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Ancient and Medieval Bards – Surprising Facts About Some of History’s Greatest Poets

Khalid Elhassan March 17, 2025 17 min

Poets - Statue of Al-Mutanabbi, the Arabic Language's greatest bard, in Baghdad — Statue of Al-Mutanabbi, the Arabic Language's greatest bard, in Baghdad. Chaldean News

8. A Poet Who Spent a Life Time Chasing a Government Gig

Poets - Li Bo — Li Bo. Encyclopedia Britannica

Li Bo claimed membership in the imperial family, but actually belonged to another family of the same name. He began composing poetry early in his youth, and left home at age twenty four for years of wandering. As he traveled, Li Bo showed his poetry to numerous officials in the hope of getting hired as a secretary – a job title more significant in that period and context than it is today. He had still not landed the desired job when he arrived at the Tang Dynasty’s capital at the age of forty one. Li Bo did not get hired then either. However, he did gain acceptance into a group of distinguished court poets.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.