Abstract
Guo Xiangzheng (1035-1113) was a prolific poet of the Song Dynasty who was hailed as a protege of poetry and whose incredible imagination resembled that of Li Bai. Unfortunately,many literary scholars have oversimplified Guo's work as a mere derivative of Li Bai's. This paper intends to renew scholarly interest in Guo's poetry by illustrating his innovation and sophistication in utilizing Li Bai's poems and style. Through his use of different poetic devices, Guo creates varied dialogues with his audience across a broad span of time in order to achieve political and personal purposes. During his years between nineteen and twenty-six, Guo strategically appropriated Li Bai's literary style as a means to connect with his mentor Mei Yaochen. After Mei's death, Guo used Li Bai as a source of inspiration to address the literary community and satisfy their expectations. In his poetry, Guo also addressed Li Bai directly and treated him as a participant in their dialogues. After age forty-six, Guo chose to be a recluse and live in solitude, during which he continued to write. Instead of mentioning Li Bai, he addressed his deceased family and himself in his poems. Li Bai's absence left room for Guo's own healing from the trauma of his family members' deaths, and allowed Guo to exercise his own agency in writing. Guo's innovative appropriation of Li Bai's work set the standard for later poets to expand upon the work of their predecessors, although further research is needed to explore the implications of his contributions.
First Page
65
Last Page
70
Recommended Citation
Zhao, Tingting. 2012. "Potential of Poetic Dialogue: Guo Xiangzheng's Innovative Appropriation of Li Bai." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 32, (4): pp.65-70. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol32/iss4/12
