A Look Into Li Po

             The first poem I read by Li Po was enchanting. The mere title, "The Sun Rises and Sets", put a calming picture into my head. He explains to the audience that the sun does a job day in and day out for the world to survive. He uses the example of how trees don't hate to lose their leaves in autumn because it's a way of life for the tree. Everyone and everything has a way of life and an unforeseen future. Li Po puts this blatantly into his poem saying, "The rise and the ending of all things is just the way things are"(1380). I believe this was the general thinking of Li Po and he liked to go the way his mind pointed. He didn't care to impress emperors or high officials to become high society, but liked to drink and write poetry for himself and his followers. It was destiny for people to like him and his work and that was all the satisfaction in life that he wanted.
             Then at some point in Li Po's life he seemed very depressed. There are many references to drinking and
             loneliness in his poems. The poem he wrote, "My Feelings" ,shows signs of rejection and solitude. Li Po paints a picture in this poem of him looking into a wine glass thinking. He then gets up drunk and steps on the moon in the creek ,which is of course a reflection, but brings a clear perception to mind. He then switches from what seems to be a night of drinking and thinking to rejecting himself. He acknowledges the men and the birds are turning back and growing fewer. Although this does seem to be the direction the poem was going in had it been longer, I don't think Li Po cared about friends. I think Li Po knew he had followers and although he was known as a drunkard he was respected for his genius.
             Li Po was one of many poets of this time but was the only one not to take a literary examination. This could possibly be the rejection he is talking about in his poems. Even though
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A Look Into Li Po. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 07:33, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/88540.html