Li Bai's later life
"Thousands of quick poems, a glass of wine."
"The pen falls in the storm, and the poems become weeping ghosts and gods."
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This is Du Fu's admiration when he missed Li Bai.
In the hearts of the Chinese people, Li Bai is a great poet with backbone who loves his country and his people. He is upright and frank, but also full of ideals and enthusiasm. However, Li Bai's life was a wandering and rough life. He himself once said, "How can this person become famous in the universe and wither away in his own year?" In fact, this is also the true experience of his own life. Although Li Bai was haggard for the rest of his life, his immortal poems are "famous in the universe" after all.
Tang Xuanzong once gave Li Bai his gold and returned it, and Tang Suzong also gave Li Bai a long life. All these were a heavy blow to Li Bai. But this did not weaken his pursuit of ideals at all. When Li Bai Changliu Yelang went to the Three Gorges and was pardoned and released, he was already 59 years old. After that, he moved around Xuancheng and Jinling, living a miserable life of illness, hunger and cold. Even in such difficult days, Li Bai still paid close attention to the development of the current situation and the fate of the country. In 761 AD, Li Bai was 61 years old. Hearing that Li Guangbi was going to lead an army to conquer Shi Chaoyi, he still refused to give up this last opportunity to serve his country and still asked Ying to join the army. He returned home halfway due to illness, which made him infinitely sad. It can be said that "the martyrs are full of ambition in their old age." In the autumn of this year, Li Bai left Jinling and went to Dangtu to join his uncle Li Yangbing, the magistrate of Dangtu County.
In 762 AD, Li Bai fell seriously ill. Before his deathbed, he handed over all his life's works to Li Yangbing. Li Yangbing compiled them into 10 volumes of "Thatched Cottage Collection". In November of this year, the poet passed away at the age of 62. Before he died, Li Bai summed up his life and wrote his final poem "Song of Death":
"The great Peng flies to inspire the eight descendants, but the sky destroys it with no power. The lingering wind stirs for eternity, and the fusang travels. Hanging the left armband. Later generations will pass on this, who will shed tears when Zhongni dies?"
The poet compares himself with the great roc, which spread its wings for ninety thousand miles and was knocked down from the sky. Confucius is dead, who else sheds tears for the destruction of Dapeng? This is the poet's accusation against the society at that time, full of sadness and anger for his life.
Li Bai’s life was a tragic life. He is eager to use his talents to do something for the motherland. From his youth until his death, he struggled to realize his ideals. However, what did that society give him? They were hit and persecuted again and again. In the end, he held regret and left in loneliness and poverty!
There are more than 990 poems by Li Bai in existence. There are a large number of political lyric poems, which fully express the poet's extraordinary ambition, unrestrained passion, and heroic spirit. They also represent the typical high-spirited tone of the poetry of the Tang Dynasty. Li Bai had a strong self-awareness and compared himself to the Dapeng many times, such as "The Dapeng rises with the wind in one day and soars ninety thousand miles" ("Shang Li Yong"). However, Li Bai returned frustrated after three years in Chang'an. When his passionate political enthusiasm was collided with reality, he turned into a sad and angry song of unrecognized talent, spewing out from his chest: "The road is like the blue sky, I alone cannot reach it, I am ashamed to chase it away." In the Chang'an community, red chickens and white dogs gambled on pears and chestnuts, playing songs with swords and making bitter sounds, and dragging their trains to the royal family." Li Bai also wrote joyful drinking poems to relieve the sorrow of not being able to find his talent. "Jingjinjiu": "If you are successful in life, you must have all the fun. Don't let the gold bottle stand empty against the moon. I am born with talents that will be useful. I will come back after all the gold is gone. Cooking sheep and slaughtering cattle is a joy. I will drink three hundred cups at a time." "In line with this bold and unrestrained emotional momentum, the distinctive features of Li Bai's poetry in terms of artistic techniques are: magical imagination, unprovoked changes, vertical and horizontal structure jumps, and scattered sentence lengths, forming a majestic and elegant poem. style. Throughout his life, the poet has been praising the ideal life with his innocent heart. No matter when and where, he always embraces the whole world with enthusiasm, pursues full performance, meritorious service and enjoyment, and has a keen sense of all beautiful things. Feel, grasp reality without being satisfied with reality, plunge into the rapids of life but transcend the worries of suffering, and realize your own value in a high and exciting mental state. If ideal color is the main feature of the poetic style of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, then Li Bai was at the forefront of the times with his more promising ideal singing.
The themes of Li Bai's poems are diverse. Representative works include: seven-character ancient poems ("The Road to Shu is Difficult", "The Journey is Difficult", "Sleepwalking Tianmu Yin Farewell", "About to Enter the Wine", "Liang Fu Yin", etc.), five-character ancient poems (59 poems in "Ancient Style"); The Yuefu folk songs of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties, such as "Changgan Xing", "Midnight Wu Song", etc., and seven-character quatrains ("Wanglu Mountain Waterfall", "Wangtianmen Mountain", "Early Departure from Baidi City", etc.) have become famous in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Chapter. Li Bai was already famous in the Tang Dynasty. His poems were "uncollected and published in every family".
Li Bai's poems enriched and developed the poetry of the Tang Dynasty. The artistic theme of heroism. Like other scribes of his generation, he had grand ambitions. The so-called "Shen Guanyan's talk, the art of seeking emperors, and his wisdom are willing to serve as assistants." "Qingyi" ("Dai Shoushan's Reply to Meng Shaofu's Transfer of Documents") is his most persistent belief in life. Whether Li Bai has the actual ability to engage in political activities in a complex power structure may be very doubtful, but as a poet, This belief became more of his starting point for pursuing and praising a magnificent life.
He drew strength from the demeanor and style of countless ancient heroes, projected realistic ideals into history, and thus established a gallery of heroic characters in poetry. He eulogized the heroes who rose up in the grassland and met in the turmoil. For example, "Liang Fu Yin" wrote about Taigong Wang: "Don't you see the song of the court, butchering the old man and saying goodbye to Jijin, and coming to the Weibin to fish for eighty years. I am so shy that my white hair shines in the clear water, and I am strong enough to think about economics at the right time. Guangzhang Three thousand eight hundred fishing, Feng Qi secretly married Prince Wen. The great virtuous tiger turned stupid and unexpected, and he was quite like an ordinary person back then. Lu Lian is so wonderful. When the bright moon rises from the bottom of the sea, it shines brightly. Later generations look up to him and give him a gift. I am also smiling at Pingyuan, and I can sing the praises of love. The hero is talented and courteous to the virtuous corporal, as in the second part of "The Road is Difficult": "Don't you see that in the past, the Yan family valued Guo Wei, and there was no doubt about it. Ju Xin and Le Yi were grateful, and they lost their livers and gallbladders. To emulate the talents. King Zhao's bones linger in the grass, who can sweep the golden platform?" Praise for the famous ministers who are arrogant and uphold the dignity of common people, such as Li Shiqi in "Liang Fu Yin": "You don't see Gaoyang's drunkards drafting, and they bow to Shandong Long. The quasi-gong; the two women left the bath to follow the wind at the beginning, and commanded the Chu and Han Dynasties like a whirlwind. How much more can the heroes in his works be like this? He was a dominating figure on the historical stage during an extraordinary period of turmoil and chaos, and was so integrated with the lyrical protagonist that he became inseparable. For example, he said in a poem to reward friends: "Feng shui is like seeing talents, and throwing poles to help the emperor." ("Sima and Yan Zhengzi, King of Rewarding Fangzhou, gave gifts to Xuejian") and expressed his ambition after waking up from drunkenness. : "Fu said that Ban Zhuchen was a minister, and Li Si was a hawk and a dog man. He lifted up Kuang Sheji and settled down the hardships." ("Winter Night Drunk Longmen Jueqi's Statement")
The Anshi Rebellion broke out, and Li Bai saw the situation as follows: The Chu and Han quarreled, and Zhang Liang and Han Xin said: "It is quite like the Chu and Han Dynasties, the overthrow was unpredictable. Passed Bolangsha in the morning, and entered Huaiyin City at dusk. Zhang Liang did not meet Han Xin, and Liu Xiang's life and death depended on the two ministers. "I temporarily went to Xiapi to accept the military strategy and came to Piao Mu as my master." After he entered the Yongwang Lin shogunate, he compared himself to Xie An: "I used Dongshan to Xie Anshi to talk and laugh with me." "Sha." (Part 2 of "The Song of King Yong's Eastern Patrol") Until he surrendered to the army at the age of sixty, he also said to Meng Zi, a great hero of the Western Han Dynasty: "I returned from illness after half a day of thanks, but I didn't see Yafu for the southeast expedition." Meng Zu went first." Li Bai, who was born in a prosperous age, paid tribute to the heroes of troubled times, and of course he was not just thinking about the ancient times. Because through such characters, the poet can express his "ambitious" spirit and enthusiasm, and express his life desire to establish glorious achievements in history and actively create self-worth.
Li Bai unified the ideal of resolving problems and the freedom of his uninhibited personality in order to achieve a perfect life. His design of his life path was carried out in two steps: first, he established great achievements, as the saying goes: "If you can't help your heart, what good is it to be a good person?" ("To Secretary Wei Zichun") "When two dragons fight, heaven and earth The wind and clouds were in motion. The feud between the Han Dynasty was resolved in a hurry while drinking and dancing." ("Send Zhang Xiucai to Pay a Visit to the High School Prime Minister") After success, he did not covet wealth and fame, but regarded "Five Lakes" and "Cangzhou" as his lofty ideals. Home, longing for a free life. In his early years, when he was seeking an official position, he did not deny this point: "Succeeding in success, I brush off my clothes and sway beside Cangzhou." ("Bitter Rain at Princess Yuzhen's Pavilion") He did not give up on this point when he was most proud of his official career: "Thanks to the world for success, From then on, he just threw himself into fishing." ("Reflections on Reading in Hanlin") Until his later years, he remained determined: "Finally, he will settle the country and go to the five lakes with success." ("Gift to Secretary Wei Zichun") This kind of life ideal is concentrated. It expresses the poet's consciousness of "being ashamed of his virtues" and loving freedom: "I can win Liaocheng's merits with one arrow of writing. But in the end I am not rewarded, and I am as ashamed as the people of the time." ("A trip to Donglu in May to answer Wen Shangweng" ) These poems are the self-expression of the poet's thoughts. Because his sense of freedom is so strong, his anger and resistance are particularly strong when encountering obstacles from ugly forces in real life.