3,
VICTORIA
STREET, LONDON, S.
Li Po
?
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Poet Li Po, by Arthur Waley and Bai Li
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www. gutenberg. org
Title: The Poet Li Po
A. D. 701-762
Author: Arthur Waley
Bai Li
Release Date: July 21, 2013 [EBook #43274]
Language: English
Character set encoding: UTF-8
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POET LI PO ***
Produced by Henry Flower and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www. pgdp. net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
THE POET LI PO
A. D. 701-762
BY ARTHUR WALEY
_A Paper read before the_ CHINA SOCIETY _at the School of Oriental
Studies on November 21, 1918_
EAST AND WEST, LTD.
3, VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, S. W. 1
1919
THE POET LI PO
(A. D.
3, VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, S. W. 1
1919
THE POET LI PO
(A. D. 701-762)
BY ARTHUR WALEY
INTRODUCTION
Since the Middle Ages the Chinese have been almost unanimous in
regarding Li Po as their greatest poet, and the few who have given the
first place to his contemporary Tu Fu have usually accorded the second
to Li.
One is reluctant to disregard the verdict of a people upon its own
poets. We are sometimes told by Frenchmen or Russians that Oscar Wilde
is greater than Shakespeare. We are tempted to reply that no foreigner
can be qualified to decide such a point.
Yet we do not in practice accept the judgment of other nations upon
their own literature. To most Germans Schiller is still a great poet;
but to the rest of Europe hardly one at all.
It is consoling to discover that on some Germans (Lilienkron, for
example) Schiller makes precisely the same impression as he does on
us. And similarly, if we cannot accept the current estimate of Li Po,
we have at least the satisfaction of knowing that some of China's
most celebrated writers are on our side. About A. D. 816 the poet Po
Chu-i wrote as follows (he is discussing Tu Fu as well as Li Po): "The
world acclaims Li Po as its master poet. I grant that his works show
unparalleled talent and originality, but not one in ten contains any
moral reflection or deeper meaning.
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www. gutenberg. org
Title: The Poet Li Po
A. D. 701-762
Author: Arthur Waley
Bai Li
Release Date: July 21, 2013 [EBook #43274]
Language: English
Character set encoding: UTF-8
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POET LI PO ***
Produced by Henry Flower and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www. pgdp. net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
THE POET LI PO
A. D. 701-762
BY ARTHUR WALEY
_A Paper read before the_ CHINA SOCIETY _at the School of Oriental
Studies on November 21, 1918_
EAST AND WEST, LTD.
3, VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, S. W. 1
1919
THE POET LI PO
(A. D.
3, VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, S. W. 1
1919
THE POET LI PO
(A. D. 701-762)
BY ARTHUR WALEY
INTRODUCTION
Since the Middle Ages the Chinese have been almost unanimous in
regarding Li Po as their greatest poet, and the few who have given the
first place to his contemporary Tu Fu have usually accorded the second
to Li.
One is reluctant to disregard the verdict of a people upon its own
poets. We are sometimes told by Frenchmen or Russians that Oscar Wilde
is greater than Shakespeare. We are tempted to reply that no foreigner
can be qualified to decide such a point.
Yet we do not in practice accept the judgment of other nations upon
their own literature. To most Germans Schiller is still a great poet;
but to the rest of Europe hardly one at all.
It is consoling to discover that on some Germans (Lilienkron, for
example) Schiller makes precisely the same impression as he does on
us. And similarly, if we cannot accept the current estimate of Li Po,
we have at least the satisfaction of knowing that some of China's
most celebrated writers are on our side. About A. D. 816 the poet Po
Chu-i wrote as follows (he is discussing Tu Fu as well as Li Po): "The
world acclaims Li Po as its master poet. I grant that his works show
unparalleled talent and originality, but not one in ten contains any
moral reflection or deeper meaning.
