Biography
Other info : Bibliography
Li He (Chinese: 李賀; Wade–Giles: Li Ho) courtesy name Changji (長吉), was a short-lived Chinese poet of the late Tang Dynasty, known for his dense and allusive use of symbolism, for his use of synecdoche, for his vividly imaginative (and often fantastic) imagery, and for his otherwise sometimes unconventional style of poetry. However, these qualities lead to a revival of interest in him and his poetry in the twentieth century.A native of Changgu (昌谷, in modern-day Luoyang, Henan), Li was discouraged by some of his contemporaries from taking the Imperial Examination owing to naming taboo: his father's name happened to sound similar to Jinshi. Encouraged by Han Yu, who admired his talent, Li took the examination but failed it. Despite his distant royal ancestry (to the Li family who were the ruling dynastic family of the Tang Dynasty),[1] Li He died a low-ranking and poor official, at the about age of 27: various dates are given for him, some more credible than others. According to Frodsham (1983), "the weight of evidence suggests that he was born in a Horse year, since he wrote no less than twenty-three poems in which the horse stands as a symbol for himself".[2]
