The Emperor of Dreams. The Oneiric World in Li Yu 李煜 (937-978)’s Lyrics

The ci lyrics of Li Yu (937-978), poet and emperor of the Southern Tang dynasty, can be an interesting standpoint from which to observe an important phase in the evolution of the ci genre. His arias bear witness to a transition from a popular tradition of lyrics written by either male poets for professional female singers to perform, or by the female singers themselves for their own performance, to a literati tradition where male poets increasingly used the ci form to express their poetic self. An evident urgency for venting his despair, loneliness, nostalgia and anxiety clearly pervades Li Yu’s lyrics. In some cases we can observe a new, direct and free voicing of the poet’s inner feelings, although, in most cases, this expression of his own feelings is achieved through the use of the female voice – the more traditional and consolidated technique, but one that is not devoid of ambiguities and ambivalences. The prevalence of the dream theme is also a distinctive characteristic of Li Yu’s lyrics. By retracing some aspects of his life (and how this must have influenced his poetry) and by analysing a selection of his lyrics, this article argues that the oneiric world, besides being an important feature of the ci tradition, is also used by Li Yu as a device to create the undefined and indistinct context necessary for expressing his innermost self.