1 h 57 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 1 h 57 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Must every poet bow to the past, or can each age find a voice of its own?
In Oubei Poetry Talks, Zhao Yi makes the case for poetry that changes with its time. A Qing dynasty poet and scholar, he looks across centuries of Chinese verse and asks what makes a poem fresh. The stakes are clear: if earlier masters set every rule, what room remains for later writers to speak?
His approach is a conversation, not a rigid system. In the Chinese form called shihua, or talks on poetry, remarks, judgments and small stories bring poems and their writers into view. Moving among Tang poets, Song poets and writers nearer his own time, Zhao Yi weighs craft, life and daring without treating one period as the final authority.
What you’ll discover
- A voice for every age Explore the bold claim that poetry must change rather than live by inherited rules.
- Beyond the earlier masters Follow a critic who respects earlier poets without granting them the last word.
- Craft, life and daring Consider how these three concerns shape Zhao Yi’s judgments of poets across centuries.
- A poet’s attentive ear Notice how a working poet’s feeling for sound and image informs his criticism.
- Thought through conversation Enter a loose weave of remarks and stories that invites you to weigh each judgment.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who love Tang and Song poetry, enjoy literary gossip and detective work, and like a critic who takes sides. It rewards anyone curious about how poets lived and why some lines travel for centuries.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Li Bai makes effort disappear
- Read the words before the story
- A collection is evidence to examine
- Du Fu's hardship is not his gift
- Strangeness must grow from real strength
- Plain speech can carry deep feeling
- Poetic freedom meets the poet's world
- Each age leaves marks on poetry
- Read with both heart and evidence
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25 languages, side by side
Oubei Poetry Talks in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Oubei Poetry Talks
by Yi Zhao
A Qing scholar rates Li Bai like an immortal and Du Fu like a mountain, then tests every poem against the facts.
Challenging5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What would make a critic say that one poet writes like an immortal and another climbs like a mountain? Oubei Poetry Talks opens with just that boldness.
Oubei Poetry Talks at a glance
- Reading time
- About 7 h 25 min5 h 55 min fast, 8 h 50 min slow
- Length
- 106,300 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Li Bai writes like an immortal, without visible effort
The book opens with Li Bai, and its first claim is bold. Zhao Yi says Li Bai seems born of the realm of immortals. His verse comes like a heavenly horse crossing the sky, and no one can rein it in.
Du Fu and Han Yu also write shocking images of thunder and falling bones, but the reader sees them straining. Li Bai has a god stroke the head of the first being and one wind topple a mountain. These images are as odd as any, yet they come with ease. Whatever he touches blooms into spring.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 1 h 15 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Zhao, Yi. Oubei Poetry Talks. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/oubei-poetry-talks.
Zhao, Y. (2026). Oubei poetry talks. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/oubei-poetry-talks
Zhao, Yi. Oubei Poetry Talks. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/oubei-poetry-talks.
@book{zhao2026oubei,
author = {Zhao, Yi},
title = {Oubei Poetry Talks},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/oubei-poetry-talks}
}
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What is Oubei Poetry Talks about?
It is a Qing-dynasty work of poetry criticism in twelve volumes. Zhao Yi discusses poets from Li Bai and Du Fu through Su Shi, Lu You, and later Ming and Qing writers, with quotations, comparisons, and careful checking of facts.
Who was Zhao Yi, also called Oubei?
Zhao Yi was a Qing-dynasty scholar and historian who died in 1814. Oubei was his pen name. He is also known for notes on history, and his poetry talks bring that same careful habit of testing sources to literature.
What does Zhao Yi say about Li Bai and Du Fu?
He says Li Bai writes like an immortal, with no visible effort, while Du Fu carries every thought to its furthest limit. He calls Li impossible to imitate and Du a model that can be studied.
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