Poe his reputation suffered because literary culture couldn't stomach his unclassifiable and frankly weird works of genius'.

One of his more famous poems 'A Ballad of Heaven' paints an idyllic picture of heaven, where legendary figures are living, and compares the timelessness of heaven with the brevity of human affairs.

A BALLAD OF HEAVEN

The River of Heaven wheels round at night
Drifting the circling stars,
At Silver Bank, the floating clouds
Mimic the murmur of water.
By the Palace of Jade the cassia blossoms
Have not yet fallen,
Fairy maidens gather their fragrance
For their dangling girdle-sachets.
The Princess from Ch'in rolls up her blinds,
Dawn at the north casement.
In front of the window, a planted kolanut
Dwarfs the blue phoenix.
The King's son plays his pipes
Long as goose-quills,
Summoning dragons to plough the mist and plant Jade Grass.
Sashes of pink as clouds at dawn.
Skirts of lotus-root silk,
They walk on Blue Island, gathering
Fresh orchids in spring.
She points to Hsi Ho in the east,
Deftly urging his steeds,
While land begins to rise from the sea
And stone hills wear away.

The River of Heaven is the Chinese name for the Milky Way, and the Palace of Jade and cassia tree are said to be in the moon. Xi He gallops the sun across the sky each day.

The newly published book with Li He's work

You can hear more about the Poet-Ghost by visiting this website, about the recently published translated book by New Zealand poet Mike Johnson. http://titus.books.online.fr/html/LiHe.html.

Here is one of his translations:

incarceration

the moat, blood red,
reflects a palace in spectacular decay

wind-seducing leaves
mirror the gestures of palace-girls

how many spring darlings seen
from behind drawn curtains
hair whitening to dust?

ten thousand years of pale days
locked away



You can hear Mike read one of the translations and talk about the work at http://www.radionz.co.nz/nr/programmes/artsonsunday/20070325