Writers › Writer / Poet
Li Shangyin
Late Tang poet of allusive verse such as The Patterned Zither and the Untitled poems, who spent his career in provincial staffs after offending the Linghu family
Mural of Written on a Rainy Night, Sent North, a work by this person.
A traveler trims a candle beside a rain-streaked window in the Ba Mountains, writing north to someone far away. The swelling autumn rain makes separation feel close and immediate.
Also known as Zi Yishan · Haoyu Xisheng · Fan Nansheng
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Li Shangyin, courtesy name Yishan, styled Yuxisheng, came from Henei in Huaizhou. Before he was twenty he showed his writing to Linghu Chu, military governor at Heyang, who taught him the parallel prose of official memorials. He passed the jinshi examination in 837 and held minor posts in the capital region. Joining the staff of Wang Maoyuan and marrying his daughter, he was seen by Linghu Chu's son Linghu Tao as ungrateful, and his career stalled for years. He served on the staffs of Zheng Ya at Guizhou, Lu Hongzhi at Xuzhou and Liu Zhongying in Dongchuan, and after losing his post late in the Dazhong era returned to Zhengzhou, where he soon died. His poems, among them The Patterned Zither and the Untitled pieces, are dense with allusion; he was paired with Wen Tingyun and, as the lesser Li, with Du Mu. The early Song courtiers Yang Yi and Liu Yun imitated his style in the Xikun Anthology.
Life and times
Dates 813 CE–858 CE