In 742 CE, a middle-aged poet with a reputation for drinking too much was summoned to the imperial court at Chang’an, the greatest city in the world. His name was Li Bai, and by the time he arrived, the emperor’s chief minister had already loosened the poet’s boots — a gesture of respect that would become legend. The Tang Dynasty was the golden age of Chinese poetry, and Li Bai was its brightest star.
The Golden Age #
The Complete Tang Poems collects nearly 50,000 verses by over 2,200 poets. This staggering output reflects a society where poetry was not a niche pursuit but a fundamental mode of communication — officials wrote poems instead of memos, friends composed farewell verses at partings, and poetry was tested in the imperial examinations.
Li Bai: The Immortal of Poetry #
Li Bai is China’s most beloved poet, known as the Immortal of Poetry. His verse is wild, romantic, and intoxicated with beauty. He wrote about drinking alone under the moon, climbing impossible mountains, the briefness of life and the eternity of rivers.
His most famous poem, Quiet Night Thoughts, is just four lines: “Before my bed, the moonlight glows / Like frost upon the ground. / I lift my head — the bright moon shows; / I bow my head — my thoughts homeward bound.” In twenty characters, universal longing, for thirteen centuries.
Du Fu: The Sage of Poetry #
Where Li Bai soars, Du Fu stays grounded. The Sage of Poetry wrote about war, poverty, separation, and ordinary suffering. His most devastating lines describe a conscripted soldier leaving his mother: “The old woman lies over the threshold, / Her tears are already dried.” Du Fu died in poverty on a riverboat, unknown — today, many consider him the greatest poet who ever lived.
A Living Tradition #
Tang poetry is not a museum piece. Chinese people quote these verses in everyday conversation. The rhythms shaped literature for a thousand years. And the themes — friendship, nature, time, longing — are as contemporary as anything written yesterday. As Li Bai wrote: “The living are passing travelers; the dead are men returning home.”