Li Po

Li Bai, also
spelled Li Bo, Wade-Giles romanization Li Pai or Li
Po, courtesy name (zi) Taibai, literary name (hao)
Qinglian Jushi (b. 701, Jiangyou, Sichuan province,
China—d. 762, Dangtu, Anhui province), Chinese poet
who rivaled Du Fu for the title of China’s greatest
poet.
Li Bai liked to
regard himself as belonging to the imperial family,
but he actually belonged to a less exalted family of
the same surname. At age 24 he left home for a
period of wandering, after which he married and
lived with his wife’s family in Anlu (now in Hubei
province). He had already begun to write poetry,
some of which he showed to various officials in the
vain hope of becoming employed as a secretary. After
another nomadic period, in 742 he arrived at
Chang’an, the Tang dynasty capital, no doubt hoping
to be given a post at court. No official post was
forthcoming, but he was accepted into a group of
distinguished court poets. In the autumn of 744 he
began his wanderings again.
In 756 Li Bai
became unofficial poet laureate to the military
expedition of Prince Lin, the emperor’s 16th son.
The prince was soon accused of intending to
establish an independent kingdom and was executed;
Li Bai was arrested and imprisoned at Jiujiang. In
the summer of 758 he was banished to Yelang; before
he arrived there, he benefited from a general
amnesty. He returned to eastern China, where he died
in a relative’s house, though popular legend says
that he drowned when, sitting drunk in a boat, he
tried to seize the moon’s reflection in the water.
Li Bai was a
romantic in his view of life and in his verse. One
of the most famous wine drinkers in China’s long
tradition of imbibers, Li Bai frequently celebrated
the joy of drinking. He also wrote of friendship,
solitude, the passage of time, and the joys of
nature with brilliance and great freshness of
imagination.