Li Duan

TimelineCBDB

1. 765 州刺史 永泰
2. 777 州刺史 大曆
3. 782 司馬 建中

Office recordsCBDB

FamilyCBDB

AliasesCBDB

• 李二 行第
• 正己 字

StatusCBDB

• 詩人

AssociationsCBDB

ExaminationsCBDB

WorksCBDB

Citations

1. [1] Name, dates, and identity Li Duan is identified as a Tang poet, but the dates are inconsistent: one account leaves his birth year unknown and gives an approximate death in 785, another gives 786, and a further date range is 732–792.
   • CBDBLi Duan (93103)The main record names Li Duan, identifies him with the Tang dynasty and as a poet, and gives a death year of 786.
   • Souyun李端 (16967)The biographical entries identify him as a mid-Tang poet and give the alternative formulation of an unknown birth year and an approximate death in 785.
   • WikidataLi Duan (Q11097649)The item labels him Li Duan, describes him as a Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty, and supplies the alternative date values 732 and 792.
2. [2] Courtesy name and birthplace His courtesy name was Zhengji; he was ranked second in his family and was also called Li Er, while Zhengyi appears as a variant form. His home was Zhao Prefecture, now Zhaoxian in Hebei.
   • CBDBLi Duan (93103)The alternate-name fields identify Li Er as a birth-order name, Zhengji as the courtesy name, and Zhao Prefecture as the registered home.
   • Souyun李端 (16967)The biographical profile gives the courtesy name Zhengji, the rank name Er, and Zhao Prefecture in present-day Hebei; the biography also spells out the same information.
   • WikidataLi Duan (Q11097649)The names and name-claim fields provide the English forms Li Tuan and Zhengji, the Chinese form Zhengji, and the variant Zhengyi.
3. [3] Family Li Duan was a collateral nephew of Li Jiayou; the kinship data identify Li Zhen as his father and Li Yuzhong as his son, with their recorded dates.
   • Souyun李端 (16967)The biographical entries call Li Duan a collateral nephew of Li Jiayou.
   • CBDBLi Duan (93103)The kinship entries identify Li Zhen as father and Li Yuzhong as son, recording Li Zhen's death in 767 and Li Yuzhong's birth and death in 772 and 836.
4. [4] Early life and examination In youth he studied the Dao on Mount Song; in 770 he passed the Presented Scholar examination and received appointment as a collator in the Secretariat Library.
   • Souyun李端 (16967)The biographies describe his youthful study on Mount Song, his success in the fifth Dali year (770), and his appointment in the Secretariat Library.
   • CBDBLi Duan (93103)The examination and office fields record the Presented Scholar degree and the post of Secretariat Library collator.
5. [5] Resignation and Hangzhou Illness led Li Duan to resign; he lived at Caotang Temple, later became sima of Hangzhou during the Jianzhong era, and then disappears from the biographical account.
   • Souyun李端 (16967)The biographies give the sequence of illness, residence at Caotang Temple, appointment as Hangzhou sima during Jianzhong, and unknown subsequent whereabouts.
   • CBDBLi Duan (93103)The office entry places the sima post in Hangzhou during Jianzhong.
6. [6] Additional appointments Additional official entries give Beihai and Yunzhou prefectural inspectorates with their date ranges, together with Shaoyin in Xingyuan Prefecture and an unspecified office at Linchuan; these entries are not reconciled with the biographical sequence of the collator and Hangzhou sima.
   • CBDBLi Duan (93103)The office entries give the Beihai and Yunzhou posts with their era names and Gregorian endpoints, and also list Shaoyin in Xingyuan and an unspecified office at Linchuan.
7. [7] Associations The association entries connect Li Duan through gift poems or prose with Li Yu, Guo Ai, Wang Jin, Lu Lun, and Sikong Shu, and record Li Jiayou as sending him a poem.
   • CBDBLi Duan (93103)The association entries record gift poems or prose involving Li Yu, Guo Ai, Wang Jin, Lu Lun, and Sikong Shu, and a poem sent by Li Jiayou to Li Duan.
8. [8] Guo Ai banquet At Guo Ai's banquet, Li Duan composed two seven-character regulated poems immediately; contemporaries suspected that they had been prepared beforehand.
   • Souyun李端 (16967)The biography describes the two poems composed at Guo Ai's banquet and the contemporary suspicion that they were precomposed.
9. [9] Poetic identity and style Li Duan was one of the Dali Ten Talents. His poetry is described as swift in conception, often concerned with farewells, personal circumstances, and transcendence, subdued in tone but polished, free-flowing, and spirited in diction.
   • Souyun李端 (16967)The profile identifies the Dali Ten Talents designation, while the biographical entry describes his rapid talent, themes, mood, and polished diction.
   • CBDBLi Duan (93103)The main record classifies Li Duan as a poet.
10. [10] Forms and notable poems He combined the five-character regulated-verse tradition of the Dali Ten Talents with seven-character song forms. Several named poems are associated with Li Qi's spirit, while two others were praised for vividness and broad circulation.
    • Souyun李端 (16967)The biographical entry contrasts the five-character verse of the Dali Ten Talents with Li Duan's seven-character songs and names the poems with their critical descriptions.
11. [11] Poetry collection and surviving works His poetry is catalogued in three fascicles, three fascicles survive in the Complete Tang Poems, and later supplements add one poem and four fragments; a collection titled Li Duan shiji is also listed.
    • Souyun李端 (16967)The biographical entries give the three-fascicle cataloguing, the three fascicles preserved in the Complete Tang Poems, and the later additions of one poem and four fragments.
    • CBDBLi Duan (93103)The works entry lists Li Duan shiji, the collection of Li Duan's poems.
12. [12] Early critical assessments One critical assessment praises the brilliance of his diction and harmony of metre, singles out the two poems presented to a commandant, and identifies brisk seven-character composition as his strength.
    • Souyun李端 (16967)Two critical passages discuss the brilliance and harmony of his diction, the two poems presented to a commandant, and his brisk seven-character composition.
13. [13] Clarity and landscape One assessment ranks his clear poetic thought and distinctive manner above Lu Lunyan and Sikong Shu, while another finds his landscape poetry serene but lacking in resonance.
    • Souyun李端 (16967)The critical passages compare his thought and poetic paths with Lu Lunyan and Sikong Shu and separately judge his landscape writing serene but short on meaning; the comparison contains a name-form variation.
14. [14] Strengths and limitations Other criticism finds some poems flat and imitative but still praises several pieces for memorable lines, while another critic commends two poems for their extraordinary elevation and singles out the seven-character verse.
    • Souyun李端 (16967)The critical passages discuss flatness and imitation, identify memorable poems, and praise the extraordinary elevation of two poems and the quality of the seven-character verse.