Po Chu-i

Po Chü-i 

Born, 772; died, 846. Chinese poet. Born into an impoverished aristocratic family.

Po occupied high government posts and was ruler of Chiangchou (present-day Ch’iungchiang). He was famous for being a lover of the people. He wrote about 3,000 poems. The first collection of Po Chü-i’s works was published during his lifetime. Po’s lyrics are characterized by their love of life and of humanity. In his letters, he pointed out the role that literature plays in life. He wrote the famous long narrative poems Song of Unending Sorrow and Lute. Po wrote verse exposes in which he criticized corruption, feudal lawlessness, and war: these included ten poems under the title Ch’in Melodies, and 50 New Popular Songs. Yuan Chen, Liu Yü-hsi, and other outstanding poets gathered around Po. In Chinese poetry he ranks in importance with the great eighth-century poets Li Po and Tu Fu.

WORKS

In Russian translation: Stikhi. Moscow, 1958.
“Pesn’ o beskonechnoi toske.” In Vostok, collection 1. Moscow, 1935.
“Liutnia.” In Antologiia kitaiskoi liriki VII-IX vv. Moscow-Petrograd, 1923.

REFERENCE

Eidlin, L. Z. “Iz tanskoi poezii (Bo Tsziui-i).” Tr. Voennogo in-ta inostrannykh iazykov, 1946, no. 2.

L. Z. EIDLIN