Li He

Lore & Background

Li He was noted for his sickly appearance: he was very thin, had a unibrow, and let his fingernails grow long. He died young, at age 26 or 27, a poor and low-ranking official. According to the Short Biography of Li He, at the hour of his death a figure in scarlet appeared and told him that Shangdi had summoned him to heaven to write poetry. He was a diligent poet, carrying an old brocade bag on daytime journeys; whenever a line of poetry came to him, he would jot it down and place it in the bag, then complete the poems when he arrived home in the evening. An anecdote in the Taiping Guangji records that a cousin of Li’s, asked to compile his poems, threw the collection into a privy out of personal dislike. About 240 of his poems survive. His poetry is unique, filled with fantastic and unusual imagery, earning him the nickname "Guicai" (devilish talent) in contrast to Li Bai’s "heavenly talent" and Bai Juyi’s "humanistic talent." He also became known as "Poetry Ghost" or "Poetry Devil," while Li Bai was called "Poetry Immortal" and Du Fu "Poetry Sage." Virtually none of his surviving poems are in regulated verse form, and they make frequent use of inauspicious words such as "aging" and "death." He wrote evocatively of the worlds of gods and Buddhas in poems like "Tianshang yao" and "Meng tian," and gave eerie descriptions of the ghost world in "Qiu lai" and "Shen xian qu," the latter employing spiritual symbolism that has been called nearly impenetrable. His poetic influences included Meng Jiao, Han Yu, the shamanistic elements of the Chu Ci, and the idiosyncratic style of Li Bai. His popularity fluctuated over centuries; his idiosyncratic style was frequently imitated until the Qing dynasty, when literary tastes changed and his works were excluded from the influential Three Hundred Tang Poems, but interest revived in the twentieth century, and he was among the Tang poets most admired by Mao Zedong.

Reader's Guide

Li He’s significance in Chinese literary history stems from his highly idiosyncratic poetic style, known as Changji-ti after his courtesy name. This style was widely imitated in China continuously until the Qing dynasty, when a shift in literary tastes caused his popularity to decline; notably, his works were excluded from the influential *Three Hundred Tang Poems*. However, interest in him revived in the twentieth century, and he was among the Tang poets most admired by Mao Zedong. His poetry is marked by a deliberate avoidance of regulated verse forms and a frequent use of inauspicious words such as “aging” and “death.” He explored ghostly, supernatural, and fantastic themes, writing evocatively of the worlds of gods and Buddhas in poems like “Tianshang yao” and “Meng tian,” and giving eerie descriptions of the ghostly realm in “Qiu lai” and “Shen xian qu.” The spiritual symbolism in the latter poem has been called nearly impenetrable. His unique approach earned him the nickname Guicai (“devilish talent”), contrasting with Li Bai’s “heavenly talent” and Bai Juyi’s “humanistic talent”; he was also called Shigui (“Poet Ghost”), while Li Bai was the “Poetry Immortal” and Du Fu the “Poetry Sage.” About 240 of his poems survive, partly because of his early death and the strangeness of his work. An anecdote records that a cousin who disliked him threw a compiled collection into a privy. His biography is recorded in brief outlines in the Old Book of Tang and New Book of Tang, and a more affectionate account was written by the later poet Li Shangyin.

Did You Know?

• Li He was described as very thin, with a unibrow and long fingernails.
• He died at age 26 or 27, a poor and low-ranking official.
• According to the Short Biography of Li He, at his death a figure in scarlet told him that Shangdi had summoned him to heaven to write poetry.
• An anecdote claims a cousin threw his collected poems into a privy out of personal dislike.