In the manner of Ovid: the poetics of exile in Li Bai

Abstract

Ovid and the poetry he composed during his exile, Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto, are responsible for the creation of what we might call a “poetics of exile.” After him, many poets from different literatures reflected their exiles in their poetry, using the same themes, the same strategy, the same topoi, some directly influenced by him, others simply because their situations were similar. Li Bai, one of the greatest Chinese poets, who lived a wandering life that he himself came to consider an exile, also dedicated several poems to his condition. The aim of this work is to point out a set of coincidences and similarities between Li Bai's poetry, in relation to this theme, and Ovid's poetics of exile, although it is clear that he could not have been influenced by the Latin poet, whose poetry was totally ignored in China at that time.