by Li Po
First published 750
Li Po and Tu Fu lived during China's Tang dynasty, two poets whose deep friendship created a literary partnership that would define Chinese poetry. Li Po wandered from place to place, drinking heavily and writing verses that captured dreams and spiritual journeys. His poems celebrate natural beauty and raw emotion with an escapist joy that lifts readers beyond earthly concerns. Tu Fu took a different path, grounding his work in Confucian principles of compassion and modesty. His autobiographical poems reveal intimate details of daily life, mixing humor with profound humanity and realistic observations about the world around him. The contrast between Li Po's soaring imagination and Tu Fu's grounded wisdom created such perfect balance that people began speaking of them as a single entity called "Li-Tu." Together, their combined voices span every aspect of human experience and feeling, from the most ethereal flights of fancy to the most concrete realities of existence.
Genres: biography, classics, poetry, chinese-literature
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, lyrical
Tropes: found-family
Setting: China
Period: Tang Dynasty
256 pages · Paperback · Penguin Books