The struggle history of the poetic immortal Li Bai, who rose to fame in his youth, and his poems are passed down to Chang’an

There is a little child in the world who can recite the Six Armors at the age of five. In November of the first year of the Divine Dragon, the great Empress Wu Zetian passed away. He was five years old that year, and the “little child” and “he” we mentioned earlier are both one person. This person is the well-known poet Li Bai, a legendary figure in the Tang Dynasty poetry world and a great poet of the Tang Dynasty in the eyes of many literati. He is praised by his contemporaries and remembered by modern people. From elementary school to high school, almost all of his poems can be found on a few pages. Li Bai’s many poems have had a great influence on each of us. Today, let’s share about him together. The story.
There are various opinions in history about the background of the poet Li Bai. It is recorded in the “Old Book of Tang” that Li Bai’s father was a small official, and there is nothing surprising about him. However, in the “New Book of Tang”, Li Bai unexpectedly transformed and became the younger brother of Li Shimin, the founder of the Tang Dynasty. Or in some unofficial histories of the Tang Dynasty, Li Bai miraculously became related to Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji. Therefore, it is really impossible to delve into Li Bai’s background because there are too many explanations. He seemed to have suddenly emerged, giving the literary world of that era a huge surprise.
However, Li Bai was already very famous when he was young, and this is certain. As mentioned at the beginning of our article, Li Bai was able to recite the Six Jia at the age of five. What is the Six Jia? We can consider it as our current elementary school textbooks. At that time, elementary school textbooks were much more difficult than our current elementary school textbooks. The content of Liujia at that time was mostly poetry, songs, essays, and word recognition. At the age of five, Li Bai could already read and recite Liujia. In that era, it has to be said that Li Bai was a child prodigy, so his beginning was legendary.
During Li Bai’s youth, a very strange thing happened, which was that he came into contact with Taoism. Taoism is different from other religions. Although Taoism is also a belief, it focuses more on self-cultivation. At this time, Li Bai was in the midst of his teenage recklessness, and his fame was relatively high, so he began to doubt himself whether he had immortal aura? Can I cultivate into an immortal? Otherwise, why would I be so smart? From then on, Li Bai’s poems became more and more ethereal and elusive.
Li Bai has read extensively about the collections of Taoism and learned about the prosperity of countless worlds. He also felt a lack of knowledge. When Li Bai was eighteen years old, he settled in present-day Sichuan and spent six years exploring various mountains and scenic spots in Sichuan while studying seclusion. After the age of twenty-four, Li Bai began his own drifting career, using his sword to travel to the country and bidding farewell to his relatives. Before the age of thirty, Li Bai had been doing things such as traveling, searching for immortals, and writing poetry. However, his reputation as a poet grew stronger and stronger. This situation persisted until Li Bai was thirty-one years old when he arrived in Chang’an. Suddenly, Li Bai realized Should I find a way to make a living for myself.
This idea was unstoppable, and Li Bai tried to work hard for it, but did not receive any reward. The year when he finally saw improvement was when Li Bai was 34 years old. Li Bai, who was eager to enter the officialdom, lowered his noble head for the first time and offered poetry and prose to Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, hoping to seek a position. Things improved slightly, but it was obvious that Li Bai was not satisfied with this harvest and situation in history. Finally, at the age of 38, he became disheartened and sang loudly as he traveled south, returning home and leaving the land of right and wrong in Chang’an.
After leaving Chang’an, perhaps Li Bai himself did not expect that he would return to Chang’an to serve at the age of 42. The time he spent in the Hanlin Academy could be considered the most comfortable period for Li Bai’s political career, but the good times did not last long. Li Bai was ultimately the arrogant exiled immortal. He may bow down to the emperor, but he disdains to be with other people in the scholar forest, and eventually he is estranged and leaves in despair.
After entering the officialdom this time, a long time later, Li Bai became a staff member of Prince Yongli Lin during the An Lushan Rebellion. Even during his tenure as a staff member, Li Bai actively encouraged Prince Yongli Lin to declare himself emperor and try to become a servant of the dragon. However, the final result was not satisfactory. Prince Yongli Lin was destroyed, Li Bai was arrested and imprisoned, and even nearly killed in the end. Fortunately, there were still people willing to save Li Bai. With active self rescue and the rescue of friends, Li Bai finally survived, but this experience completely extinguished Li Bai’s desire to serve.
Is Li Bai smart? Li Bai is very intelligent, after all, the famous poems that have been passed down through the ages cannot be written by everyone. However, Li Bai is too romantic, or in other words, Li Bai is a pure idealist who always lives in his own world, loving what he loves and hating what he hates, with a clear distinction between love and hate. Li Bai’s career was very bad, but his poetry is indeed magnificent. Perhaps this is Li Bai, the unique poetic immortal.