Who would you have a one to one with?

[yui]

Li Bai. He was a poet and a wanderer who became a god. He also loved a good party. He is said to have drowned while trying to embrace the moon's reflection in a river while drunk. I am either in love or appalled. Not sure yet...

"…Now there's nothing left of it.
All the blue is empty now.
All you can see is that long, long river.
It flows to the edge of the sky." -- Li Bai from "Ch'ing P'ing Tiao"

In case anyone is unfamiliar with him, Li Bai (701-761) is regarded as China's greatest poet. His friend the Confucian Du Fu is said to have been the greatest mortal poet. Li, however, rose to the ranks of the Taoist immortals as the god of poetry. "An irreverent and spontaneous bon vivant, Li blurred the line between Taoist master and hedonistic drunkard. His style is free, romantic and exaggerative."

 

[Belegon]

"Cleopatra did 10,000 in her lifetime..."


sounds like my kind of gal!

 

[BlackShanglan]

Li Bai. He was a poet and a wanderer who became a god. He also loved a good party. He is said to have drowned while trying to embrace the moon's reflection in a river while drunk. I am either in love or appalled. Not sure yet... [/SIZE]

I'm definitely in love. He sounds wonderful.

In case anyone is unfamiliar with him, Li Bai (701-761) is regarded as China's greatest poet. His friend the Confucian Du Fu is said to have been the greatest mortal poet. Li, however, rose to the ranks of the Taoist immortals as the god of poetry. "An irreverent and spontaneous bon vivant, Li blurred the line between Taoist master and hedonistic drunkard. His style is free, romantic and exaggerative."

He sounds very promising indeed. Is his work commonly translated? Translating poety is such a damned difficult thing, especially when poetic conventions vary so widely ...

Shanglan

 

[domjoe]

Li Bai. He was a poet and a wanderer who became a god. He also loved a good party. He is said to have drowned while trying to embrace the moon's reflection in a river while drunk.

I can empathise with him. Yesterday, I tried to pick up a pound coin that had been superglued to the pavement while drunk.

 

[SensualCealy]

James Dean, or Shakespeare , but only if he looks like the guy that played him in Shakespeare in love! lol

Joan of Arc, one hot Dom I'm sure!
C

 

[Guest]

 

[pop_54]

Sub Joe

 

[domjoe]

I'm not dead. Hope that doesn't put you off, pop.

 

[pop_54]

I'm not dead. Hope that doesn't put you off, pop.

Dammit I like em stiff.

 

[pop_54]

Ok then the Pope... my mate's always saying "fuck the Pope"

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Oddly enough..........Hitler.
I wan't to say I looked in the face of crazy and lived. Actually I wonder what he was like as a semi-human being.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Lolla Montez

Messalina

Anne Boleyn

Alma Schindler-Mahler-Gropius-Werfel

Mati Hari

Evita Peron

Marilyn Monroe

I'd ID all these fine ladies, but I'm sure this high-brow AH crowd recognizes all but, maybe, the last one. Dr. Rumple says, take one a day for a week, in any order.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Guest]

Good taste, Rumps, I know of them all (role models, ya know).

Perdita

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Good taste, Rumps, I know of them all (role models, ya know).

Perdita

Well, of course you do. Remember Tom Leher's song, "Alma?"

The loveliest girl in Vienna
Was Alma, the smartest as well.
Once you picked her up on your antenna,
You'd never be free of her spell.

Her lovers were many and varied,
From the day she began her -- beguine.
There were three famous ones whom she married,
And God knows how many between.

Alma, tell us!
All modern women are jealous.
Which of your magical wands
Got you Gustav and Walter and Franz?

--

Glad to have you back. Being the AH Patriarch just ain't the same with the Matriarch out on the road. Great AV's.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Guest]

Well, of course you do. Remember Tom Leher's song, "Alma?"

Glad to have you back. Being the AH Patriarch just ain't the same with the Matriarch out on the road. Great AV's.

Thanks, Rumps, it's good to be back though I miss where I was (very much). No, I never heard that song, very good, will pass it on to others.

Perdita

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Thanks, Rumps, it's good to be back though I miss where I was (very much). No, I never heard that song, very good, will pass it on to others.

Perdita

"Alma" was from his "That Was The Year That Was" album (highly recommended). "Pollution" is probably the most "famous" cut. Here are the lyrics with his intro. The tune had a latin beat.

--

Time was when an American about to go abroad would be warned by his friends or the guidebooks not to drink the water. But times have changed and now a foreigner coming to this country might be offered the following advice.

If you visit American city,
You will find it very pretty.
Just two things of which you must beware:
Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air.

Pollution, pollution,
They got smog and sewage and mud.
Turn on your tap and get hot and cold running crud.

See the halibuts and the sturgeons
Being wiped out by detergents.
Fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly,
But they don't last long if they try.

Pollution, pollution,
You can use the latest toothpaste,
And then rinse your mouth with industrial waste.

Just go out for a breath of air,
And you'll be ready for Medicare.
The city streets are really quite a thrill.
If the hoods don't get you, the monoxide will.

Pollution, pollution,
Wear a gas mask and a veil.
Then you can breathe, long as you don't inhale.

Lots of things there that you can drink,
But stay away from the kitchen sink.
The breakfast garbage that you throw in to the Bay,
They drink at lunch in San Jose.

So go to the city, see the crazy people there.
Like lambs to the slaughter,
They're drinking the water
And breathing <cough> the air.

 

[yui]

I'm definitely in love. He sounds wonderful.




He sounds very promising indeed. Is his work commonly translated? Translating poety is such a damned difficult thing, especially when poetic conventions vary so widely ...

Shanglan

How is your Chinese?

Here's a little site with the Chinese, Pinyin, English literal, and English literary, so perhaps you can judge for yourself as to the quality of the translations. There are a few books with Li's translated works, but I've personally found them to be difficult to come by.

Li is a beguiling figure. He ascended to Heaven and became the god of poetry. Pretty nifty, eh? I have read that for a Western comparison, he was somewhat Byronic in style (though he was Byronic a wee bit before Byron was Byronic… ).

Luck,

Yui

 

[cantdog]

You left out Ninon de Laclos, Rumps.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

You left out Ninon de Laclos, Rumps.

What can I tell you, Cantdog, so many strumpets, loose women, trollops, and tarts, and so little time. And to tell the truth, I've never heard of the "lady." But if she comes even close to fitting into any of the above categories or matching the fine females on my list, please enlighten me. I thirst for knowledge.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[shereads]

Sex with one other person? So there would be two of us?

Interesting...

 

[domjoe]

Lolla Montez

Messalina

Anne Boleyn

Alma Schindler-Mahler-Gropius-Werfel

Mati Hari

Evita Peron

Marilyn Monroe

I'd ID all these fine ladies, but I'm sure this high-brow AH crowd recognizes all but, maybe, the last one. Dr. Rumple says, take one a day for a week, in any order.

Rumple Foreskin

I think you'd have a problem getting beyond Messalina. But then again I don't know you, you may have superhuman stamina.

 

[Byron In Exile]

Li Bai. He was a poet and a wanderer who became a god. He also loved a good party. He is said to have drowned while trying to embrace the moon's reflection in a river while drunk. I am either in love or appalled. Not sure yet...

"…Now there's nothing left of it.
All the blue is empty now.
All you can see is that long, long river.
It flows to the edge of the sky." -- Li Bai from "Ch'ing P'ing Tiao"

In case anyone is unfamiliar with him, Li Bai (701-761) is regarded as China's greatest poet. His friend the Confucian Du Fu is said to have been the greatest mortal poet. Li, however, rose to the ranks of the Taoist immortals as the god of poetry. "An irreverent and spontaneous bon vivant, Li blurred the line between Taoist master and hedonistic drunkard. His style is free, romantic and exaggerative."

These sound like the two poets I know as "Li Po" and "Tu Fu" (The transliteration seems to change every few years) —


by Tu Fu:

Li Po's poetry: no match anywhere
Soaring, his imagination above all others
Clear, fresh like Yu Hsin
Vigorous, free-flowing like Pao Chao
North of River Wei: trees of spring
East of the Yangtze: clouds of sundown
When can we talk about literature again
Over a bottle of wine?


by Li Po:

I met Tu Fu on a mountaintop
In August when the sun was hot
Under the shade of his big straw hat
His face was sad —
In the years since we'd last parted
He'd grown wan, exhausted
Poor old Tu Fu, I thought then,
He must be agonizing over poetry again
 

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

I think you'd have a problem getting beyond Messalina. But then again I don't know you, you may have superhuman stamina.

Good point, DJ. Ms Messa should probably be the closing act.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[BlackShanglan]

A new suggestion

Might I convince anyone to add Alexander Pope to the list?

Shanglan

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Re: A new suggestion

Might I convince anyone to add Alexander Pope to the list?

Shanglan

No way! Too smart, too talented, too successful, ergo, too intimidating.

Rumple Foreskin