Li Bai, a representative of Tang poetry, enjoys the reputation of "poet immortal", and his works are heroic and unrestrained, full of imagination, exaggerated, romantic, and arrogant. Li Bai, although known as a poet immortal. Does Li Bai deserve the title of poet immortal?
Where did Li Bai's title of poet come from? The first person to call Li Bai "Immortal" was He Zhizhang. Back then, Li Bai entered Chang'an from Shu and went to visit He Zhizhang. He Zhizhang had heard of Li Bai's name a long time ago, and he also wanted to see it and see what kind of ability this young man had, so that he could be known all over the world. It is said that literati are light, who would have thought that after He Zhizhang took Li Bai's "Shu Dao Difficulty", he never finished reading it, and he even called it four times in a row. After reading it, He Zhizhang sighed even more: "Isn't this a 'fairy man' descending to earth." Since then, Li Bai has been known as the "poet immortal".
He Zhizhang called Li Bai a "poet immortal", is he qualified? Of course, he is qualified, He Zhizhang was admitted to the top prize at the age of 30, and he is also the first champion in the entire Zhejiang region. And at that time, He Zhizhang, Zhang Xu, Zhang Ruoxu, and Bao Rong were collectively known as the "Four Masters of Wuzhong". Who is Zhang Xu, that is the calligrapher known as the "grass saint"; Zhang Ruoxu, everyone knows it, a single article of "Spring River Flower Moonlight Night" covers the whole Tang Dynasty; I won't mention this package, I don't know much. There is no vanity under the fame. Doesn't He Zhizhang, who is so famous, understand poetry? Since he calls Li Bai a poet immortal, then Li Bai's poems are qualified.
Although Li Bai's poems have been recognized by He Zhizhang, is Li Bai's personality worthy of the title of "poet immortal"?
You can't just call yourself a "poet fairy" based on a few poems, then this "poet fairy" is not too worthless. Not only must you be talented, but you must also have character. For example, Cai Jing, the traitor of the Song Dynasty, is a master of calligraphy. Su Huang Mi Cai, it is Cai Jing. It's just that Cai Jing's character is too despicable, so he was changed to Cai Xiang. It can be seen that it is necessary not only to have talent, but also to have quality, otherwise it will not take a few years to cancel the title, and it is impossible to pass it on to this day. There is also Qin Hui, which is said to be the font of Qin Hui in imitation of Song style. If Qin Hui is not a traitor who has been stinking for thousands of years, how can he say that he can also compete for the name of "Book Saint".
Li Bai was born in a business family and his family was rich. But Li Bai's ideal is not in business, but in the ambition to enter the office. At that time, the society had the limitations of the four classes, so Li Bai, who was born in a commercial family, was not recognized by the scholar class and had difficulty in getting promoted. Coupled with Li Bai's arrogant personality, his career is even more hopeless.
After Li Bai entered Chang'an, He Zhizhang recommended him to Tang Xuanzong. Emperor Xuanzong admired Li Bai's literary brilliance, but he didn't think that Li Bai had the ability to govern the country, so he just regarded Li Bai as a Hanlin literati who wrote poems and wrote them for fun. Li Bai, who could not be reused, became more and more indulgent, claiming that "the Son of Heaven can't get on the boat when he calls, and he claims that his ministers are immortals in wine". Of course, Tang Xuanzong was dissatisfied with Li Bai's literati complaints, so Li Bai could not be reused.
Although Li Bai seeks officials and wants to become a celebrity, he is a literati in his bones, with a strong and proud literati style. This year, it coincided with the arrival of the book from Tibet, which was full of palindromes, and no one in the entire court could read it. At this critical moment, it was obvious that Li Bai was coming. The drunken Li Bai was carried into the main hall by several eunuchs, and at this time he didn't want to show off his literary talents, to favor Tang Xuanzong, and then get reused. He thought that when he entered Chang'an at the beginning of the year and visited Yang Guozhong, Yang Guozhong laughed at himself and said, 'Even if you beat my legs, I don't need to'. So Li Bai put forward the request to Tang Xuanzong to end his career: "Your Majesty, please let Yang Xiangguo beat my legs and press my back, and Yang Guifei will study ink, so that the minister can understand and write a book." Emperor Xuanzong agreed to Li Bai's request, and Li Bai took revenge on Yang Guozhong in front of everyone, but Li Bai's career also came to an end.
Li Bai is a pure literati, he can write poems that 'fly down to 3,000 feet', but he can't be an official the size of a sesame seed. He can 'look up to the sky and laugh and go out, how can I be a Penghao person', but 'An can compete with a flock of chickens and stings for a meal'. Therefore, he deserves the title of "poet immortal".