No More Learning

Li Yang-ping gives the following account of Po's death: "When he
was about to hang up his cap [an euphemism for "dying"] Li Po was
worried at the thought that his numerous rough drafts had not been
collected and arranged. Lying on his pillow, he gave over to me all his
documents, that I might put them in order. "

The "Old T'ang History" says that his illness was due to excessive
drinking. There is nothing improbable in the diagnosis. There is a
legend[15] that he was drowned while making a drunken effort to embrace
the reflection of the moon in the water. This account of his end has
been adopted by Giles and most other European writers, but already in
the twelfth century Hung Mai pointed out that the story is inconsistent
with Li Yang-ping's authentic evidence.

[15] The legendary Li Po is the subject of the sixth tale in "Chin Ku
Ch'i Kuan", translated by T. Pavie in "Contes et Nouvelles," 1839. He
also figures in the Mongol dynasty play, "The Golden Token. "

The truth may be that he contracted his last illness as the result of
falling into the water while drunk.


THE TEXT OF THE POEMS.

The first edition of the poems was in ten _chuan_, and was published by
Li Yang-ping in the year of the poet's death. The preface tells us that
Li Po had lost his own MSS. of almost all the poems written during the
eight years of his wanderings--that is, from about 753 to 761. A few
copies had been procured from friends.
About 770 Wei Hao produced an
edition of twenty _chuan_, many additional poems having come to light
in the interval.

In 998 Yo Shih added the prose works, consisting of five letters and
various prefaces, petitions, monumental inscriptions, etc.

In 1080 Sung Min-ch'iu published the works in thirty _chuan_, the form
in which they still exist. There are just under 1,000 poems and about
sixty prose pieces.

In 1759 an annotated edition was published by Wang Ch'i, with six
_chuan_ of critical and biographical matter added to the thirty _chuan_
of the works.

It is this edition which has been chiefly used by European readers and
to which references are made in the present paper. It was reprinted by
the Sao Yeh Co. of Shanghai in 1908.

The text of the poems is remarkable for the number of variant readings,
which in some cases affect crucial words in quite short poems, in
others extend to a whole line or couplet. A printed text of the
thirteenth century containing the annotations of Yang Tz? -chien is
generally followed in current editions. This is known as the Hsiao
text; a Ming reprint of it is sometimes met with.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, a Sung printed edition came
into the hands of a Mr. Miu at Soochow; he reprinted it in facsimile.
This is known as the Miu text. As there is no means of deciding which
of these two has the better authority, my choice of readings has been
guided by personal preference.