I remember that the first ancient poem I learned when I was a child was "Silent Night Thoughts". It was also when I was learning this ancient poem that I already knew about Li Bai, and now even the children in kindergarten have heard of it. More than Li Bai. The reason for this is that Li Bai was a poet that no one could surpass in the Tang Dynasty of our country and even in the entire ancient times.
Friends who have an introduction to Li Bai know that he is known as the Immortal of Poetry. So, does he get this title in vain? The answer is no. Li Bai composed many poems throughout his life, nearly a thousand of which have been circulated to this day, many of which have been selected into Chinese textbooks or students' extracurricular readings. It is not an exaggeration to describe it with the sentence: "Who has never memorized Li Bai's ancient poems".
Some people may be curious: Why did Li Bai call him this name? Is it because his skin is fair that his parents named him Li Bai? In fact, this was not the case. When he was seven years old, Li Bai's parents felt that they should give their son a formal name. Li Bai's parents were both people who liked reading. Therefore, when Li Bai's father saw the scene in the yard, he wrote a poem and said: "The country of spring sends warm flowers, and the gold blooms in spring come first." His mother also chanted: "Fire burns the leaves in the forest and the red clouds fall."
At that time, Li Bai also heard his parents replying to poems, but they only said two sentences, while his mother only said one sentence. The parents wanted him to complete the next verse, so he thought for a while and said: "The plum blossoms are blooming and the tree is white." After Li Bai's father stopped his son's poem, he repeatedly expressed that he was right. Then I chose to use the first and last two words of this sentence as the child's name.
Li Bai had one biggest hobby in his life - drinking. He always has a wine flask on his waist, and as long as he drinks, his poems will appear. It is understood that most of his poems were written while drunk. Not only can he write poems, but he can also write couplets. It is said that once Li Bai was drunk and wrote the first couplet, but after he sobered up, he didn't know how to write the second couplet. Not only that, so far, no one has been able to produce a good second line.
So, what is the first couplet written by Li Bai? This has to start with one thing: It is said that a blacksmith regarded Li Bai as his idol at that time, so he invited Li Bai to his home as a guest. He knew that Li Bai liked drinking, so he told Li Bai that he had a lot of good wine in his home. After Li Bai heard about the good wine, he went to the blacksmith's house. Of course, the blacksmith also brought out good wine to entertain him. Li Bai drank several large bowls of wine. After several bowls of wine, the blacksmith felt that since the idol had been invited to his home, he should let the idol leave something for him.
So at this time, he proposed to let Li Bai write a couplet and hang it in his blacksmith shop. After hearing the blacksmith's idea, Li Bai felt that this was a small matter. I agreed at that time, thought for a while and said:
The white blacksmith at Qinglinkou sits in a red furnace and burns black charcoal. He sits in the south and faces north to make things.
This first couplet well outlines the state of the blacksmith when he is forging iron. The blacksmith was very happy after hearing it. Therefore, he immediately went to ask Li Bai about the content of the second line, but at this time he sadly found that Li Bai was asleep. After waking up the next day, the blacksmith was going to ask Li Bai to talk about the second couplet, but Li Bai thought about it for a long time and still shook his head. Because he couldn't think of the second line at all, he could only express his apology to the blacksmith and leave with regret.
What is so special about this first couplet? Why can't anyone give a perfect second line? This first couplet contains four colors and four directions. Looking at the deeper level, there are also five elements in it. Cyan corresponds to the east, red corresponds to the south, white corresponds to the west, and black corresponds to the north. In addition, it also outlines the scene of the blacksmith at work very well. Even he himself I can’t write the second line, let alone others.
So, during the 200 years of the Tang Dynasty after Li Bai, many literati tried to pair the second couplet. Unfortunately, to this day, they have not come up with a perfect pair, which is quite a pity.
Although Li Bai's literary talent is worthy of recognition, his bohemianism also offended many people, such as Gao Lishi and Yang Guifei. You must know that these two people were popular people around Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty at that time. If Li Bai offended these two people, it would be impossible for him to achieve good results in his official career.
Precisely because of his unsatisfactory career, Li Bai pinned his feelings more or less on mountains, rivers and wine. Once, when Li Bai was visiting relatives in his hometown, he was discovered by Wang Lun. He wrote a letter saying that he had good wine, and "deceived" Li Bai into attending the banquet happily.
In Wang Lun's hut near the mountains and rivers, Li Bai spent a few days enjoying himself and escaping from the world. Accompanied by good wine every day and chatting with close friends every day, even though he did not know Wang Lun before, Li Bai also wrote the eternal quatrain "The water in the Peach Blossom Pond is a thousand feet deep, and it is not as deep as Wang Lun's love for me."
Now just imagine, if it weren’t for his talent being underappreciated, if it wasn’t for his bohemian character, if it wasn’t for his quality of “coming out of the mud without getting stained”, Li Bai might not have written so many poems in his life, and we wouldn’t be able to Read so many popular poems.
It's a pity that Li Bai, like such a talented literati, was not taken seriously in that feudal era and could not save the country with his talent, so he could only die with regret.