Works
Li was a typical Late Tang poet: his works are sensuous, dense and allusive. The latter quality makes adequate translation extremely difficult. The political, biographical or philosophical implications supposed to be contained in some of his poems have been a subject of debate for many centuries in China.
His most famous and cryptic poem is called "Jin Se" (錦瑟) (the title is only taken from the first two characters of the poem, since the poem is one of Li's "no title" poems), which consists of 56 characters and a string of images. His "no title" poems are regarded as "pure poetry" by some modern critics.
Although more famous for his sensuous poems, Li indeed wrote in many styles, sometimes be satirical, humorous or sentimental. Moreover, some ancient critics hold that he is the only poet who, in some of his poems, succeeds in imitating the masculine quality of Du Fu's works.
Read more about this topic: Li Shangyin
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