Li He was born into a clan family with distant descendants and a poor family background. In the era in which he lived, becoming an official was the only way out for scholars, and getting a Jinshi was an important way to enter the official career. However, because Li He avoided family taboos, he could not be promoted to Jinshi. This was undoubtedly a fatal blow to the talented and extremely conceited Li He. Li He had too many misfortunes and tribulations in his life, and various internal and external pressures made his personality sick and distorted. Some people think that his morbid personality led to the sentimentality of his poems, and the sentimentality shown in his poems is a reflection of his morbid personality.
Li He, whose courtesy name is Changji, was born in Fuchang, Henan (now Yiyang, Henan). He was a descendant of Li Liang, Prince Zheng of the Tang Dynasty. This Prince of Zheng, Li Liang, was the uncle of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan. Li He's father's name was Jin Su, and he was the magistrate of Shaanxi County. He died very early. Li He was born in Changgu, Fuchang, so some people also call him Li Changgu. In the second year of Yuanhe (807), the Li family moved to Luoyang. In the eleventh year of Yuanhe, he died in his hometown.
Li Hecai's name was written early. In the late Zhenyuan years, he was already famous in the poetry world, and he was known as a ghost genius and a ghost of poetry. His poems may express his hatred of the separatist feudal lords, frequently praise the imperial court, or reflect the dark reality of society and his sympathy for the working people. However, Li He's official career was unstable and premature. This was mainly because he was sensitive to worldly affairs and often struggled with issues of life and death. He devoted all his efforts and contributed hundreds of colorful works to the world, but what he swallowed was the bitter pill of a bleak life.
Li He's life was short, only living for 27 years, but he experienced the three dynasties of De, Shun and Xian in the middle Tang Dynasty. During this period, due to the catastrophe caused by the Anshi Rebellion, various social contradictions in the Tang Dynasty continued to deepen. The conflicts between powerful vassals in Hebei, Shandong and other places continued, and the eunuchs in the DPRK were arrogant and domineering, making the political atmosphere in the Middle Tang Dynasty increasingly dull. It's getting more and more suffocating. The huge and glorious Tang Empire is gradually declining, and its former glory has faded away. Intellectuals living in this period generally felt spiritual emptiness due to the growth of unrest. The enthusiasm and romance of the Kaiyuan Tianbao period have generally turned into coldness and uneasiness. Introverted eccentricity has replaced external magnanimity. Traditional views have begun to It has been doubted by many people, and serious rational thinking has been abandoned by many people. Li He's mentality is the best expression of the mood of the literati in the Middle Tang Dynasty. People's frustration and disappointment with objective reality finally led them to blindly pursue the subjective mind. Numerous facts have proved that the decadence of society in the mid-Tang Dynasty was the breeding ground for many pathological personalities.
Li He’s hometown, Changgu County, is a place with extremely beautiful natural scenery. Li He has described it in his poems such as "Nanyuan", "Changgu", and "Lanxiang Goddess Temple". This is the place where the Luoshui River flows through. The wilderness is lush and green, the mountains are undulating, the springs are gushing, and mountain fruits of different colors hang on the branches, with butterflies flying and bees dancing. Living in such an environment, Li He's childhood should have been carefree. , happy and beautiful. But Changgu County at that time was not a paradise. In the more than ten years since Li He was born, the prefectures and counties adjacent to Changgu suffered from crisis and turmoil. In the sixth year of Zhenyuan (790), a severe drought occurred in the Jianghuai area. The feudal towns in Zhenzhou, Hebei and Ziqing, Shandong, killed each other. The Tibetan invaders in the western border cut off the Hexi Corridor. This series of events had an impact on Chang Gu and left a permanent mark on Li He's mind. This background of the times played a decisive role in the formation of Li He's personality, giving his happy childhood a color of sentimentality and sorrow.
In the nature of Changgu, Li He observed various changes in the scenery of Changgu. In his eyes, natural things have a strong subjective color. For Li He, who has such strong subjective emotions, it is impossible to abandon reality and enjoy the beauty of nature alone. Li He's troubles, disappointments, inner weakness, and anxious character traits reflected in his emotional activities throughout his life are closely related to the declining Tang Dynasty. Some scholars pointed out that fishy smell, diarrhea, misery, death, old age, coldness, fox, fairy, dragon, snake, ghost, etc., clearly indicate that he needs some drugs to anesthetize him for a while when he is extremely sentimental. It also means that he is disappointed and tired of the times. An abnormal symptom. It seems that the changing times of the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline were the breeding ground for Li He's distorted personality and the main factor that set off and reflected his emotions.
Some people believe that the declining aristocratic bloodline is the prerequisite for the formation of Li He's morbid personality.
The behavioral norms that Li He accepted during his personality socialization were aristocratic, and he always used them to control his behavior. This was also an important factor in the formation of his pathological personality. Li He was the successor of King Zheng Li Liang. Although it took about two hundred years from Li Liang to Li He, this extremely weak bloodline could not bring any glory to Li He's family. But the arrogance of the princes and nobles flowing in his blood always existed in Li He's ideology. Li He was afraid that others would forget his noble identity. In "The Song of the Golden Bronze Immortal's Farewell to the Han Dynasty" he reminded people: Sun Li Changji, the king of the Tang Dynasty, then composed the "The Song of the Golden Bronze Immortal's Farewell to the Han Dynasty". "Renhe Li Zaxu Huangpu Ti" once again said: Who will pity if the ancestors and grandsons are not transferred? He repeatedly calls himself the so-called grandson and grandson of the princes and clans of the Tang Dynasty. The royal family of the Tang Dynasty regarded Longxi Chengji as the county head, so Li He set his place of origin as Longxi Chengji. In the poem "After drinking, when Zhang Dache asks for a poem, the wine stall is like Lu Mu", it is said: Longxi Changji destroys the guests, and the wine stall feels narrow in the middle. He looked proud of himself. The famous poet Yuan Zhen visited him after he was promoted to emperor, but he refused to answer, showing the arrogance of a prince and aristocrat. Li He relied on this nihilistic Tang princes and grandsons to confirm his own value.
In fact, he was far away from the living status of the princes and grandsons of the Tang Dynasty. As a declining nobleman, his family situation was quite difficult. His father Li Jinsu once worked as a minor official in Sichuan and died young. He and his younger brother lived with their mother to make a living, while his younger brother went to Lushan to make a living. There is a sharp contrast between ideal and reality. His aristocratic bloodline formed his aloof personality, but reality made him run into obstacles everywhere. Li He's thoughts always lingered in the contradiction between fantasy and reality. He imagined the luxury and luxury of aristocratic life and used poetry to experience the ideal aristocratic life. In poems such as "Unforgettable Song", "Noble Master's Late Night Song", and "Ancient Meanings of Liangtai", Li He exaggeratedly described the colorful life of the nobles in order to comfort himself and fill his extravagant hopes. Caught between reality and fantasy, Li He endured painful suffering.
Li He is pretentious and arrogant, and his inner thoughts are incompatible with reality. The more unsatisfactory life is, the more imagination transcends reality, and the more miserable reality becomes. This chain reaction makes Li He fall into pain and cannot escape. He could only devote all his efforts to poetry creation. His mother said: This child is going to vomit his heart out. Li He worked hard to build his ideal palace, but the radiant appearance of the palace could not hide the miserable and helpless emotional world. This sad and sentimental emotion stems from his aloof and aristocratic character.
Some people believe that frailty and strange appearance are the basic factors that formed Li He's morbid personality.
Li He, who always prides himself on being elegant and elegant, has a face with two thick black eyebrows connected together, an overly fat nose, and unbalanced facial features. Such a thin face with almost weird facial features is enough to become Li He's heartache. Coupled with the stress of illness that often accompanies aging, his mood is also quite gloomy. Just as he wrote sentences such as "The big nose should be brown, the one who favors the eyebrows groans bitterly, the man in the prime of life is full of hatred, the dreams and weeping give birth to white heads, the wine purges the cover of magnolia and pepper leaves, the sick face is raised and planted with water chestnuts", etc. It is not difficult to see that the signs of premature aging are very important to the young. But the reaction caused by the sickly Li He was thrilling, not to mention that the disease was still raging! Li He said in "Sorrowful Journey": If you swallow and learn Chu chants, your bones and bones will be injured. Autumn is white, and the leaves are crying in the wind and rain. The green orchid lamp rests, and the moths dance in the falling light. The ancient wall is covered with dust, and the soul is surrounded by dreams. This is the faint chant of a sad person who has been troubled by illness for a long time in his mental and physical exhaustion.
People tend to agree that Li He's obstruction in seeking office and his humble official position were the catalysts for the formation of morbid personality.
Li He is a son of a nobleman. In his stable attitude and habitual behavior, he has always bound himself by the values ????and code of conduct of seeking official positions and honoring his ancestors. When he was 18 years old, he left home and went to Luoyang to seek employment. For Li He, who was of noble blood, officialdom was the ultimate ideal, and Li He's status in the family also made him more aware of seeking officialdom. In a family, the mother's words and deeds directly and often unconsciously shape the child's personality and cognition. Li He has received special care from his mother since he was a child. He is accustomed to being superior to his siblings, and his mother often educates him about the achievements of noble children. This psychological accumulation is like an invisible force that affects his views on fame and career. He needs to obtain a high official position and experience luxury. He wrote in the poem "Zuoma Yin": I have a sword of quitting my hometown, its jade edge can cut through the clouds. Express your lofty ambitions beyond this world. When he arrived in Luoyang, he met the great writer Han Yu and was supported and encouraged by him. Li He was filled with inflated desires and set sail.
In the fifth year of Yuanhe (810), Li He composed ***13 poems called "December Musical Poems and Leap Moon". He passed the Henan Prefecture Examination and was selected to go to Chang'an to take the Jinshi Examination. However, due to some prejudice at the time, it was believed that the name of Li He's father Li Jinsu's name Jin was the same as Jin, which was taboo according to etiquette and law. Although Han Yu, who was well-known in both the government and the public at that time, wrote "Taubian" to defend him, it was to no avail. This incident not only caused Li He to lose the Jinshi examination, but more importantly, it had a greater impact on his personality. It can also be seen from this incident that Li He does not have the ability to adapt to society. After leaving his mother, he was at a loss, withdrawn, and self-esteem, which made him lack affinity with the people around him. Although Han Yu helped him and he regarded Han Yu as his backer and protector, when Han Yu's advice could not help him, he was completely desperate, and this despair affected him throughout his life. He became bored and decadent. The poem "Out of the City" says: There are few sweet-scented osmanthus flowers under the snow, and the singing birds are shot. Li He was as miserable as a wounded bird and had to return to his hometown in Changgu.
In the sixth year of Yuanhe, his career took a turn for the better. He left home and went to Chang'an to take up the post of Fenglilang. However, this official position was low and he was only responsible for paying tribute during the ancestral temple ceremony. For the arrogant and self-respecting Li He, this official position did not change his future at all, but on the contrary, it aggravated the miserable and helpless element of his character. After three years in office, he cut off contact with almost everyone. He lived a closed and melancholy life of sweeping away horse hoof marks and shutting himself up in the government office.
In the process of Li He's personality development, inferiority and arrogance controlled him at the same time. He tried to find a balance, but never achieved it. His morbid psychological characteristics caused his works during this period to be full of disappointment, pathos, anger, sadness and desolation. His career was full of obstacles, he was aloof and romantic, and his appearance was ugly, frail and sick. These were all factors that led to his negative mental personality. The sentimentality in his poems reveals his negative thinking about life, but he adopts a way of escaping from society. He rides a donkey to retrieve poetry materials, comes back at night to write by holding a candle, and lives a passive life isolated from the world.
He used poetry to express his bitterness, put himself into a kind of suffering in poetry, and used poetry to make up for the shortcomings and deficiencies in life.
Li He's morbid personality made him a depressed poet. The theme of his poems is to express his inner depression. His poems have a sense of misery and an upright sense of depression and resentment. The sickly Li He wrote poems that some people liked and others criticized. Some people compare it to Du Fu's poems and praise it as "Spring and Autumn" of the Tang Dynasty; some think that the core of Li He's poems is fame and fortune; some think that Li He's poems are all about the ghost world; the lowest evaluation thinks that Li He's poems describe sex and pornography. The content is nothing. The benevolent and wise see things differently. An expert said that if future generations learn from Li He's poems, those who learn his spirit will live, and those who learn his form will die. Perhaps this is the most appropriate evaluation of Li He.