POEM- Li Bai - The Hard Road

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BRIQ Vol.7 Issue:2

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[Poem by Li Bai]. (2026). The Hard Road. BRIQ Belt & Road Initiative Quarterly, 7(2), 247-248.

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Li Bai

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Li Bai

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Li Bai (also known as Li Po, 701–762) is one of the most eminent poets of the Tang Dynasty and a central figure in the classical Chinese literary canon. Revered as the “Immortal Poet”, Li Bai symbolizes spiritual freedom, harmony with nature, and intuitive wisdom within Chinese culture. Distancing himself from Confucian orthodoxy, he drew heavily on Daoist philosophy; his poetry is infused with recurring motifs of the moon, mountains, wine, travel, and solitude, through which he constructs a boundless, transcendental poetic universe. By reshaping the traditional “lüshi” and “yuefu” forms, Li Bai loosened rigid formal constraints in favor of lyrical spontaneity and emotional intensity. This stylistic transformation had a lasting impact on the language, imagery, and aesthetic orientation of Chinese poetry in the centuries that followed, establishing him as both an artistic and spiritual model for later poets. Li Bai’s influence extends far beyond China. Through the translations and adaptations of figures such as Ezra Pound, Judith Gautier, and Arthur Waley, his work entered modern world literature and introduced Eastern lyrical sensibility into Western poetic discourse. In Turkey, poets including İlhan Berk and Cemal Süreya have acknowledged his imaginative freedom and cosmic vision. Li Bai’s poems remain among the most memorized and widely translated in the world.

POEM- Li Bai - The Hard Road

This work is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.