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diff --git a/43274-0.txt b/43274-0.txt index 5e6c26d..315a172 100644 --- a/43274-0.txt +++ b/43274-0.txt @@ -1,40 +1,4 @@ -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) - - - - - - - - +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43274 *** THE POET LI PO @@ -1266,362 +1230,4 @@ p. 10 "Ch'i Kuan" changed to "Ch'i Kuan"" End of Project Gutenberg's The Poet Li Po, by Arthur Waley and Bai Li -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POET LI PO *** - -***** This file should be named 43274-0.txt or 43274-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/2/7/43274/ - -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) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: ISO-8859-1 - -*** 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. 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 -Chü-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. - -"Tu Fu's poems are very numerous; perhaps about 1,000 of them are worth -preserving. In the art of stringing together allusions ancient and -modern and in the skill of his versification in the regular metres he -even excels Li Po. But such poems as the 'Pressgang,'[1] and such lines -as - -[1] Giles, "Chinese Poetry," p. 90. - - "'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 Yüan Chen (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 Yüan Chen." - -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 "Yü Yin Ts'ung Hua," Hu Tzu (_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. Translators have naturally made their selections -as varied as possible, so that many of those who know the poet only in -translation might feel inclined to defend him on this score. According -to Wang An-shih, his two subjects are wine and women. The second does -not, of course, imply love-poetry, but sentiments put into the mouths -of deserted wives and concubines. Such themes are always felt by the -Chinese to be in part allegorical, the deserted lady symbolizing the -minister whose counsels a wicked monarch will not heed. - -Such poems form the dullest section of Chinese poetry, and are -certainly frequent in Li's works. But his most monotonous feature -is the mechanical recurrence of certain reflections about the -impermanence of human things, as opposed to the immutability of Nature. -Probably about half the poems contain some reference to the fact that -rivers do not return to their sources, while man changes hour by hour. - -The obsession of impermanence has often been sublimated into great -mystic poetry. In Li Po it results only in endless restatement of -obvious facts. - -It has, I think, been generally realized that his strength lies not -in the content, but in the form of his poetry. Above all, he was a -song-writer. Most of the pieces translated previously and most of those -I am going to read to-day are songs, not poems. It is noteworthy that -his tombstone bore the inscription, "His skill lay in the writing of -archaic songs." His immediate predecessors had carried to the highest -refinement the art of writing in elaborate patterns of tone. In -Li's whole works there are said to be only nine poems in the strict -seven-character metre. Most of his familiar short poems are in the old -style, which neglects the formal arrangement of tones. The value of his -poetry lay in beauty of words, not in beauty of thought. Unfortunately -no one either here or in China can appreciate the music of his verse, -for we do not know how Chinese was pronounced in the eighth century. -Even to the modern Chinese, his poetry exists more for the eye than for -the ear. - -The last point to which I shall refer is the extreme allusiveness of -his poems. This characteristic, common to most Chinese poetry, is -carried to an extreme point in the fifty-nine Old Style poems with -which the works begin. Not only do they bristle with the names of -historical personages, but almost every phrase is borrowed from some -classic. One is tempted to quarrel with Wang An-shih's statement that -people liked the poems because they were easy to enjoy. No modern could -understand them without pages of commentary to each poem. But Chinese -poetry, with a few exceptions, has been written on this principle -since the Han dynasty; one poet alone, Po Chü-i, broke through the -restraints of pedantry, erasing every expression that his charwoman -could not understand. - -Translators have naturally avoided the most allusive poems and have -omitted or generalized such allusions as occurred. They have frequently -failed to recognize allusions as such, and have mistranslated them -accordingly, often turning proper names into romantic sentiments. - -Li's reputation, like all success, is due partly to accident. After -suffering a temporary eclipse during the Sung dynasty, he came back -into favour in the sixteenth century, when most of the popular -anthologies were made. These compilations devote an inordinate space -to his works, and he has been held in corresponding esteem by a public -whose knowledge of poetry is chiefly confined to anthologies. - -Serious literary criticism has been dead in China since that time, and -the valuations then made are still accepted. - -Like Miss Havisham's clock, which stopped at twenty to nine on her -wedding-day, the clock of Chinese esteem stopped at Li Po centuries -ago, and has stuck there ever since. - -But I venture to surmise that if a dozen representative English poets -could read Chinese poetry in the original, they would none of them give -either the first or second place to Li Po. - - -XXXI. 25. - -LIFE OF LI PO, FROM THE "NEW HISTORY OF THE T'ANG DYNASTY," COMPOSED IN -THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. - -Li Po, styled T'ai-po, was descended in the ninth generation from -the Emperor Hsing-sheng.[2] One of his ancestors was charged with a -crime at the end of the Sui dynasty,[3] and took refuge in Turkestan. -At the beginning of the period Shen-lung[4] the family returned and -settled in Pa-hsi.[5] At his birth Po's mother dreamt of the planet -Ch'ang-keng [Venus], and that was why he was called Po.[6] - -[2] _I.e._, Li Kao. - -[3] A.D. 581-618. - -[4] A.D. 705-707. - -[5] In Szechwan. - -[6] "Po," "white," was a popular name of the Planet Venus. - -At ten he had mastered the Book of Odes and Book of History. When he -grew up he retired to the Min Mountains, and even when summoned to the -provincial examinations he made no response. When Su T'ing[7] became -Governor of I-chou, he was introduced to Po, and was astonished by -him, remarking: "This man has conspicuous natural talents. If he had -more learning he would be a second Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju."[8] However, he -was interested in politics and fond of fencing, becoming one of those -knight-errants who care nothing for wealth and much for almsgiving. - -[7] Giles, Biog. Dict., No. 1,789. - -[8] Giles, No. 1,753. - -Once he stayed at Jen-ch'eng[9] with K'ung Ch'ao-fu, Han Chun, P'ei -Cheng, Chang Shu-ming, and T'ao Mien. They lived on Mount Ch'u Lai, and -were dead drunk every day. People called them the Six Hermits of the -Bamboo Stream. - -[9] In Shantung. - -At the beginning of the T'ien-pao period[10] he went south to Kuei-chi, -and became intimate with Wu Yün. Wu Yün was summoned by the Emperor, -and Po went with him to Ch'ang-an. Here he visited Ho Chih-chang. -When Chih-chang read some of his work, he sighed and said: "You are -an exiled fairy." He told the Emperor, who sent for Po and gave him -audience in the Golden Bells Hall. The poet submitted an essay dealing -with current events. The Emperor bestowed food upon him and stirred -the soup with his own hand. He ordered that he should be unofficially -attached to the Han Lin Academy, but Po went on drinking in the -market-place with his boon-companions. - -[10] _Circa_ A.D. 742. - -Once when the Emperor was sitting in the Pavilion of Aloes Wood, he had -a sudden stirring of heart, and wanted Po to write a song expressive of -his mood. When Po entered in obedience to the summons, he was so drunk -that the courtiers were obliged to dab his face with water. When he had -recovered a little, he seized a brush and without any effort wrote a -composition of flawless grace. - -The Emperor was so pleased with Po's talent that whenever he was -feasting or drinking he always had this poet to wait upon him. Once -when Po was drunk the Emperor ordered [the eunuch] Kao Li-shih to take -off Po's shoes. Li-shih, who thought such a task beneath him, took -revenge by affecting to discover in one of Po's poems a veiled attack -on [the Emperor's mistress] Yang Kuei-fei. - -Whenever the Emperor thought of giving the poet some official rank, -Kuei-fei intervened and dissuaded him. - -Po himself, soon realizing that he was unsuited to Court life, allowed -his conduct to become more and more reckless and unrestrained. - -Together with his friends Ho Chih-chang, Li Shih-chih, Chin, Prince of -Ju-yang, Ts'ui Tsung-chih, Su Chin, Chang Hsü, and Chiao Sui, he formed -the association known as the Eight Immortals of the Winecup. - -He begged persistently to be allowed to retire from Court. At last the -Emperor gave him gold and sent him away. Po roamed the country in every -direction. Once he went by boat with Ts'ui Tsung-chih from Pien-shih to -Nanking. He wore his embroidered Court cloak and sat as proudly in the -boat as though he were king of the universe. - -When the An Lu-shan revolution broke out, he took to living sometimes -at Su-sung, sometimes on Mount K'uang-lu. - -Lin, Prince of Yung, gave him the post of assistant on his staff. When -Lin took up arms, he fled to P'eng-tse. When Lin was defeated, Po was -condemned to death. When Po first visited T'ai-yüan Fu, he had seen -and admired Kuo Tzu-i.[11] On one occasion, when Tzu-i was accused of -breaking the law, Li Po had come to his assistance and had him released. - -[11] A famous General, the saviour of the dynasty. - -Now, hearing of Po's predicament, Tzu-i threatened to resign unless Po -were saved. The Emperor remitted the sentence of death and changed it -to one of perpetual exile at Yeh-lang.[12] But when the amnesty was -declared he came back to Kiukiang. Here he was put on trial and sent to -gaol. But it happened that Sung Jo-ssu was marching to Honan with three -thousand soldiers from Kiangsu. He passed through Kiukiang on his way, -and released the prisoners there. He gave Li Po an appointment on his -staff. Po soon resigned. - -[12] In Yunnan. - -When Li Yang-ping became Governor of T'ang-tu, Po went to live near him. - -The Emperor Tai Tsung[13] wished to raise him to the rank of Senior -Reviser. But when the order came Po was already dead, having reached -the age of somewhat over sixty. His last years were devoted to the -study of Taoism. - -[13] Reigned 763-780. - -He once crossed the Bull Island Eddies and, reaching Ku-shu, was -delighted by a place called the Green Hill, which lay in the estate of -the Hsieh family. He expressed a desire to be buried there, but when he -died they buried him at Tung-lin. - -At the end of the period Yüan-ho,[14] Fan Ch'uan-cheng, Governor of the -districts Hsüan and She [in Anhui], poured a libation on his grave and -forbade the woodmen to cut down the trees which grew there. - -[14] 806-821. - -He sought for Li Po's descendants, but could only find two -grand-daughters, who had both married common peasants, but still -retained an air of good breeding. They appeared before the Governor -weeping, and said: "Our grandfather's wish was to be buried on top of -the Green Hill. But they made his grave at the eastern hill-base, which -is not what he desired." - -Fan Ch'uan-cheng had the grave moved and set up two tombstones. He -told the ladies they might change their husbands and marry into the -official classes, but they refused, saying that they were pledged to -isolation and poverty and could not marry again. Fan was so moved by -their reply that he exempted their husbands from national service. A -rescript of the Emperor Wen Tsung created the category of the Three -Paragons: Li Po, of poetry; P'ei Min, of swordsmanship; and Chang Hsü, -of cursive calligraphy. - -Most of the accounts of Li Po's life which have hitherto appeared are -based on the biography given in vol. v. of the "Mémoires Concernant -Les Chinois." It is evident that several of the frequently quoted -anecdotes in the "Mémoires" are partly based on a misunderstanding of -the Chinese text, partly due to the lively imagination of the Jesuits. -The Sung writer Hsieh Chung-yung arranged in chronological order all -the information about the poet's life that can be gleaned not only from -the T'ang histories, but also from the poems themselves. - -In the communications of the Gesellschaft für Natur und Völkerkunde, -1889, Dr. Florenz makes some rather haphazard and inaccurate selections -from this chronology. - -The Life in the "New T'ang History" has, I believe, never before been -translated in full. The Life in the so-called "Old T'ang History" is -shorter and contains several mistakes. Thus Li is said to have been a -native of the Province Shantung, which is certainly untrue. - -The following additional facts are based on statements in the poet's -own works. - -With regard to his marriage in A.D. 730 he writes to a friend: "The -land of Ch'u has seven swamps; I went to look at them. But at His -Excellency Hsü's house I was offered the hand of his grand-daughter, -and lingered there during the frosts of three autumns." He then seems -to have abandoned Miss Hsü, who was impatient at his lack of promotion. -He afterwards married successively Miss Lin, Miss Lu, and Miss Sung. -These were, of course, wives, not concubines. We are told that he -was fond of "going about with the dancing-girls of Chao-yang and -Chin-ling." He had one son, who died in A.D. 797. - -With regard to his part in the revolution, the "New History" seems -somewhat confused. It is probable that his sojourn in the prison at -Kiukiang took place before and not after his decree of banishment. It -is also uncertain whether he knew, when he entered the service of Lin, -that this prince was about to take up arms against the Emperor. The -Chinese have reproached Po with ingratitude to his Imperial patron, -but it would appear that he abandoned Prince Lin as soon as the latter -joined the revolution. - -A mysterious figure mentioned in the poems is the "High Priest of -Pei-hai" [in Shantung], from whom the poet received a diploma of Taoist -proficiency in A.D. 746. - -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 _chüan_, 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 _chüan_, 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 _chüan_, 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 -_chüan_ of critical and biographical matter added to the thirty _chüan_ -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 Tzu-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. - - -TRANSLATIONS - - -II. 7. KU FENG, No. 6 - - The T'ai horse cannot think of Yüeh; - The birds of Yüeh have no love for Yen. - Feeling and character grow out of habit; - A people's customs cannot be changed. - Once we marched from the Wild Goose Gate; - Now we are fighting in front of the Dragon Pen. - Startled sands blur the desert sun; - Flying snows bewilder the Tartar sky. - Lice swarm in our plumed caps and tiger coats; - Our spirits tremble like the flags we raise to the wind. - Hard fighting gets no reward or praise; - Steadfastness and truth cannot be rightly known. - Who was sorry for Li, the Swift of Wing,[16] - When his white head vanished from the Three Fronts?[17] - -[16] Li Kuang, died 125 B.C. - -[17] Manchurian, Mongolian and Turkestan frontiers. - - -III. 1. THE DISTANT PARTING - -Long ago there were two queens[18] called Huang and Ying. And they -stood on the shores of the Hsiao-hsiang, to the south of Lake -Tung-t'ing. Their sorrow was deep as the waters of the Lake that -go straight down a thousand miles. Dark clouds blackened the sun. -Shojo[19] howled in the mist and ghosts whistled in the rain. The -queens said, "Though we speak of it we cannot mend it. High Heaven is -secretly afraid to shine on our loyalty. But the thunder crashes and -bellows its anger, that while Yao and Shun are here they should also be -crowning Yü. When a prince loses his servants, the dragon turns into a -minnow. When power goes to slaves, mice change to tigers. - -[18] These queens were the daughters of the Emperor Yao, who gave them -in marriage to Shun, and abdicated in his favour. Shun's ministers -conspired against him and set "the Great Yü" on the throne. A legend -says that the spots on the bamboo-leaves which grow on the Hsiang River -were caused by the tears of these two queens. - -[19] I use the Japanese form as being more familiar. A kind of -demon-monkey is meant. - -"Some say that Yao is shackled and hidden away, and that Shun has died -in the fields. - -"But the Nine Hills of Deceit stand there in a row, each like each; -and which of them covers the lonely bones of the Double-eyed One, our -Master?" - -So the royal ladies wept, standing amid yellow clouds. Their tears -followed the winds and waves, that never return. And while they wept, -they looked out into the distance and saw the deep mountain of Tsang-wu. - -"The mountain of Tsang-wu shall fall and the waters of the Hsiang -shall cease, sooner than the marks of our tears shall fade from these -bamboo-leaves." - - * * * * * - -[Of this poem and the "Szechwan Road" a critic has said: "You could -recite them all day without growing tired of them."] - - -III. 4. THE SZECHWAN ROAD - -Eheu! How dangerous, how high! It would be easier to climb to Heaven -than to walk the Szechwan Road. - -Since Ts'an Ts'ung and Yü Fu ruled the land, forty-eight thousand -years had gone by; and still no human foot had passed from Shu to -the frontiers of Ch'in. To the west across T'ai-po Shan there was a -bird-track, by which one could cross to the ridge of O-mi. But the -earth of the hill crumbled and heroes[20] perished. - -[20] The "heroes" were five strong men sent by the King of Shu to fetch -the five daughters of the King of Ch'in. - -So afterwards they made sky ladders and hanging bridges. Above, high -beacons of rock that turn back the chariot of the sun. Below, whirling -eddies that meet the waves of the current and drive them away. Even the -wings of the yellow cranes cannot carry them across, and the monkeys -grow weary of such climbing. - -How the road curls in the pass of Green Mud! - -With nine turns in a hundred steps it twists up the hills. - -Clutching at Orion, passing the Well Star, I look up and gasp. Then -beating my breast sit and groan aloud. - -I fear I shall never return from my westward wandering; the way is -steep and the rocks cannot be climbed. - -Sometimes the voice of a bird calls among the ancient trees--a male -calling to its wife, up and down through the woods. Sometimes a -nightingale sings to the moon, weary of empty hills. - -It would be easier to climb to Heaven than to walk the Szechwan Road; -and those who hear the tale of it turn pale with fear. - -Between the hill-tops and the sky there is not a cubit's space. -Withered pine-trees hang leaning over precipitous walls. - -Flying waterfalls and rolling torrents mingle their din. Beating the -cliffs and circling the rocks, they thunder in a thousand valleys. - -Alas! O traveller, why did you come to so fearful a place? The Sword -Gate is high and jagged. If one man stood in the Pass, he could hold it -against ten thousand. - -The guardian of the Pass leaps like a wolf on all who are not his -kinsmen. - -In the daytime one hides from ravening tigers and in the night from -long serpents, that sharpen their fangs and lick blood, slaying men -like grass. - -They say the Embroidered City is a pleasant place, but I had rather be -safe at home. - -For it would be easier to climb to Heaven than to walk the Szechwan -Road. - -I turn my body and gaze longingly towards the West. - - * * * * * - -[When Li Po came to the capital and showed this poem to Ho Chih-ch'ang, -Chih-ch'ang raised his eyebrows and said: "Sir, you are not a man of -this world. You must indeed be the genius of the star T'ai-po" (xxxiv. -36).] - - -III. 15. FIGHTING - - Last year we were fighting at the source of the San-kan; - This year we are fighting at the Onion River road. - We have washed our swords in the surf of Indian seas; - We have pastured our horses among the snows of T'ien Shan. - Three armies have grown gray and old, - Fighting ten thousand leagues away from home. - The Huns have no trade but battle and carnage; - They have no pastures or ploughlands, - But only wastes where white bones lie among yellow sands. - Where the house of Ch'in built the great wall that was to keep away - the Tartars, - There, in its turn, the house of Han lit beacons of war. - The beacons are always alight; fighting and marching never stop. - Men die in the field, slashing sword to sword; - The horses of the conquered neigh piteously to Heaven. - Crows and hawks peck for human guts, - Carry them in their beaks and hang them on the branches of withered - trees. - Captains and soldiers are smeared on the bushes and grass; - The General schemed in vain. - Know therefore that the sword is a cursèd thing - Which the wise man uses only if he must. - - -III. 16. DRINKING SONG - - See the waters of the Yellow River leap down from Heaven, - Roll away to the deep sea and never turn again! - See at the mirror in the High Hall - Aged men bewailing white locks-- - In the morning, threads of silk; - In the evening flakes of snow! - Snatch the joys of life as they come and use them to the fill; - Do not leave the silver cup idly glinting at the moon. - The things Heaven made - Man was meant to use; - A thousand guilders scattered to the wind may come back again. - Roast mutton and sliced beef will only taste well - If you drink with them at one sitting three hundred cups. - Master Ts'en Ts'an, - Doctor Tan-ch'iu, - Here is wine: do not stop drinking, - But listen, please, and I will sing you a song. - - Bells and drums and fine food, what are _they_ to me, - Who only want to get drunk and never again be sober? - The Saints and Sages of old times are all stock and still; - Only the mighty drinkers of wine have left a name behind. - When the king of Ch'en gave a feast in the Palace of P'ing-lo - With twenty thousand gallons of wine he loosed mirth and play. - The master of the feast must not cry that his money is all spent; - Let him send to the tavern and fetch more, to keep your glasses - filled. - His five-flower horse and thousand-guilder coat-- - Let him call his boy to take them along and sell them for good wine, - That drinking together we may drive away the sorrows of a thousand - years. - - -III. 26. THE SUN - - O Sun that rose in the eastern corner of Earth, - Looking as though you came from under the ground, - When you crossed the sky and entered the deep sea, - Where did you stable your six dragon-steeds? - Now and of old your journeys have never ceased: - Strong were that man's limbs - Who could run beside you on your travels to and fro. - - The grass does not refuse - To flourish in the spring wind; - The leaves are not angry - At falling through the autumn sky. - Who with whip or spur - Can urge the feet of Time? - The things of the world flourish and decay, - Each at its own hour. - - Hsi-ho, Hsi-ho,[21] - Is it true that once you loitered in the West - While Lu Yang[22] raised his spear, to hold - The progress of your light; - Then plunged and sank in the turmoil of the sea? - Rebels against Heaven, slanderers of Fate; - Many defy the Way. - But _I_ will put | the Whole Lump | of Life in my bag, - And merge my being in the Primal Element. - -[21] Charioteer of the Sun. - -[22] Who, like Joshua, stopped the sun during a battle. See Huai-nan -Tzu, chap. vi. - - -IV. 19. ON THE BANKS OF JO-YEH - - By the river-side at Jo-yeh, - girls plucking lotus; - Laughing across the lotus-flowers, - each whispers to a friend. - Their powdered cheeks, lit by the sun, - are mirrored deep in the pool; - Their scented skirts, caught by the wind, - flap high in the air. - - Who are these gaily riding - along the river-bank, - Three by three and five by five, - glinting through the willow-boughs? - Deep the hoofs of their neighing roans - sink into the fallen leaves; - The riders see, for a moment pause, - and are gone with a pang at heart. - - -IV. 24. CH'ANG-KAN - - Soon after I wore my hair covering my forehead - I was plucking flowers and playing in front of the gate, - When _you_ came by, walking on bamboo-stilts - Along the trellis,[23] playing with the green plums. - We both lived in the village of Ch'ang-kan, - Two children, without hate or suspicion. - At fourteen I became your wife; - I was shame-faced and never dared smile. - I sank my head against the dark wall; - Called to a thousand times, I did not turn. - At fifteen I stopped wrinkling my brow - And desired my ashes to be mingled with your dust. - I thought you were like the man who clung to the bridge:[24] - Not guessing I should climb the Look-for-Husband Terrace,[25] - But next year you went far away, - To Ch'ü-t'ang and the Whirling Water Rocks. - In the fifth month "one should not venture there"[26] - Where wailing monkeys cluster in the cliffs above. - In front of the door, the tracks you once made - One by one have been covered by green moss-- - Moss so thick that I cannot sweep it away, - And leaves are falling in the early autumn wind. - Yellow with August the pairing butterflies - In the western garden flit from grass to grass. - The sight of these wounds my heart with pain; - As I sit and sorrow, my red cheeks fade. - Send me a letter and let me know in time - When your boat will be going through the three gorges of Pa. - I will come to meet you as far as ever you please, - Even to the dangerous sands of Ch'ang-feng. - -[23] It is hard to believe that "bed" or "chair" is meant, as hitherto -translated. "Trellis" is, however, only a guess. - -[24] A man had promised to meet a girl under a bridge. She did not -come, but although the water began to rise, he trusted so firmly in her -word, that he clung to the pillars of the bridge and waited till he was -drowned. - -[25] So called because a woman waited there so long for her husband -that she turned into stone. - -[26] Quotation from the Yangtze boatman's song: - - "When Yen-yü is as big as a man's hat - One should not venture to make for Ch'ü-t'ang." - - -VII. 4. RIVER SONG - - Of satin-wood our boat is made, - Our oars of ebony;[27] - Jade pipes and gold flutes - Play at stern and prow. - A thousand gallons of red wine - We carry in the ship's hold; - With girls on board at the waves' will - We are glad to drift or stay. - Even the rishi[28] had to wait - For a yellow crane to ride; - But the sailor[29] whose heart had no guile - Was followed by the white gulls. - Ch'ü P'ing's[30] prose and verse - Hang like the sun and moon;[31] - The king of Ch'u's arbours and towers - Are only hummocks in the ground. - With my mood at its height I wield my brush - And the Five Hills quake; - When the poem is done, my laughter soars - To the Blue Isles[32] of the sky. - Riches, Honour, Triumph, Fame, - Than that _you_ should long endure, - It were likelier the stream of the River Han - Should flow to the North-West! - -[27] A phrase from the Li Sao. - -[28] Tou Tzu-an, who was carried to Heaven by a yellow crane near -Wu-ch'ang. - -[29] A story from Lieh Tzu. - -[30] _I.e._, Ch'ü Yüan. - -[31] Practically a quotation from Ch'ü Yüan's "Life," by Ssu-ma Ch'ien. - -[32] Fairyland, sometimes thought of as being in the middle of the sea, -sometimes (as here) in the sky. - - -XIII. 11. SENT TO THE COMMISSARY YÜAN OF CH'IAO CITY, IN MEMORY OF -FORMER EXCURSIONS - -Do you remember how once at Lo-yang, Tung Tsao-ch'in built us a -wine-tower south of the T'ien-ching Bridge? - -With yellow gold and tallies of white jade we bought songs and -laughter, and we were drunk month after month, with no thought of kings -and princes, though among us were the wisest and bravest within the -Four Seas, and men of high promotion.[33] - -[33] Lit. "blue clouds people." - -(But with you above all my heart was at no cross-purpose.)[34] Going -round mountains and skirting lakes was as nothing to them. They poured -out their hearts and minds, and held nothing back. - -[34] A phrase from Chuang Tzu. - -Then I went off to Huai-nan to pluck the laurel-branches,[35] and you -stayed north of the Lo, sighing over thoughts and dreams. - -[35] Huai-nan is associated with laurel-branches, owing to a famous -poem by the King of Huai-nan. - -We could not endure separation. We sought each other out and went on -and on together, exploring the Fairy Castle.[36] - -[36] Name of a mountain. - -We followed the thirty-six bends of the twisting waters, and all along -the streams a thousand different flowers were in bloom. We passed -through ten thousand valleys, and in each we heard the voice of wind -among the pines. - -Then the Governor of Han-tung came out to meet us, on a silver saddle -with tassels of gold that reached to the ground. And the Initiate of -Tzu-yang[37] summoned us, blowing on his jade _sheng_. And Sennin music -was made in the tower of Ts'an Hsia,[38] loud as the blended voices of -phoenix and roc. - -[37] _I.e._, Hu Tzu-yang, a Taoist friend of the poet's. - -[38] Lit. "Feeding on sunset-cloud" Tower, built by Hu Tzu-yang. - -And the Governor of Han-tung, because his long sleeves would not keep -still when the flutes called to him, rose and drunkenly danced. Then he -brought his embroidered coat and covered me with it, and I slept with -my head on his lap. - -At the feast our spirits had soared to the Nine Heavens, but before -evening we were scattered like stars or rain, flying away over hills -and rivers to the frontier of Ch'u. I went back to my mountain to seek -my old nest, and you, too, went home, crossing the Wei Bridge. - -Then your father, who was brave as leopard or tiger, became Governor of -Ping-chou[39] and put down the rebel bands. And in the fifth month he -sent for me. I crossed the T'ai-hang Mountains; and though it was hard -going on the Sheep's Gut Hills, I paid no heed to broken wheels. - -[39] _I.e._, T'ai-yüan Fu. - -When at last, far on into Winter, I got to the Northern Capital,[40] I -was moved to see how much you cared for my reception and how little you -cared for the cost--amber cups and fine foods on a blue jade dish. You -made me drunk and satisfied. I had no thought of returning. - -[40] _I.e._, T'ai-yüan Fu. - -Sometimes we went out towards the western corner of the City, to where -waters like green jade flow round the temple of Shu Yü.[41] We launched -our boat and sported on the stream, while flutes and drums sounded. The -little waves were like dragon-scales, and the sedge-leaves were pale -green. When it was our mood, we took girls with us and gave ourselves -to the moments that passed, forgetting that it would soon be over, like -willow-flowers or snow. Rouged faces, flushed with drink, looked well -in the sunset. Clear water a hundred feet deep reflected the faces -of the singers--singing-girls delicate and graceful in the light of -the young moon. And the girls sang again and again to make the gauze -dresses dance. The clear wind blew the songs away into the empty sky: -the sound coiled in the air like moving clouds in flight. - -[41] A brother of Prince Ch'eng, of the Chou dynasty. - -The pleasures of those times shall never again be met with. I went West -to offer up a Ballad of Tall Willows,[42] but got no promotion at the -Northern Gate and, white-headed, went back to the Eastern Hills. - -[42] Yang Hsiung, died A.D. 18, having lived all his life in obscurity, -obtained promotion in his old age by a poem of this title. - -Once we met at the Southern end of Wei Bridge, but scattered again to -the north of the Tso Terrace. - -And if you ask me how many are my regrets at this parting, I will tell -you they come from me thick as the flowers that fall at Spring's end. - -But I cannot tell you all I feel; I could not even if I went on talking -for ever. So I call in the boy and make him kneel here and tie this up, -and send it to you, a remembrance, from a thousand miles away. - - -XV. 2. A DREAM OF T'IEN-MU MOUNTAIN - -(_Part of a Poem in Irregular Metre._) - -On through the night I flew, high over the Mirror Lake. The lake-moon -cast my shadow on the waves and travelled with me to the stream of -Shan. The Lord Hsieh's[43] lodging-place was still there. The blue -waters rippled; the cry of the apes was shrill. I shod my feet with -the shoes of the Lord Hsieh and "climbed to Heaven on a ladder of dark -clouds."[44] Half-way up, I saw the unrisen sun hiding behind the sea -and heard the Cock of Heaven crowing in the sky. By a thousand broken -paths I twisted and turned from crag to crag. My eyes grew dim. I -clutched at the rocks, and all was dark. - -[43] Hsieh Ling-yün (_circa_ A.D. 400) was a famous mountain-climber -who invented special mountain-climbing shoes. - -[44] A quotation from one of Hsieh's poems. - -The roaring of bears and the singing of dragons echoed amid the stones -and streams. The darkness of deep woods made me afraid. I trembled at -the storied cliffs. - -The clouds hung dark, as though they would rain; the air was dim with -the spray of rushing waters. - -Lightning flashed: thunder roared. Peaks and ridges tottered and broke. -Suddenly the walls of the hollow where I stood sundered with a crash, -and I looked down on a bottomless void of blue, where the sun and moon -gleamed on a terrace of silver and gold. - -A host of Beings descended--Cloud-spirits, whose coats were made of -rainbow and the horses they rode on were the winds. - - -XV. 16. PARTING WITH FRIENDS AT A WINESHOP IN NANKING - - The wind blowing through the willow-flowers fills the shop with scent; - A girl of Wu has served wine and bids the traveller taste. - The young men of Nanking have come to see me off; - I that go and you that stay | must each drink his cup. - I beg you tell the Great River | whose stream flows to the East - That thoughts of you will cling to my heart | when _he_ has ceased - to flow. - - -XV. 28. AT CHIANG-HSIA, PARTING FROM SUNG CHIH-T'I - - Clear as the sky the waters of Hupeh - Far away will join with the Blue Sea; - We whom a thousand miles will soon part - Can mend our grief only with a cup of wine. - The valley birds are singing in the bright sun; - The river monkeys wail down the evening wind. - And I, who in all my life have seldom wept, - Am weeping now with tears that will never dry. - - -XX. 1. THE WHITE RIVER AT NAN-YANG - - Wading at dawn the White River's source, - Severed a while from the common ways of men, - To islands tinged with the colours of Paradise, - Where the river sky drowns in limpid space. - While my eyes were watching the clouds that travel to the sea. - My heart was idle as the fish that swim in the stream. - With long singing I put the sun to rest: - Riding the moon,[45] came back to my fields and home. - -[45] _I.e._, "availing myself of the moonlight." - - -XX. 1. THE CLEAR COLD SPRING - -(_Literal Version._) - - Regret that dropping sun's dusk; - Love this cold stream's clearness. - Western beams follow flowing water; - Stir a ripple in wandering person's mind. - Idly sing, gazing at cloudy moon; - Song done--sound of tall pines. - - -XX. 8. GOING DOWN CHUNG-NAN MOUNTAIN AND SPENDING THE NIGHT DRINKING -WITH THE HERMIT TOU-SSU - - At dusk we left the blue mountain-head; - The mountain-moon followed our homeward steps. - We looked round: the path by which we had come - Was a dark cleft across the shoulder of the hill. - Hand in hand we reached the walls of the farm; - A young boy opened the wicker-gate. - Through green bamboos a deep road ran - Where dark creepers brushed our coats as we passed. - We were glad at last to come to a place of rest, - With wine enough to drink together to our fill, - Long I sang to the tune of the Pine-tree Wind; - When the song was over, the River-stars[46] were few. - _I_ was drunk and you happy at my side; - Till mingled joy drove the World from our hearts. - -[46] Stars of the Milky Way. - - -XXIII. 3. DRINKING ALONE BY MOONLIGHT - - A cup of wine, under the flowering-trees: (1) - I drink alone, for no friend is near. - Raising my cup, I beckon the bright moon, - For he, with my shadow, will make three men. - The moon, alas! is no drinker of wine: - Listless, my shadow creeps about at my side. - Yet with the moon as friend and the shadow as slave - I must make merry before the Spring is spent. - To the songs I sing the moon flickers her beams; - In the dance I weave my shadow tangles and breaks. - While we were sober, three shared the fun; - Now we are drunk, each goes his way. - May we long share our odd, inanimate feast, - And meet at last on the Cloudy River of the Sky.[47] - - [47] The Milky Way. - - In the third month the town of Hsien-yang (2) - Is thick-spread with a carpet of fallen flowers. - Who in Spring can bear to grieve alone? - Who, sober, look on sights like these? - Riches and Poverty, long or short life, - By the Maker of Things are portioned and disposed. - But a cup of wine levels life and death - And a thousand things obstinately hard to prove. - When I am drunk, I lose Heaven and Earth; - Motionless, I cleave to my lonely bed. - At last I forget that I exist at all, - And at _that_ moment my joy is great indeed. - - If High Heaven had no love for wine, (3) - There would not be a Wine Star in the sky. - If Earth herself had no love for wine, - There would not be a city called Wine Springs.[48] - Since Heaven and Earth both love wine, - I can love wine, without shame before God. - Clear wine was once called "a Saint;" - Thick wine was once called "a Sage."[49] - Of Saint and Sage I have long quaffed deep, - What need for me to study spirits and _hsien_?[50] - At the third cup I penetrate the Great Way; - A full gallon--Nature and I are one.... - But the things I feel when wine possesses my soul - I will never tell to those who are not drunk. - -[48] Chiu-ch'üan, in Kansuh. - -[49] "History of Wei Dynasty" (Life of Hsü Mo): "A drunken visitor -said, 'Clear wine I account a Saint: thick wine only a Sage.'" - -[50] Rishi, Immortals. - - -XXIII. 9. IN THE MOUNTAINS ON A SUMMER DAY - - Gently I stir a white feather fan, - With open shirt, sitting in a green wood. - I take off my cap and hang it on a jutting stone: - A wind from the pine-trees trickles on my bare head. - - -XXIII. 10. DRINKING TOGETHER IN THE MOUNTAINS[51] - -[51] _Cf._ _Little Review_, June, 1917, version by Sasaki and M. -Bodenheim. - - Two men drinking together where mountain flowers grow: - One cup, one cup, and again one cup. - "Now I am drunk and would like to sleep: so please go away. - Come back to-morrow, if you feel inclined, and bring your harp - with you." - - -XXIII. 10. WAKING FROM DRUNKENNESS ON A SPRING DAY - - "Life in the World is but a big dream: - I will not spoil it by any labour or care." - So saying, I was drunk all the day, - Lying helpless at the porch in front of my door. - When I woke up, I blinked at the garden lawn; - A lonely bird was singing amid the flowers. - I asked myself, had the day been wet or fine? - The Spring wind was telling the mango-bird. - Moved by its song, I soon began to sigh, - And as wine was there, I filled my own cup. - Wildly singing, I waited for the moon to rise, - When my song was over, all my senses had gone. - - -XXIII. 13. SELF-ABANDONMENT - - I sat drinking and did not notice the dusk, - Till falling petals filled the folds of my dress. - Drunken I rose and walked to the moonlit stream; - The birds were gone, and men also few. - - -XXV. 1. TO TAN CH'IU - - My friend is lodging high in the Eastern Range, - Dearly loving the beauty of valleys and hills. - At Green Spring he lies in the empty woods; - And is still asleep when the sun shines on high. - A pine-tree wind dusts his sleeves and coat; - A pebbly stream cleans his heart and ears. - I envy you, who far from strife and talk - Are high-propped on a pillow of blue cloud. - - -XXX. 8. CLEARING UP AT DAWN - - The fields are chill; the sparse rain has stopped; - The colours of Spring teem on every side. - With leaping fish the blue pond is full; - With singing thrushes the green boughs droop. - The flowers of the field have dabbled their powdered cheeks; - The mountain grasses are bent level at the waist. - By the bamboo stream the last fragments of cloud - Blown by the wind slowly scatter away. - -[Many of the above poems have been translated before, in some cases by -three or four different hands. But III. 4, III. 26, XV. 2, and XXIII. 9 -are, so far as I know, translated for the first time.] - - - - -DISCUSSION ON THE FOREGOING PAPER - - -THE CHAIRMAN (MR. GEORGE JAMIESON): Mr. Li T'ai-po was, I am afraid, -a bit of a Bohemian (laughter), and his Bacchanalian experiences have -been repeated in later days even with the great poets. I am sure you -will all join with me in expressing a hearty vote of thanks to Mr. -Waley for his address and the very felicitous language in which he has -translated a number of these ancient poems. I trust his paper will -be printed and preserved with the rest of our publications, because -these poems, as far as I can judge--but hearing them read does not -impress one so much as reading them at leisure--are well worthy of -careful perusal. It is curious to note how unchangeable and immobile -China is. At the time these poems were written we in Great Britain -were living under King Alfred and trying to keep out the Danes and -other things. (Laughter.) I can tell you that the Szechwan Road as -described in the poem that Mr. Waley has read is just the same now -as it was when the poem was written. And the social conditions of -the people are the same now as they were at that time. I have often -thought that Chinese poets are very limited in their range. They -seem to be deficient in the quality of imagination. China has never -produced a great epic poem. Of course I speak subject to correction, -but I believe I am right in saying that China has never produced a -poet comparable with Homer, Dante, Virgil, or Milton. There has been -no one born with the power of telling a story like Homer. The poets of -China appear to me to be emotional and descriptive, but incapable of -any high flights of imagination. I think that Macaulay says that great -flights of imagination are peculiar to the early periods of a nation's -civilization, and that story-telling reaches its highest form as an art -before printing has been much in vogue. - -Mr. M. F. A. FRASER: I have listened to this lecture with the greatest -interest. The English was particularly pleasing, and I am glad that the -lecturer has broken away from the old custom of seeking rhymes, and -followed the French custom in the translation of these poems. A man -may be an excellent writer and translator, and not be a poet, but to -translate foreign poetry into English considerable literary gifts are -required. - -Mr. PAUL KING: All of you who have been lately in China must be struck -with the extraordinary difference between the China described in these -poems and the China which has come into being since the revolution. -Ideas of a very practical nature have now taken possession of the -people. And then, what about modern Chinese poets? Do any of us know -of any? In my intercourse with the Chinese I cannot recall a modern -Chinese who was a poet. It is possible that I may have met one, and -that he concealed his poetic gifts. (Laughter.) Our lecturer tells us, -however, that he knows certain Chinese poets. It would be interesting -to know if they are publishing their poems, and how they would compare -with the work of the older poets in our possession. - -Mr. L. Y. CHEN: I should like to join in congratulating Mr. Waley on -his very learned paper and beautiful translations. It is quite true -that there are no epic poems in Chinese literature. This form of poetry -has not been introduced in China, but I differ with your statement, -Sir, that Chinese poetry lacks imagination. (Applause.) I could give -you many instances to the contrary, though not from memory. The last -speaker's remark that the present China is different from what China is -in Chinese poetry may be true, but I may well retort that the England -as represented in Shakespeare is very different from the England of -to-day. (Laughter and cheers.) And Li T'ai-po lived many hundred years -ago, but Shakespeare lived at a more recent period. Human nature has -two states, the spiritual and the practical. You can combine the two. -If you have the practical it does not necessarily follow that you are -lacking in the spiritual. As for present-day Chinese poets, there are -several famous ones in China. - -Since the lecturer has raised the question whether Li T'ai-po or Tu -Fu is the greater poet, I would say that the Chinese of the present -day consider Tu Fu to be the greater. It strikes me as curious that -European people who know something about Chinese poetry should prefer -Li T'ai-po. Perhaps very few people have heard of Tu Fu. Certainly -there is no translation of the most important of Tu Fu's poems in the -English language. In China every child who has studied poetry knows -something about Tu Fu's poems. Tu Fu is placed first by the Chinese -because he is the greatest national poet. He expresses national -feelings in a way that can be appreciated by everybody. Li T'ai-po's -poems deal chiefly with wine and women, love and sensual things, but -Tu Fu's poems are full of men and women, elderly people and children, -their joy, their anguish, the hardship of the soldier, and things of -that sort. In a word, Tu Fu's poetry expresses what we ordinary men and -women wish to express and cannot. - -Mr. G. WILLOUGHBY-MEADE: One or two observations occur to me in -connection with the translation of this poetry into English. The two -greatest reading publics are the Anglo-American and the Chinese. The -Anglo-American people have produced an enormous amount of poetry which -they do not often quote, and the Chinese have produced an enormous -amount of poetry which, according to experts, they quote a great deal. -Now, at the present moment that peculiar British shyness for quoting -poetry seems to have largely disappeared in consequence of the writings -of soldier poets. These poems have been written under conditions of -great danger, difficulty, and discomfort, and it seems to me that it -would be a very good thing if poetry illustrating the thought of these -men could be placed before the Anglo-American public. - -The CHAIRMAN proposed a hearty vote of thanks to the Lecturer, which -was carried by acclamation. - - - - - PRINTED BY - BILLING AND SONS, LTD. - GUILDFORD, ENGLAND - - * * * * * - -Transcriber's Note - -p. 10 "Ch'i Kuan" changed to "Ch'i Kuan"" - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Poet Li Po, by Arthur Waley and Bai Li - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POET LI PO *** - -***** This file should be named 43274-8.txt or 43274-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/2/7/43274/ - -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) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: ASCII - -*** 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. 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 -Chue-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. - -"Tu Fu's poems are very numerous; perhaps about 1,000 of them are worth -preserving. In the art of stringing together allusions ancient and -modern and in the skill of his versification in the regular metres he -even excels Li Po. But such poems as the 'Pressgang,'[1] and such lines -as - -[1] Giles, "Chinese Poetry," p. 90. - - "'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 Yuean Chen (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 Yuean Chen." - -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 "Yue Yin Ts'ung Hua," Hu Tzu (_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. Translators have naturally made their selections -as varied as possible, so that many of those who know the poet only in -translation might feel inclined to defend him on this score. According -to Wang An-shih, his two subjects are wine and women. The second does -not, of course, imply love-poetry, but sentiments put into the mouths -of deserted wives and concubines. Such themes are always felt by the -Chinese to be in part allegorical, the deserted lady symbolizing the -minister whose counsels a wicked monarch will not heed. - -Such poems form the dullest section of Chinese poetry, and are -certainly frequent in Li's works. But his most monotonous feature -is the mechanical recurrence of certain reflections about the -impermanence of human things, as opposed to the immutability of Nature. -Probably about half the poems contain some reference to the fact that -rivers do not return to their sources, while man changes hour by hour. - -The obsession of impermanence has often been sublimated into great -mystic poetry. In Li Po it results only in endless restatement of -obvious facts. - -It has, I think, been generally realized that his strength lies not -in the content, but in the form of his poetry. Above all, he was a -song-writer. Most of the pieces translated previously and most of those -I am going to read to-day are songs, not poems. It is noteworthy that -his tombstone bore the inscription, "His skill lay in the writing of -archaic songs." His immediate predecessors had carried to the highest -refinement the art of writing in elaborate patterns of tone. In -Li's whole works there are said to be only nine poems in the strict -seven-character metre. Most of his familiar short poems are in the old -style, which neglects the formal arrangement of tones. The value of his -poetry lay in beauty of words, not in beauty of thought. Unfortunately -no one either here or in China can appreciate the music of his verse, -for we do not know how Chinese was pronounced in the eighth century. -Even to the modern Chinese, his poetry exists more for the eye than for -the ear. - -The last point to which I shall refer is the extreme allusiveness of -his poems. This characteristic, common to most Chinese poetry, is -carried to an extreme point in the fifty-nine Old Style poems with -which the works begin. Not only do they bristle with the names of -historical personages, but almost every phrase is borrowed from some -classic. One is tempted to quarrel with Wang An-shih's statement that -people liked the poems because they were easy to enjoy. No modern could -understand them without pages of commentary to each poem. But Chinese -poetry, with a few exceptions, has been written on this principle -since the Han dynasty; one poet alone, Po Chue-i, broke through the -restraints of pedantry, erasing every expression that his charwoman -could not understand. - -Translators have naturally avoided the most allusive poems and have -omitted or generalized such allusions as occurred. They have frequently -failed to recognize allusions as such, and have mistranslated them -accordingly, often turning proper names into romantic sentiments. - -Li's reputation, like all success, is due partly to accident. After -suffering a temporary eclipse during the Sung dynasty, he came back -into favour in the sixteenth century, when most of the popular -anthologies were made. These compilations devote an inordinate space -to his works, and he has been held in corresponding esteem by a public -whose knowledge of poetry is chiefly confined to anthologies. - -Serious literary criticism has been dead in China since that time, and -the valuations then made are still accepted. - -Like Miss Havisham's clock, which stopped at twenty to nine on her -wedding-day, the clock of Chinese esteem stopped at Li Po centuries -ago, and has stuck there ever since. - -But I venture to surmise that if a dozen representative English poets -could read Chinese poetry in the original, they would none of them give -either the first or second place to Li Po. - - -XXXI. 25. - -LIFE OF LI PO, FROM THE "NEW HISTORY OF THE T'ANG DYNASTY," COMPOSED IN -THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. - -Li Po, styled T'ai-po, was descended in the ninth generation from -the Emperor Hsing-sheng.[2] One of his ancestors was charged with a -crime at the end of the Sui dynasty,[3] and took refuge in Turkestan. -At the beginning of the period Shen-lung[4] the family returned and -settled in Pa-hsi.[5] At his birth Po's mother dreamt of the planet -Ch'ang-keng [Venus], and that was why he was called Po.[6] - -[2] _I.e._, Li Kao. - -[3] A.D. 581-618. - -[4] A.D. 705-707. - -[5] In Szechwan. - -[6] "Po," "white," was a popular name of the Planet Venus. - -At ten he had mastered the Book of Odes and Book of History. When he -grew up he retired to the Min Mountains, and even when summoned to the -provincial examinations he made no response. When Su T'ing[7] became -Governor of I-chou, he was introduced to Po, and was astonished by -him, remarking: "This man has conspicuous natural talents. If he had -more learning he would be a second Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju."[8] However, he -was interested in politics and fond of fencing, becoming one of those -knight-errants who care nothing for wealth and much for almsgiving. - -[7] Giles, Biog. Dict., No. 1,789. - -[8] Giles, No. 1,753. - -Once he stayed at Jen-ch'eng[9] with K'ung Ch'ao-fu, Han Chun, P'ei -Cheng, Chang Shu-ming, and T'ao Mien. They lived on Mount Ch'u Lai, and -were dead drunk every day. People called them the Six Hermits of the -Bamboo Stream. - -[9] In Shantung. - -At the beginning of the T'ien-pao period[10] he went south to Kuei-chi, -and became intimate with Wu Yuen. Wu Yuen was summoned by the Emperor, -and Po went with him to Ch'ang-an. Here he visited Ho Chih-chang. -When Chih-chang read some of his work, he sighed and said: "You are -an exiled fairy." He told the Emperor, who sent for Po and gave him -audience in the Golden Bells Hall. The poet submitted an essay dealing -with current events. The Emperor bestowed food upon him and stirred -the soup with his own hand. He ordered that he should be unofficially -attached to the Han Lin Academy, but Po went on drinking in the -market-place with his boon-companions. - -[10] _Circa_ A.D. 742. - -Once when the Emperor was sitting in the Pavilion of Aloes Wood, he had -a sudden stirring of heart, and wanted Po to write a song expressive of -his mood. When Po entered in obedience to the summons, he was so drunk -that the courtiers were obliged to dab his face with water. When he had -recovered a little, he seized a brush and without any effort wrote a -composition of flawless grace. - -The Emperor was so pleased with Po's talent that whenever he was -feasting or drinking he always had this poet to wait upon him. Once -when Po was drunk the Emperor ordered [the eunuch] Kao Li-shih to take -off Po's shoes. Li-shih, who thought such a task beneath him, took -revenge by affecting to discover in one of Po's poems a veiled attack -on [the Emperor's mistress] Yang Kuei-fei. - -Whenever the Emperor thought of giving the poet some official rank, -Kuei-fei intervened and dissuaded him. - -Po himself, soon realizing that he was unsuited to Court life, allowed -his conduct to become more and more reckless and unrestrained. - -Together with his friends Ho Chih-chang, Li Shih-chih, Chin, Prince of -Ju-yang, Ts'ui Tsung-chih, Su Chin, Chang Hsue, and Chiao Sui, he formed -the association known as the Eight Immortals of the Winecup. - -He begged persistently to be allowed to retire from Court. At last the -Emperor gave him gold and sent him away. Po roamed the country in every -direction. Once he went by boat with Ts'ui Tsung-chih from Pien-shih to -Nanking. He wore his embroidered Court cloak and sat as proudly in the -boat as though he were king of the universe. - -When the An Lu-shan revolution broke out, he took to living sometimes -at Su-sung, sometimes on Mount K'uang-lu. - -Lin, Prince of Yung, gave him the post of assistant on his staff. When -Lin took up arms, he fled to P'eng-tse. When Lin was defeated, Po was -condemned to death. When Po first visited T'ai-yuean Fu, he had seen -and admired Kuo Tzu-i.[11] On one occasion, when Tzu-i was accused of -breaking the law, Li Po had come to his assistance and had him released. - -[11] A famous General, the saviour of the dynasty. - -Now, hearing of Po's predicament, Tzu-i threatened to resign unless Po -were saved. The Emperor remitted the sentence of death and changed it -to one of perpetual exile at Yeh-lang.[12] But when the amnesty was -declared he came back to Kiukiang. Here he was put on trial and sent to -gaol. But it happened that Sung Jo-ssu was marching to Honan with three -thousand soldiers from Kiangsu. He passed through Kiukiang on his way, -and released the prisoners there. He gave Li Po an appointment on his -staff. Po soon resigned. - -[12] In Yunnan. - -When Li Yang-ping became Governor of T'ang-tu, Po went to live near him. - -The Emperor Tai Tsung[13] wished to raise him to the rank of Senior -Reviser. But when the order came Po was already dead, having reached -the age of somewhat over sixty. His last years were devoted to the -study of Taoism. - -[13] Reigned 763-780. - -He once crossed the Bull Island Eddies and, reaching Ku-shu, was -delighted by a place called the Green Hill, which lay in the estate of -the Hsieh family. He expressed a desire to be buried there, but when he -died they buried him at Tung-lin. - -At the end of the period Yuean-ho,[14] Fan Ch'uan-cheng, Governor of the -districts Hsuean and She [in Anhui], poured a libation on his grave and -forbade the woodmen to cut down the trees which grew there. - -[14] 806-821. - -He sought for Li Po's descendants, but could only find two -grand-daughters, who had both married common peasants, but still -retained an air of good breeding. They appeared before the Governor -weeping, and said: "Our grandfather's wish was to be buried on top of -the Green Hill. But they made his grave at the eastern hill-base, which -is not what he desired." - -Fan Ch'uan-cheng had the grave moved and set up two tombstones. He -told the ladies they might change their husbands and marry into the -official classes, but they refused, saying that they were pledged to -isolation and poverty and could not marry again. Fan was so moved by -their reply that he exempted their husbands from national service. A -rescript of the Emperor Wen Tsung created the category of the Three -Paragons: Li Po, of poetry; P'ei Min, of swordsmanship; and Chang Hsue, -of cursive calligraphy. - -Most of the accounts of Li Po's life which have hitherto appeared are -based on the biography given in vol. v. of the "Memoires Concernant -Les Chinois." It is evident that several of the frequently quoted -anecdotes in the "Memoires" are partly based on a misunderstanding of -the Chinese text, partly due to the lively imagination of the Jesuits. -The Sung writer Hsieh Chung-yung arranged in chronological order all -the information about the poet's life that can be gleaned not only from -the T'ang histories, but also from the poems themselves. - -In the communications of the Gesellschaft fuer Natur und Voelkerkunde, -1889, Dr. Florenz makes some rather haphazard and inaccurate selections -from this chronology. - -The Life in the "New T'ang History" has, I believe, never before been -translated in full. The Life in the so-called "Old T'ang History" is -shorter and contains several mistakes. Thus Li is said to have been a -native of the Province Shantung, which is certainly untrue. - -The following additional facts are based on statements in the poet's -own works. - -With regard to his marriage in A.D. 730 he writes to a friend: "The -land of Ch'u has seven swamps; I went to look at them. But at His -Excellency Hsue's house I was offered the hand of his grand-daughter, -and lingered there during the frosts of three autumns." He then seems -to have abandoned Miss Hsue, who was impatient at his lack of promotion. -He afterwards married successively Miss Lin, Miss Lu, and Miss Sung. -These were, of course, wives, not concubines. We are told that he -was fond of "going about with the dancing-girls of Chao-yang and -Chin-ling." He had one son, who died in A.D. 797. - -With regard to his part in the revolution, the "New History" seems -somewhat confused. It is probable that his sojourn in the prison at -Kiukiang took place before and not after his decree of banishment. It -is also uncertain whether he knew, when he entered the service of Lin, -that this prince was about to take up arms against the Emperor. The -Chinese have reproached Po with ingratitude to his Imperial patron, -but it would appear that he abandoned Prince Lin as soon as the latter -joined the revolution. - -A mysterious figure mentioned in the poems is the "High Priest of -Pei-hai" [in Shantung], from whom the poet received a diploma of Taoist -proficiency in A.D. 746. - -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 _chuean_, 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 _chuean_, 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 _chuean_, 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 -_chuean_ of critical and biographical matter added to the thirty _chuean_ -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 Tzu-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. - - -TRANSLATIONS - - -II. 7. KU FENG, No. 6 - - The T'ai horse cannot think of Yueeh; - The birds of Yueeh have no love for Yen. - Feeling and character grow out of habit; - A people's customs cannot be changed. - Once we marched from the Wild Goose Gate; - Now we are fighting in front of the Dragon Pen. - Startled sands blur the desert sun; - Flying snows bewilder the Tartar sky. - Lice swarm in our plumed caps and tiger coats; - Our spirits tremble like the flags we raise to the wind. - Hard fighting gets no reward or praise; - Steadfastness and truth cannot be rightly known. - Who was sorry for Li, the Swift of Wing,[16] - When his white head vanished from the Three Fronts?[17] - -[16] Li Kuang, died 125 B.C. - -[17] Manchurian, Mongolian and Turkestan frontiers. - - -III. 1. THE DISTANT PARTING - -Long ago there were two queens[18] called Huang and Ying. And they -stood on the shores of the Hsiao-hsiang, to the south of Lake -Tung-t'ing. Their sorrow was deep as the waters of the Lake that -go straight down a thousand miles. Dark clouds blackened the sun. -Shojo[19] howled in the mist and ghosts whistled in the rain. The -queens said, "Though we speak of it we cannot mend it. High Heaven is -secretly afraid to shine on our loyalty. But the thunder crashes and -bellows its anger, that while Yao and Shun are here they should also be -crowning Yue. When a prince loses his servants, the dragon turns into a -minnow. When power goes to slaves, mice change to tigers. - -[18] These queens were the daughters of the Emperor Yao, who gave them -in marriage to Shun, and abdicated in his favour. Shun's ministers -conspired against him and set "the Great Yue" on the throne. A legend -says that the spots on the bamboo-leaves which grow on the Hsiang River -were caused by the tears of these two queens. - -[19] I use the Japanese form as being more familiar. A kind of -demon-monkey is meant. - -"Some say that Yao is shackled and hidden away, and that Shun has died -in the fields. - -"But the Nine Hills of Deceit stand there in a row, each like each; -and which of them covers the lonely bones of the Double-eyed One, our -Master?" - -So the royal ladies wept, standing amid yellow clouds. Their tears -followed the winds and waves, that never return. And while they wept, -they looked out into the distance and saw the deep mountain of Tsang-wu. - -"The mountain of Tsang-wu shall fall and the waters of the Hsiang -shall cease, sooner than the marks of our tears shall fade from these -bamboo-leaves." - - * * * * * - -[Of this poem and the "Szechwan Road" a critic has said: "You could -recite them all day without growing tired of them."] - - -III. 4. THE SZECHWAN ROAD - -Eheu! How dangerous, how high! It would be easier to climb to Heaven -than to walk the Szechwan Road. - -Since Ts'an Ts'ung and Yue Fu ruled the land, forty-eight thousand -years had gone by; and still no human foot had passed from Shu to -the frontiers of Ch'in. To the west across T'ai-po Shan there was a -bird-track, by which one could cross to the ridge of O-mi. But the -earth of the hill crumbled and heroes[20] perished. - -[20] The "heroes" were five strong men sent by the King of Shu to fetch -the five daughters of the King of Ch'in. - -So afterwards they made sky ladders and hanging bridges. Above, high -beacons of rock that turn back the chariot of the sun. Below, whirling -eddies that meet the waves of the current and drive them away. Even the -wings of the yellow cranes cannot carry them across, and the monkeys -grow weary of such climbing. - -How the road curls in the pass of Green Mud! - -With nine turns in a hundred steps it twists up the hills. - -Clutching at Orion, passing the Well Star, I look up and gasp. Then -beating my breast sit and groan aloud. - -I fear I shall never return from my westward wandering; the way is -steep and the rocks cannot be climbed. - -Sometimes the voice of a bird calls among the ancient trees--a male -calling to its wife, up and down through the woods. Sometimes a -nightingale sings to the moon, weary of empty hills. - -It would be easier to climb to Heaven than to walk the Szechwan Road; -and those who hear the tale of it turn pale with fear. - -Between the hill-tops and the sky there is not a cubit's space. -Withered pine-trees hang leaning over precipitous walls. - -Flying waterfalls and rolling torrents mingle their din. Beating the -cliffs and circling the rocks, they thunder in a thousand valleys. - -Alas! O traveller, why did you come to so fearful a place? The Sword -Gate is high and jagged. If one man stood in the Pass, he could hold it -against ten thousand. - -The guardian of the Pass leaps like a wolf on all who are not his -kinsmen. - -In the daytime one hides from ravening tigers and in the night from -long serpents, that sharpen their fangs and lick blood, slaying men -like grass. - -They say the Embroidered City is a pleasant place, but I had rather be -safe at home. - -For it would be easier to climb to Heaven than to walk the Szechwan -Road. - -I turn my body and gaze longingly towards the West. - - * * * * * - -[When Li Po came to the capital and showed this poem to Ho Chih-ch'ang, -Chih-ch'ang raised his eyebrows and said: "Sir, you are not a man of -this world. You must indeed be the genius of the star T'ai-po" (xxxiv. -36).] - - -III. 15. FIGHTING - - Last year we were fighting at the source of the San-kan; - This year we are fighting at the Onion River road. - We have washed our swords in the surf of Indian seas; - We have pastured our horses among the snows of T'ien Shan. - Three armies have grown gray and old, - Fighting ten thousand leagues away from home. - The Huns have no trade but battle and carnage; - They have no pastures or ploughlands, - But only wastes where white bones lie among yellow sands. - Where the house of Ch'in built the great wall that was to keep away - the Tartars, - There, in its turn, the house of Han lit beacons of war. - The beacons are always alight; fighting and marching never stop. - Men die in the field, slashing sword to sword; - The horses of the conquered neigh piteously to Heaven. - Crows and hawks peck for human guts, - Carry them in their beaks and hang them on the branches of withered - trees. - Captains and soldiers are smeared on the bushes and grass; - The General schemed in vain. - Know therefore that the sword is a cursed thing - Which the wise man uses only if he must. - - -III. 16. DRINKING SONG - - See the waters of the Yellow River leap down from Heaven, - Roll away to the deep sea and never turn again! - See at the mirror in the High Hall - Aged men bewailing white locks-- - In the morning, threads of silk; - In the evening flakes of snow! - Snatch the joys of life as they come and use them to the fill; - Do not leave the silver cup idly glinting at the moon. - The things Heaven made - Man was meant to use; - A thousand guilders scattered to the wind may come back again. - Roast mutton and sliced beef will only taste well - If you drink with them at one sitting three hundred cups. - Master Ts'en Ts'an, - Doctor Tan-ch'iu, - Here is wine: do not stop drinking, - But listen, please, and I will sing you a song. - - Bells and drums and fine food, what are _they_ to me, - Who only want to get drunk and never again be sober? - The Saints and Sages of old times are all stock and still; - Only the mighty drinkers of wine have left a name behind. - When the king of Ch'en gave a feast in the Palace of P'ing-lo - With twenty thousand gallons of wine he loosed mirth and play. - The master of the feast must not cry that his money is all spent; - Let him send to the tavern and fetch more, to keep your glasses - filled. - His five-flower horse and thousand-guilder coat-- - Let him call his boy to take them along and sell them for good wine, - That drinking together we may drive away the sorrows of a thousand - years. - - -III. 26. THE SUN - - O Sun that rose in the eastern corner of Earth, - Looking as though you came from under the ground, - When you crossed the sky and entered the deep sea, - Where did you stable your six dragon-steeds? - Now and of old your journeys have never ceased: - Strong were that man's limbs - Who could run beside you on your travels to and fro. - - The grass does not refuse - To flourish in the spring wind; - The leaves are not angry - At falling through the autumn sky. - Who with whip or spur - Can urge the feet of Time? - The things of the world flourish and decay, - Each at its own hour. - - Hsi-ho, Hsi-ho,[21] - Is it true that once you loitered in the West - While Lu Yang[22] raised his spear, to hold - The progress of your light; - Then plunged and sank in the turmoil of the sea? - Rebels against Heaven, slanderers of Fate; - Many defy the Way. - But _I_ will put | the Whole Lump | of Life in my bag, - And merge my being in the Primal Element. - -[21] Charioteer of the Sun. - -[22] Who, like Joshua, stopped the sun during a battle. See Huai-nan -Tzu, chap. vi. - - -IV. 19. ON THE BANKS OF JO-YEH - - By the river-side at Jo-yeh, - girls plucking lotus; - Laughing across the lotus-flowers, - each whispers to a friend. - Their powdered cheeks, lit by the sun, - are mirrored deep in the pool; - Their scented skirts, caught by the wind, - flap high in the air. - - Who are these gaily riding - along the river-bank, - Three by three and five by five, - glinting through the willow-boughs? - Deep the hoofs of their neighing roans - sink into the fallen leaves; - The riders see, for a moment pause, - and are gone with a pang at heart. - - -IV. 24. CH'ANG-KAN - - Soon after I wore my hair covering my forehead - I was plucking flowers and playing in front of the gate, - When _you_ came by, walking on bamboo-stilts - Along the trellis,[23] playing with the green plums. - We both lived in the village of Ch'ang-kan, - Two children, without hate or suspicion. - At fourteen I became your wife; - I was shame-faced and never dared smile. - I sank my head against the dark wall; - Called to a thousand times, I did not turn. - At fifteen I stopped wrinkling my brow - And desired my ashes to be mingled with your dust. - I thought you were like the man who clung to the bridge:[24] - Not guessing I should climb the Look-for-Husband Terrace,[25] - But next year you went far away, - To Ch'ue-t'ang and the Whirling Water Rocks. - In the fifth month "one should not venture there"[26] - Where wailing monkeys cluster in the cliffs above. - In front of the door, the tracks you once made - One by one have been covered by green moss-- - Moss so thick that I cannot sweep it away, - And leaves are falling in the early autumn wind. - Yellow with August the pairing butterflies - In the western garden flit from grass to grass. - The sight of these wounds my heart with pain; - As I sit and sorrow, my red cheeks fade. - Send me a letter and let me know in time - When your boat will be going through the three gorges of Pa. - I will come to meet you as far as ever you please, - Even to the dangerous sands of Ch'ang-feng. - -[23] It is hard to believe that "bed" or "chair" is meant, as hitherto -translated. "Trellis" is, however, only a guess. - -[24] A man had promised to meet a girl under a bridge. She did not -come, but although the water began to rise, he trusted so firmly in her -word, that he clung to the pillars of the bridge and waited till he was -drowned. - -[25] So called because a woman waited there so long for her husband -that she turned into stone. - -[26] Quotation from the Yangtze boatman's song: - - "When Yen-yue is as big as a man's hat - One should not venture to make for Ch'ue-t'ang." - - -VII. 4. RIVER SONG - - Of satin-wood our boat is made, - Our oars of ebony;[27] - Jade pipes and gold flutes - Play at stern and prow. - A thousand gallons of red wine - We carry in the ship's hold; - With girls on board at the waves' will - We are glad to drift or stay. - Even the rishi[28] had to wait - For a yellow crane to ride; - But the sailor[29] whose heart had no guile - Was followed by the white gulls. - Ch'ue P'ing's[30] prose and verse - Hang like the sun and moon;[31] - The king of Ch'u's arbours and towers - Are only hummocks in the ground. - With my mood at its height I wield my brush - And the Five Hills quake; - When the poem is done, my laughter soars - To the Blue Isles[32] of the sky. - Riches, Honour, Triumph, Fame, - Than that _you_ should long endure, - It were likelier the stream of the River Han - Should flow to the North-West! - -[27] A phrase from the Li Sao. - -[28] Tou Tzu-an, who was carried to Heaven by a yellow crane near -Wu-ch'ang. - -[29] A story from Lieh Tzu. - -[30] _I.e._, Ch'ue Yuean. - -[31] Practically a quotation from Ch'ue Yuean's "Life," by Ssu-ma Ch'ien. - -[32] Fairyland, sometimes thought of as being in the middle of the sea, -sometimes (as here) in the sky. - - -XIII. 11. SENT TO THE COMMISSARY YUeAN OF CH'IAO CITY, IN MEMORY OF -FORMER EXCURSIONS - -Do you remember how once at Lo-yang, Tung Tsao-ch'in built us a -wine-tower south of the T'ien-ching Bridge? - -With yellow gold and tallies of white jade we bought songs and -laughter, and we were drunk month after month, with no thought of kings -and princes, though among us were the wisest and bravest within the -Four Seas, and men of high promotion.[33] - -[33] Lit. "blue clouds people." - -(But with you above all my heart was at no cross-purpose.)[34] Going -round mountains and skirting lakes was as nothing to them. They poured -out their hearts and minds, and held nothing back. - -[34] A phrase from Chuang Tzu. - -Then I went off to Huai-nan to pluck the laurel-branches,[35] and you -stayed north of the Lo, sighing over thoughts and dreams. - -[35] Huai-nan is associated with laurel-branches, owing to a famous -poem by the King of Huai-nan. - -We could not endure separation. We sought each other out and went on -and on together, exploring the Fairy Castle.[36] - -[36] Name of a mountain. - -We followed the thirty-six bends of the twisting waters, and all along -the streams a thousand different flowers were in bloom. We passed -through ten thousand valleys, and in each we heard the voice of wind -among the pines. - -Then the Governor of Han-tung came out to meet us, on a silver saddle -with tassels of gold that reached to the ground. And the Initiate of -Tzu-yang[37] summoned us, blowing on his jade _sheng_. And Sennin music -was made in the tower of Ts'an Hsia,[38] loud as the blended voices of -phoenix and roc. - -[37] _I.e._, Hu Tzu-yang, a Taoist friend of the poet's. - -[38] Lit. "Feeding on sunset-cloud" Tower, built by Hu Tzu-yang. - -And the Governor of Han-tung, because his long sleeves would not keep -still when the flutes called to him, rose and drunkenly danced. Then he -brought his embroidered coat and covered me with it, and I slept with -my head on his lap. - -At the feast our spirits had soared to the Nine Heavens, but before -evening we were scattered like stars or rain, flying away over hills -and rivers to the frontier of Ch'u. I went back to my mountain to seek -my old nest, and you, too, went home, crossing the Wei Bridge. - -Then your father, who was brave as leopard or tiger, became Governor of -Ping-chou[39] and put down the rebel bands. And in the fifth month he -sent for me. I crossed the T'ai-hang Mountains; and though it was hard -going on the Sheep's Gut Hills, I paid no heed to broken wheels. - -[39] _I.e._, T'ai-yuean Fu. - -When at last, far on into Winter, I got to the Northern Capital,[40] I -was moved to see how much you cared for my reception and how little you -cared for the cost--amber cups and fine foods on a blue jade dish. You -made me drunk and satisfied. I had no thought of returning. - -[40] _I.e._, T'ai-yuean Fu. - -Sometimes we went out towards the western corner of the City, to where -waters like green jade flow round the temple of Shu Yue.[41] We launched -our boat and sported on the stream, while flutes and drums sounded. The -little waves were like dragon-scales, and the sedge-leaves were pale -green. When it was our mood, we took girls with us and gave ourselves -to the moments that passed, forgetting that it would soon be over, like -willow-flowers or snow. Rouged faces, flushed with drink, looked well -in the sunset. Clear water a hundred feet deep reflected the faces -of the singers--singing-girls delicate and graceful in the light of -the young moon. And the girls sang again and again to make the gauze -dresses dance. The clear wind blew the songs away into the empty sky: -the sound coiled in the air like moving clouds in flight. - -[41] A brother of Prince Ch'eng, of the Chou dynasty. - -The pleasures of those times shall never again be met with. I went West -to offer up a Ballad of Tall Willows,[42] but got no promotion at the -Northern Gate and, white-headed, went back to the Eastern Hills. - -[42] Yang Hsiung, died A.D. 18, having lived all his life in obscurity, -obtained promotion in his old age by a poem of this title. - -Once we met at the Southern end of Wei Bridge, but scattered again to -the north of the Tso Terrace. - -And if you ask me how many are my regrets at this parting, I will tell -you they come from me thick as the flowers that fall at Spring's end. - -But I cannot tell you all I feel; I could not even if I went on talking -for ever. So I call in the boy and make him kneel here and tie this up, -and send it to you, a remembrance, from a thousand miles away. - - -XV. 2. A DREAM OF T'IEN-MU MOUNTAIN - -(_Part of a Poem in Irregular Metre._) - -On through the night I flew, high over the Mirror Lake. The lake-moon -cast my shadow on the waves and travelled with me to the stream of -Shan. The Lord Hsieh's[43] lodging-place was still there. The blue -waters rippled; the cry of the apes was shrill. I shod my feet with -the shoes of the Lord Hsieh and "climbed to Heaven on a ladder of dark -clouds."[44] Half-way up, I saw the unrisen sun hiding behind the sea -and heard the Cock of Heaven crowing in the sky. By a thousand broken -paths I twisted and turned from crag to crag. My eyes grew dim. I -clutched at the rocks, and all was dark. - -[43] Hsieh Ling-yuen (_circa_ A.D. 400) was a famous mountain-climber -who invented special mountain-climbing shoes. - -[44] A quotation from one of Hsieh's poems. - -The roaring of bears and the singing of dragons echoed amid the stones -and streams. The darkness of deep woods made me afraid. I trembled at -the storied cliffs. - -The clouds hung dark, as though they would rain; the air was dim with -the spray of rushing waters. - -Lightning flashed: thunder roared. Peaks and ridges tottered and broke. -Suddenly the walls of the hollow where I stood sundered with a crash, -and I looked down on a bottomless void of blue, where the sun and moon -gleamed on a terrace of silver and gold. - -A host of Beings descended--Cloud-spirits, whose coats were made of -rainbow and the horses they rode on were the winds. - - -XV. 16. PARTING WITH FRIENDS AT A WINESHOP IN NANKING - - The wind blowing through the willow-flowers fills the shop with scent; - A girl of Wu has served wine and bids the traveller taste. - The young men of Nanking have come to see me off; - I that go and you that stay | must each drink his cup. - I beg you tell the Great River | whose stream flows to the East - That thoughts of you will cling to my heart | when _he_ has ceased - to flow. - - -XV. 28. AT CHIANG-HSIA, PARTING FROM SUNG CHIH-T'I - - Clear as the sky the waters of Hupeh - Far away will join with the Blue Sea; - We whom a thousand miles will soon part - Can mend our grief only with a cup of wine. - The valley birds are singing in the bright sun; - The river monkeys wail down the evening wind. - And I, who in all my life have seldom wept, - Am weeping now with tears that will never dry. - - -XX. 1. THE WHITE RIVER AT NAN-YANG - - Wading at dawn the White River's source, - Severed a while from the common ways of men, - To islands tinged with the colours of Paradise, - Where the river sky drowns in limpid space. - While my eyes were watching the clouds that travel to the sea. - My heart was idle as the fish that swim in the stream. - With long singing I put the sun to rest: - Riding the moon,[45] came back to my fields and home. - -[45] _I.e._, "availing myself of the moonlight." - - -XX. 1. THE CLEAR COLD SPRING - -(_Literal Version._) - - Regret that dropping sun's dusk; - Love this cold stream's clearness. - Western beams follow flowing water; - Stir a ripple in wandering person's mind. - Idly sing, gazing at cloudy moon; - Song done--sound of tall pines. - - -XX. 8. GOING DOWN CHUNG-NAN MOUNTAIN AND SPENDING THE NIGHT DRINKING -WITH THE HERMIT TOU-SSU - - At dusk we left the blue mountain-head; - The mountain-moon followed our homeward steps. - We looked round: the path by which we had come - Was a dark cleft across the shoulder of the hill. - Hand in hand we reached the walls of the farm; - A young boy opened the wicker-gate. - Through green bamboos a deep road ran - Where dark creepers brushed our coats as we passed. - We were glad at last to come to a place of rest, - With wine enough to drink together to our fill, - Long I sang to the tune of the Pine-tree Wind; - When the song was over, the River-stars[46] were few. - _I_ was drunk and you happy at my side; - Till mingled joy drove the World from our hearts. - -[46] Stars of the Milky Way. - - -XXIII. 3. DRINKING ALONE BY MOONLIGHT - - A cup of wine, under the flowering-trees: (1) - I drink alone, for no friend is near. - Raising my cup, I beckon the bright moon, - For he, with my shadow, will make three men. - The moon, alas! is no drinker of wine: - Listless, my shadow creeps about at my side. - Yet with the moon as friend and the shadow as slave - I must make merry before the Spring is spent. - To the songs I sing the moon flickers her beams; - In the dance I weave my shadow tangles and breaks. - While we were sober, three shared the fun; - Now we are drunk, each goes his way. - May we long share our odd, inanimate feast, - And meet at last on the Cloudy River of the Sky.[47] - - [47] The Milky Way. - - In the third month the town of Hsien-yang (2) - Is thick-spread with a carpet of fallen flowers. - Who in Spring can bear to grieve alone? - Who, sober, look on sights like these? - Riches and Poverty, long or short life, - By the Maker of Things are portioned and disposed. - But a cup of wine levels life and death - And a thousand things obstinately hard to prove. - When I am drunk, I lose Heaven and Earth; - Motionless, I cleave to my lonely bed. - At last I forget that I exist at all, - And at _that_ moment my joy is great indeed. - - If High Heaven had no love for wine, (3) - There would not be a Wine Star in the sky. - If Earth herself had no love for wine, - There would not be a city called Wine Springs.[48] - Since Heaven and Earth both love wine, - I can love wine, without shame before God. - Clear wine was once called "a Saint;" - Thick wine was once called "a Sage."[49] - Of Saint and Sage I have long quaffed deep, - What need for me to study spirits and _hsien_?[50] - At the third cup I penetrate the Great Way; - A full gallon--Nature and I are one.... - But the things I feel when wine possesses my soul - I will never tell to those who are not drunk. - -[48] Chiu-ch'uean, in Kansuh. - -[49] "History of Wei Dynasty" (Life of Hsue Mo): "A drunken visitor -said, 'Clear wine I account a Saint: thick wine only a Sage.'" - -[50] Rishi, Immortals. - - -XXIII. 9. IN THE MOUNTAINS ON A SUMMER DAY - - Gently I stir a white feather fan, - With open shirt, sitting in a green wood. - I take off my cap and hang it on a jutting stone: - A wind from the pine-trees trickles on my bare head. - - -XXIII. 10. DRINKING TOGETHER IN THE MOUNTAINS[51] - -[51] _Cf._ _Little Review_, June, 1917, version by Sasaki and M. -Bodenheim. - - Two men drinking together where mountain flowers grow: - One cup, one cup, and again one cup. - "Now I am drunk and would like to sleep: so please go away. - Come back to-morrow, if you feel inclined, and bring your harp - with you." - - -XXIII. 10. WAKING FROM DRUNKENNESS ON A SPRING DAY - - "Life in the World is but a big dream: - I will not spoil it by any labour or care." - So saying, I was drunk all the day, - Lying helpless at the porch in front of my door. - When I woke up, I blinked at the garden lawn; - A lonely bird was singing amid the flowers. - I asked myself, had the day been wet or fine? - The Spring wind was telling the mango-bird. - Moved by its song, I soon began to sigh, - And as wine was there, I filled my own cup. - Wildly singing, I waited for the moon to rise, - When my song was over, all my senses had gone. - - -XXIII. 13. SELF-ABANDONMENT - - I sat drinking and did not notice the dusk, - Till falling petals filled the folds of my dress. - Drunken I rose and walked to the moonlit stream; - The birds were gone, and men also few. - - -XXV. 1. TO TAN CH'IU - - My friend is lodging high in the Eastern Range, - Dearly loving the beauty of valleys and hills. - At Green Spring he lies in the empty woods; - And is still asleep when the sun shines on high. - A pine-tree wind dusts his sleeves and coat; - A pebbly stream cleans his heart and ears. - I envy you, who far from strife and talk - Are high-propped on a pillow of blue cloud. - - -XXX. 8. CLEARING UP AT DAWN - - The fields are chill; the sparse rain has stopped; - The colours of Spring teem on every side. - With leaping fish the blue pond is full; - With singing thrushes the green boughs droop. - The flowers of the field have dabbled their powdered cheeks; - The mountain grasses are bent level at the waist. - By the bamboo stream the last fragments of cloud - Blown by the wind slowly scatter away. - -[Many of the above poems have been translated before, in some cases by -three or four different hands. But III. 4, III. 26, XV. 2, and XXIII. 9 -are, so far as I know, translated for the first time.] - - - - -DISCUSSION ON THE FOREGOING PAPER - - -THE CHAIRMAN (MR. GEORGE JAMIESON): Mr. Li T'ai-po was, I am afraid, -a bit of a Bohemian (laughter), and his Bacchanalian experiences have -been repeated in later days even with the great poets. I am sure you -will all join with me in expressing a hearty vote of thanks to Mr. -Waley for his address and the very felicitous language in which he has -translated a number of these ancient poems. I trust his paper will -be printed and preserved with the rest of our publications, because -these poems, as far as I can judge--but hearing them read does not -impress one so much as reading them at leisure--are well worthy of -careful perusal. It is curious to note how unchangeable and immobile -China is. At the time these poems were written we in Great Britain -were living under King Alfred and trying to keep out the Danes and -other things. (Laughter.) I can tell you that the Szechwan Road as -described in the poem that Mr. Waley has read is just the same now -as it was when the poem was written. And the social conditions of -the people are the same now as they were at that time. I have often -thought that Chinese poets are very limited in their range. They -seem to be deficient in the quality of imagination. China has never -produced a great epic poem. Of course I speak subject to correction, -but I believe I am right in saying that China has never produced a -poet comparable with Homer, Dante, Virgil, or Milton. There has been -no one born with the power of telling a story like Homer. The poets of -China appear to me to be emotional and descriptive, but incapable of -any high flights of imagination. I think that Macaulay says that great -flights of imagination are peculiar to the early periods of a nation's -civilization, and that story-telling reaches its highest form as an art -before printing has been much in vogue. - -Mr. M. F. A. FRASER: I have listened to this lecture with the greatest -interest. The English was particularly pleasing, and I am glad that the -lecturer has broken away from the old custom of seeking rhymes, and -followed the French custom in the translation of these poems. A man -may be an excellent writer and translator, and not be a poet, but to -translate foreign poetry into English considerable literary gifts are -required. - -Mr. PAUL KING: All of you who have been lately in China must be struck -with the extraordinary difference between the China described in these -poems and the China which has come into being since the revolution. -Ideas of a very practical nature have now taken possession of the -people. And then, what about modern Chinese poets? Do any of us know -of any? In my intercourse with the Chinese I cannot recall a modern -Chinese who was a poet. It is possible that I may have met one, and -that he concealed his poetic gifts. (Laughter.) Our lecturer tells us, -however, that he knows certain Chinese poets. It would be interesting -to know if they are publishing their poems, and how they would compare -with the work of the older poets in our possession. - -Mr. L. Y. CHEN: I should like to join in congratulating Mr. Waley on -his very learned paper and beautiful translations. It is quite true -that there are no epic poems in Chinese literature. This form of poetry -has not been introduced in China, but I differ with your statement, -Sir, that Chinese poetry lacks imagination. (Applause.) I could give -you many instances to the contrary, though not from memory. The last -speaker's remark that the present China is different from what China is -in Chinese poetry may be true, but I may well retort that the England -as represented in Shakespeare is very different from the England of -to-day. (Laughter and cheers.) And Li T'ai-po lived many hundred years -ago, but Shakespeare lived at a more recent period. Human nature has -two states, the spiritual and the practical. You can combine the two. -If you have the practical it does not necessarily follow that you are -lacking in the spiritual. As for present-day Chinese poets, there are -several famous ones in China. - -Since the lecturer has raised the question whether Li T'ai-po or Tu -Fu is the greater poet, I would say that the Chinese of the present -day consider Tu Fu to be the greater. It strikes me as curious that -European people who know something about Chinese poetry should prefer -Li T'ai-po. Perhaps very few people have heard of Tu Fu. Certainly -there is no translation of the most important of Tu Fu's poems in the -English language. In China every child who has studied poetry knows -something about Tu Fu's poems. Tu Fu is placed first by the Chinese -because he is the greatest national poet. He expresses national -feelings in a way that can be appreciated by everybody. Li T'ai-po's -poems deal chiefly with wine and women, love and sensual things, but -Tu Fu's poems are full of men and women, elderly people and children, -their joy, their anguish, the hardship of the soldier, and things of -that sort. In a word, Tu Fu's poetry expresses what we ordinary men and -women wish to express and cannot. - -Mr. G. WILLOUGHBY-MEADE: One or two observations occur to me in -connection with the translation of this poetry into English. The two -greatest reading publics are the Anglo-American and the Chinese. The -Anglo-American people have produced an enormous amount of poetry which -they do not often quote, and the Chinese have produced an enormous -amount of poetry which, according to experts, they quote a great deal. -Now, at the present moment that peculiar British shyness for quoting -poetry seems to have largely disappeared in consequence of the writings -of soldier poets. These poems have been written under conditions of -great danger, difficulty, and discomfort, and it seems to me that it -would be a very good thing if poetry illustrating the thought of these -men could be placed before the Anglo-American public. - -The CHAIRMAN proposed a hearty vote of thanks to the Lecturer, which -was carried by acclamation. - - - - - PRINTED BY - BILLING AND SONS, LTD. - GUILDFORD, ENGLAND - - * * * * * - -Transcriber's Note - -p. 10 "Ch'i Kuan" changed to "Ch'i Kuan"" - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Poet Li Po, by Arthur Waley and Bai Li - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POET LI PO *** - -***** This file should be named 43274.txt or 43274.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/2/7/43274/ - -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) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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