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Li He
Li He, as depicted in the 1743 book Wanxiaotang Zhuzhuang Huazhuan (晩笑堂竹荘畫傳)
Traditional Chinese	李賀
Simplified Chinese	李贺
Hanyu Pinyin	Lǐ Hè
Wade–Giles	Li Ho
Courtesy name: Changji
Traditional Chinese	長吉
Simplified Chinese	长吉
Hanyu Pinyin	Chángjí
Nickname: Shigui
Traditional Chinese	詩鬼
Simplified Chinese	诗鬼
Literal meaning	Ghost of Poetry
Hanyu Pinyin	Shīguǐ

Template:Chinese name Li He (c. 790–791 – c. 816–817) was a Chinese poet of the mid-Tang dynasty. His courtesy name was Changji, and he is also known as Guicai and Shigui.

He is known for his dense and allusive use of symbolism, for his use of synecdoche, for his vividly imaginative (and often fantastic) imagery, and for his otherwise sometimes unconventional style of poetry. However, these qualities lead to a revival of interest in him and his poetry in the twentieth century.

Biography

Chapter 137 of the Old Book of Tang and chapter 203 of the New Book of Tang each give a brief outline of the biography of Li He. He was born in 790 or 791. Various dates are given for him, some more credible than others; it seems likely that he was born in the year of the Horse, as some twenty-three of his surviving poems use the horse as a symbol for the poet.

He was a native of Fuchang County (west of modern-day Yiyang County, Henan Province). His family were of distant royal descent (from the Li family who were the ruling dynastic family of the Tang Dynasty), but his branch's fortunes had declined early on, and by Li He's time they were of low rank.

He started composing poetry at the age of 7, and by around 15 he was being compared to the yuefu master Li Yi. When Li was 20, he attempted to take the Imperial Examination, but was forbidden from doing so by his father, owing to naming taboo: the first character (晉 jin) of his father's given name (晉肅 Jinsu) was a homonym of the first character (進) of Jinshi (進士), the name of the degree that would have been conferred on him had he passed.

Han Yu, who admired his poetry, wrote Hui Bian (諱弁) to encourage him to take the exam, but Li was ultimately unsuccessful. He served only three years, in the low-ranking office of Fenglilang (奉禮郎).

He is described as having a very sickly appearance: he was supposedly very thin, had a unibrow, and let his fingernails grow long. Li He died a low-ranking and poor official in 816 or 817, at the age of 26 or 27.

Li Shangyin, a poet of the following generation, reports in his Short Biography of Li He (simplified Chinese: 李贺小传; traditional Chinese: 李賀小傳; pinyin: lǐ hè xiǎo chuán) that at the hour of his death he was visited by a figure in scarlet who told him that Shangdi had summoned him to heaven to write poetry.

Names

His courtesy name was Changji, and he is also known by a combination of his surname and courtesy name, Li Changji. The Chan Yue Ji preface (Chinese: 禪月集序) referred to him as "Li Changji" using a different character for "Chang" (昌 instead of 長).

He was also known as Guicai (鬼才 "devilish talent") by contrast of his morbid poetic style to Li Bai's Tiancai (天才 "heavenly talent") and Bai Juyi's Rencai (人才 "humanly talent").

Poetry

In literary history, Li is generally considered a poet of the so-called Middle Tang period, which spanned the late-eighth and early-ninth centuries. About 240 of his poems survive. There are two extant anthologies of his poems: the Collected Songs and Verses of Li He (simplified Chinese: 李贺歌诗篇; traditional Chinese: 李賀歌詩篇; pinyin: lǐ hè gē shī piān) and the Wai Ji (Chinese: 外集; pinyin: wài jí).

His poetry is unique, filled with fantastic and unusual imagery, which is where he gets his nickname "Guicai" (see above). Virtually none of his surviving poems are in regulated verse form, and his poems make frequent use of inauspicious words such as "aging" (Chinese: 老; pinyin: lǎo) and "death" (Chinese: 死; pinyin: sǐ). In poems like "Tianshang yao" (simplified Chinese: 天上谣; traditional Chinese: 天上謠; pinyin: tiān shàng yáo; lit. 'Song of the Heavens') and "Meng tian" (Chinese: 夢天; pinyin: mèng tiān; lit. 'Dreaming of Heaven'), he wrote evocatively of the worlds of gods and Buddhas.

He also gave eerie descriptions of the world of ghosts in his poems "Qiu lai" (simplified Chinese: 秋来; traditional Chinese: 秋來; pinyin: qiū lái; lit. 'The Coming of Autumn') and "Shen xian qu" (Chinese: 神弦曲; pinyin: shén xián qū; lit. 'String Melody of the Spirits').

He frequently combined colour and feeling imagery in his poetry, as can be seen in his poems "Qin wang yinjiu" (simplified Chinese: 秦王饮酒; traditional Chinese: 秦王飲酒; pinyin: qín wáng yǐn jiǔ; lit. 'The King of Qin Drinks Wine') and "Tianshang yao". His works were admired by the group of poets in the late Tang Dynasty who practiced similar poetic techniques. His collected poems were prefaced by Du Mu.

His poetic style was dubbed Changji-ti (simplified Chinese: 长吉体; traditional Chinese: 長吉體; pinyin: cháng jí tǐ) by later critics, after his courtesy name.

Reception

The Song-era commentator Yan Yu in his work Canglang Shihua (滄浪詩話) contrasted Li to the earlier poet Li Bai.

In his article on Li for the Chūgoku Bunkashi Daijiten, Japanese sinologist Kazuyuki Fukazawa called him "the representative poet of the Middle Tang".

According to French sinologist François Jullien, Li He's poetry was readmitted to the Chinese literary canon "at the end of the nineteenth century ...  ... Western notions of romanticism the Chinese to reexamine this poet, allowing the symbolism of his poems to speak at last, freeing his imaginary world from the never-ending quest for insinuations."

Along with Li Bai and Li Shangyin, Li He is one of the "Three Lis" (三李) loved by Mao Zedong.

In popular culture

• In 1968, Roger Waters of the rock band Pink Floyd borrowed lines from Li's poetry to create the lyrics for the song "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun".

Notes

1. 李賀，字長吉，宗室鄭王之後。父名晉肅，以是不應進士，韓愈為之作《諱辨》，賀竟不就試。手筆敏捷，尤長於歌篇。其文思體勢，如崇巖峭壁，萬仞崛起，當時文士從而效之，無能仿佛者。其樂府詞數十篇，至於雲韶樂工，無不諷誦。補太常寺協律郎，卒，時年二十四。
2. 李賀字長吉，系出鄭王後。七歲能辭章，韓愈、皇甫湜始聞未信，過其家，使賀賦詩，援筆輒就如素構，自目曰高軒過，二人大驚，自是有名。為人纖瘦，通眉，長指爪，能疾書。每旦日出，騎弱馬，從小奚奴，背古錦囊，遇所得，書投囊中。未始先立題然後為詩，如它人牽合程課者。及暮歸，足成之。非大醉、弔喪日率如此。過亦不甚省。母使婢探囊中，見所書多，即怒曰：「是兒要嘔出心乃已耳。」以父名晉肅，不肯舉進士，愈為作諱辨，然卒亦不就舉。辭尚奇詭，所得皆驚邁，絕去翰墨畦逕，當時無能效者。樂府數十篇，雲韶諸工皆合之絃管。為協律郎，卒，年二十七。與游者權璩、楊敬之、王恭元，每譔著，時為所取去。賀亦早世，故其詩歌世傳者鮮焉。
3. Ueki et al. (1999, p. 110) give "790?", Noguchi (1994) and Digital Daijisen give 790, while Fukazawa (2013, p. 1219), Gotō (2002, p. 71), Kai and Higashi (2010, p. 833), Britannica Kokusai Dai-Hyakkajiten, World Encyclopedia and Daijirin give 791.
4. Ueki et al. (1999, p. 110) give "816?", Noguchi (1994) and Digital Daijisen give 816, while Fukazawa (2013, p. 1219), Gotō (2002, p. 71), Kai and Higashi (2010, p. 833), Britannica Kokusai Dai-Hyakkajiten, World Encyclopedia and Daijirin give 817.
5. Fukazawa (2013, p. 1220) gives a figure of 244.
6. 人言太白仙才、長吉鬼才、不然。太白天仙之詞、長吉鬼仙之詞耳。
7. 中唐を代表する詩人 (chūtō o daihyō suru shijin).

References

1. ^ Fukazawa 2013, p. 1220.
2. Fukazawa 2013, p. 1220; Endō 2005, p. 1.
3. ^ Frodsham 1983.
4. Ueki et al. 1999, p. 110; World Encyclopedia 1998; Mypaedia 1996; Digital Daijisen 1998 sfnm error: no target: CITEREFDigital_Daijisen1998 (help).
5. ^ Fukazawa 2013, p. 1219.
6. Fukazawa 2013, p. 1219; Noguchi 1994.
7. Ueki et al. 1999, p. 101; Fukazawa 2013, p. 1219; Noguchi 1994; Kai and Higashi 2010, p. 833; World Encyclopedia 1998; Britannica 2014; ] sfnm error: no target: CITEREF (help); Daijirin 2006; Daijisen 1998.
8. World Encyclopedia 1998; Daijirin 2006.
9. ^ Kai and Higashi 2010, p. 833.
10. Ueki et al. 1999, p. 111; Kai and Higashi 2010, p. 833.
11. Ueki et al. 1999, p. 101; Fukazawa 2013, p. 1219; Noguchi 1994; World Encyclopedia 1998; Britannica 2014; Mypaedia 1996; Daijirin 2006; Daijisen 1998; ] sfnm error: no target: CITEREF (help).
12. Fukazawa 2013, pp. 1219–1220.
13. Fukazawa 2013, p. 1220; Zeitlin 2007, p. 75.
14. Gotō 2002, pp. 71–72.
15. Jullien 2004, p. 73.
16. Xia 2001, p. 78.
17. Allusions to Classical Chinese poetry in Pink Floyd

Works cited

• "Li He (Ri Ga in Japanese)". Britannica Kokusai Dai-Hyakkajiten (in Japanese). Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 2014. Retrieved 2017-01-28. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
• "Li He (Ri Ga in Japanese)". Daijirin (in Japanese). Sanseido. 2006. Retrieved 2017-01-30. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
• "Li He (Ri Ga in Japanese)". Daijisen (in Japanese). Shogakukan. 1998. Retrieved 2017-01-30. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
• Endō, Seiki (15 April 2005). "Gafu Bungaku Shijō ni okeru Ri Ga no Ichi: "Fuzan Takashi" ni motozuku kōsatsu" (PDF). Tōkyō Daigaku Chūgokugo Chūgoku Bungaku Kenkyūshitsu Kiyō (in Japanese). 8 (1). University of Tokyo: 1–24. Retrieved 2017-01-30. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |docket= (help)CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Frodsham, J. D. (1983). The Poems of Li He (790-816). Vol. 1. San Francisco: North Point Press. ISBN 0-86547-084-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Fukazawa, Kazuyuki (2013). "Li He (Ri Ga in Japanese)". In Ozaki, Yūichirō; Chikusa, Masaaki; Togawa, Yoshio (eds.). Chūgoku Bunkashi Daijiten 中国文化史大事典 (in Japanese). Vol. 1. Tokyo: Taishūkan Shoten. pp. 1219–1220. ISBN 978-4469012842.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Gotō, Yuri (2002). Ri Ga "Kisen" nitsuite no ichikōsatsu: Ri Haku "Tensen" to no hikaku kara (PDF) (thesis). Osaka University. pp. 71–85. Retrieved 2017-01-28.{{cite thesis}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Graham, A. C. (1977). Penguin Classics: Poems of the Late Tang. Vol. 1. Penguin Group.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Jullien, François (2004). Detour and Access: Strategies of Meaning in China and Greece. Vol. 1. ISBN 1-890951-11-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Kai, Katsuji; Higashi, Hidetoshi (2010). ""Bantō Godai no Bungaku Hihyō, Shoron" Yakuchū (jō)". Fukuoka Daigaku Jinbun Ronsō (in Japanese). 42 (3). Fukuoka University: 821–842. Retrieved 2017-01-30. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |docket= (help)
• "Li He (Ri Ga in Japanese)". Mypaedia (in Japanese). Hitachi. 1996.
• Noguchi, Kazuo (1994). "Yuan Jie (Gen Ketsu in Japanese)". Encyclopedia Nipponica (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 2017-01-29. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Ueki, Hisayuki; Uno, Naoto; Matsubara, Akira (1999). "Shijin to Shi no Shōgai (Ri Ga)". In Matsuura, Tomohisa (ed.). Kanshi no Jiten 漢詩の事典 (in Japanese). Vol. 1. Tokyo: Taishūkan Shoten. pp. 110–113. OCLC 41025662.
• "Li He (Ri Ga in Japanese)". World Encyclopedia (in Japanese). Heibonsha. 1998. Retrieved 2017-01-29. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
• Wu, Fusheng (1998). "Chapter 3 (note 8)". The Poetics of Decadence: Chinese Poetry of the Southern Dynasties and Late Tang Periods. Vol. 1. Albany: SUNY Press. p. 228. ISBN 9780791437513.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Xia, Gang (December 2001). "Nihon Reihō Nyūmon no chūkaku to chūkū: Nitchū no reihō, kannen no hikaku no ichidanmen (3)" (PDF). Ritsumeikan Kokusai Kenkyū (in Japanese). 14 (3). Ritsumeikan University: 71–87. Retrieved 2017-01-29. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |docket= (help)CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Zeitlin, Judith T. (2007). "The Ghost's Voice". The Phantom Heroine: Ghosts and Gender in Seventheenth-century Chinese Literature. Vol. 1. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p. 75. ISBN 9780824830915.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)

Further reading

• Noguchi, Kazuo (29 March 1980). "Ri Ga to Shin Ashi" (PDF). Hokkaidō Daigaku Bungakubu Kiyō (in Japanese). 28 (2). Hokkaido University: 107–169. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |docket= (help)CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)

External links

• Books of the Quan Tangshi at the Chinese Text Project that include collected poems of Li He:
  • Book 390
  • Book 391
  • Book 392
  • Book 393
  • Book 394
• Biography
• Works by He Li at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about He Li at the Internet Archive
• "Poems by 9th Century Chinese Poet Li He", a selection of poems by Li He, with translation and calligraphy, Brink Magazine, October 2008.

• 790 births
• 816 deaths
• Tang dynasty poets
• People from Luoyang
• Poets from Henan
• 9th-century Chinese poets