Li-Ho : a scholar-official of the Yuan-ho period (806-821)

Abstract

This thesis is a study of the life and times of the poet Li Ho (791- 817). It attempts to reconstruct the life of the poet and to describe those aspects of T'ang society in the yuan- ho period (806-821) which affected him particularly. It aims to Show that he was a typical member of the scholar- official class of mid-T'ang and shared many of the problems common to literary men of that time. The thesis has six chapters : an introductory chapter dealing with the yuan-ho period in general, and five subsequent chapters in which the five statements made in Li Ho's biography in the Chiu T'ang shu are discussed and amplified. These concern his family and ancestry, his patron Han Yu, his rejection as a candidate for the Chin-shih examination, his term of office in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and his poems of social criticism. Translations of forty-four poems by Li Ho appear in full, with annotations, and supplementary material contained in the Appendix includes translations of a number of biographies and biographical anecdotes. Show more