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EMPEROR LI YU - A LIFE IN POEMS

A Poem Cycle by Brett Rutherford. Adaptations and Expansions from the Poetry of Li Yu (937-978 CE), last ruler of the Southern Tang Dynasty. After almost two hundred years of glory and accomplishments, the great Tang Dynasty of China collapsed in 907 CE. The culture of Tang lingered on in the Southern Tang kingdom, however, ruled by three generations of the Li family. In Southern Tang, the grand traditions of art, music, poetry, and painting thrived, and Buddhism flourished.

Li Yu, the last ruler of Southern Tang, did not inherit his father’s military inclinations, and when he assumed the throne at a young age, the realm was shrinking as provinces were ripped away by rival states, the most rapacious of which was the new Song dynasty. Tributes, gifts, and hostages made the tension between Southern Tang and Song more and more fraught with peril.

A poet, dreamer, and pacifist, Li Yu was totally unsuited to rule in a time when China was being split into “Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.” Isolated in his palace compound, he devoted himself to writing poetry, and enjoyed not only the favors of his Empress and concubines, but also entered into a scandalous love affair with his wife’s younger sister.

Li Yu invited poets and artists from all the war-torn states to Southern Tang, where he housed them as honored guests in their own palace of the arts. More and more Buddhist temples and monasteries dotted the landscape.

Captured by the Song army after the siege of Nanjing, Li Yu became a state prisoner, shown off and ridiculed as a former king and would-be emperor. When his new poems offended the Song Emperor, he was ordered to drink poison.

This cycle relates the tragic fate of Li Yu, his Empress, and the “other woman,” the kind of royal soap opera that fascinates because the outcome is the end of an entire nation. Only 39 poems of Li Yu survive, and every word of them has been woven into this narrative cycle. They are regarded as among the saddest and most emotional poems written in China, and they are sad because this poet, who had everything a mortal could wish for, lost it all. Li Yu’s Chinese originals are also included on facing pages. Illustrated with 24 paintings from the Tang and Song Dynasties.

The Poet's Press. This is the 306th publication of The Poet’s Press. Published October 2022. Hardcover, 174 pages with 24 full color illustrations, 6 x 9 inches. ISBN 9798354819225. $33.95. CLICK HERE to order from Amazon. Paperback edition ISBN 9798339589457 for $24.95. To order from Amazon: https://amzn.to/4dcQe68.

PDF ebook edition. $5.00. CLICK HERE to order and download from Payhip.

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Version 1.1 Updated January 13, 2026.