Title

“Gods Protecting My Physical Form” and Pacing the Void in the Jade Capital: Li Bai’s Poetics of the Banished Transcendent

Author

Timothy Wai Keung Chan

Genre

Article

Pages

675-715

DOI

10.6503/THJCS.202212_52(4).0002

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese

Key words

Banished Transcendent, poetics, Dongfang Shuo 東方朔, School of Highest Clarity, Jade Capital

Abstract

The Daoist diction and mythological motif elements in Li Bai’s 李白 (701-762) poetic works contribute to the formation of a unique poetic style. The present study is an attempt to examine the provenance and background of this peculiar imagery in order to reconstruct Li’s poetics. It offers a theoretical framework for the reexamination of various images in his poetic works and a new angle for the discussion of his poetic thought, which has been roughly categorized in terms of its metaphors and allegories.

A main task of the present study is to trace the formation of Li Bai’s unique poetics by looking into the background of his sobriquet “Banished Transcendent,” his Daoist learning experience, and his political life. It discusses Li Bai’s use of diction and imagery, which were derived from the Shangqing 上清 (Highest Clarity) and Lingbao 靈寶 (Numinous Treasure) meditative methods and rituals as recorded in the two schools’ classic scriptures, as a means to serve his personal poetic purposes. These explorations enhance our understanding of the poetry and poetics of Li Bai. The mythological components and metaphorical discourse in his poetry may be understood by means of an alternative approach and theory stemming from the “poetics of the Banished Transcendent,” which sheds new light on the study of Li Bai and his poetry.