No More Learning

"'At the Palace Gate, the smell of wine and meat;
Out in the road, one who has frozen to death'

form only a small proportion of his whole work. "

The poet Yuan Ch? n (779-831) wrote a famous essay comparing Li Po with
Tu Fu.

"At this time," he says (_i. e. _, at the time of Tu Fu), "Li Po from
Shantung was also celebrated for his remarkable writings, and the names
of these two were often coupled together. In my judgment, as regards
impassioned vigour of style, freedom from conventional restraint, and
skill in the mere description of exterior things, his ballads and songs
are certainly worthy to rub shoulders with Fu. But in disposition of
the several parts of a poem, in carrying the balance of rhyme and tone
through a composition of several hundred or even in some cases of a
thousand words, in grandeur of inspiration combined with harmonious
rhythm and deep feeling, in emphasis of parallel clauses, in exclusion
of the vulgar or modern--in all these qualities Li is not worthy to
approach Fu's front hedge, let alone his inner chamber! "

"Subsequent writers," adds the "T'ang History" (the work in which this
essay is preserved), "have agreed with Yuan Ch? n. "

Wang An-shih (1021-1086), the great reformer of the eleventh century,
observes: "Li Po's style is swift, yet never careless; lively, yet
never informal. But his intellectual outlook was low and sordid. In
nine poems out of ten he deals with nothing but wine or women. "

In the "Yu Yin Ts'ung Hua," Hu Tz? (_circa_ 1120) says: "Wang An-shih,
in enumerating China's four greatest poets, put Li Po fourth on the
list.
Many vulgar people expressed surprise, but Wang replied: 'The
reason why vulgar people find Li Po's poetry congenial is that it is
easy to enjoy. His intellectual outlook was mean and sordid, and out of
ten poems nine deal with wine or women; nevertheless, the abundance of
his talent makes it impossible to leave him out of account. '"

Finally Huang T'ing-chien (A. D. 1050-1110), accepted by the Chinese
as one of their greatest writers, says with reference to Li's poetry:
"The quest for unusual expressions is in itself a literary disease. It
was, indeed, this fashion which caused the decay which set in after the
Chien-an period (_i. e. _, at the beginning of the third century A. D. ). "

To these native strictures very little need be added. No one who reads
much of Li's poetry in the original can fail to notice the two defects
which are emphasized by the Sung critics. The long poems are often
ill-constructed. Where, for example, he wishes to convey an impression
of horror he is apt to exhaust himself in the first quatrain, and the
rest of the poem is a network of straggling repetitions. Very few of
these longer poems have been translated. The second defect, his lack
of variety, is one which would only strike those who have read a large
number of his poems.