130 CHINESE POETRY AND ITS CONNOTATIONS 



To this short period most of the European accounts of 

 Li T'ai-po's life refer. He led the gay life of a court favourite 

 dining the time when the Emperor Ming Huang was ruled 

 by the beautiful Yang Kuei-fei, most lovely of Imperial con- 

 cubines, who eventually brought disaster upon the Empire. 



And during this period was formed that unique Associa- 

 tion of poets and lovers of beauty known as "The Eight 

 Immortals of the Winecup." 



This brilliant career at Court was meteoric. Jealousies 

 were aroused, and in less than three years Li T'ai-po realized 

 that intrigues were busy, trying to undermine his influence. 

 He therefore begged that he might return to the mountains 

 of Ssu Ch'iian, and departed with an Imperial gift of gold. 



The closing years of his life were sad in the extreme. He 

 became involved in political troubles, his fortune was con- 

 fiscated and he was condemned to death. The sentence was 

 commuted to one of exile, which, however, was prevented 

 from being carried out by an amnesty. He died at the home 

 of a great friend, an official in Kiangsu, who wrote the 

 preface of sixteen lines to the thirty volumes of marvellous 

 poetry which is Li T'ai-po's legacy to the world. These 

 read : — 



Since the three Dynasties of Antiquity 



(Referring to the Hsia, the Shang and the Chou). 

 Since the days of the style of the Kuo Feng 



(One of the books in the Book of Odes) and the 



Li Sao (Chu'u Yuan's famous poem). 

 During these thousand years and more, of those who 

 have walked the "lonely path" 



(That is the path of original thought and style). 

 There has been only you — you are the tolitary man — 

 you are without rival ! 



A Chinese student of poetry describes him in these 

 words : "He dearly loved his friends. He regarded money as 

 nothing, 'I' — that untranslatable word which means 'that 

 which is right to do as opposed to that which is profitable' — 

 as everything." He was generous to a fault, and was a 

 person who did not hesitate to right the wrongs of others, 

 who was high-principled and endowed with both physical and 

 moral courage, who was, in short, a Hero. 



Tu Fu's career was very different. His life w r as one long 

 struggle with poverty and misfortune. He failed in his ex- 

 aminations but was eventually, at the age of forty created 

 an Official by the Imperial Command of the Emperor Ming- 

 Huang, who appointed him to the Chi Hsien Yuan, |g^ 

 a library where books were collected. A few years later he 

 held office at Feng Hsien; the An Lu-shan rebellion then 

 broke out, Ming Huang fled to Ssu Ch'uan and after a short 



