Li Shangyin, born around 812 and dead around 858, was one of the most brilliant, difficult, and emotionally resonant poets of the late Tang dynasty. His courtesy name was Yishan; he also used the literary sobriquets Yuxisheng, “Student of the Jade Stream,” and Fannansheng, “Student of the Southern Mountains.” In the history of Chinese poetry, he is commonly placed beside Du Mu as a defining voice of the Late Tang, th…
Compare Poets
Pick two poets who seem to have nothing to do with each other — a Gothic American and a pastoral Englishman, say — and see where the catalogue actually joins them: overlapping years, shared ground, distinctive themes, and the poems that secretly rhyme.
Poet A
Li Shangyin
Poet B
Ch'ŏyong
Compare two related contemporaries
A random pair who overlapped in time and whose poems already rhyme in the catalogue — a way into poets you may not have met.
Strongly related
Their work already rhymes in the catalogue. The rest of this page is the story around that rhyme.
Biography 61%
Blended 61%
Swap sides
Another related pair
Ch’ŏyong, also romanized as Cheoyong, occupies an unusual place in Korean literary history: he is at once a poet, a legendary prince, a ritual guardian, a dancer, an image on a gate, and a figure whose historical identity cannot be separated from the story that made him famous. He is conventionally placed in the late ninth century, perhaps c. 800–c. 900, though neither a reliable birth date nor a death date is known.…
In time
Li Shangyin
Ch'ŏyong
800
900
They overlapped for 47 years (812–858).
When Li Shangyin was born, Ch'ŏyong was about 12.
Ch'ŏyong was about 58 when Li Shangyin died.
On the map
About 1,475 km separate Qinyang, Henan Province, China from Gyeongju, South Korea.
Themes they return to
Distinctive words drawn from each poet’s critiqued poems — what they keep writing about, not just what their biographies mention.
Shared
Ch'ŏyong only
From the biographies
court
Li Shangyin: late tang dynasty, henei, qinyang, du mu, linghu chu, wang maoyuan, jinshi examination, seven-character lüshi. Ch'ŏyong: ch'ŏyongga, hyangga, dragon king, eastern sea, king hŏngang, silla court, gyeongju, samguk yusa.
Poems that secretly rhyme
The closest poem-to-poem matches in critique space — the sort of kinship a listener hears before the catalogue admits it.
The world around them
While their lives overlapped
Notable events from the years they were both alive.
Li Shangyin
Emotional landscapes
Li Shangyin: Longing, Sorrow, Wonder. Ch'ŏyong: Longing, Anger, Sorrow.