Du Fu's Poetry

Du Fu's poetry is based on Confucianism's idea of benevolence and government, and he has the grand ambition of "to make the king Yao and Shun, and then to make the customs simple".

The core of Du Fu's poetic realism is concern for the people's plight, and the themes are loyalty to the king, love of country, and love of people.

(a) Concern for people's hardships is the core of Du Fu's realist poetry.

(b) Confucianism of loyalty to the king, love of country and love of people is the ideological theme of Du Fu's realist poetry. In terms of expression, the artistic characteristics of Du Fu's realist poetry focus on writing about the reality of life, and the organic combination of feeling and writing, forming a somber and staccato artistic style.

Introduction of Du Fu:

Du Fu (February 12, 712 - 770), male, Zimei, self-proclaimed Shaoling Yilao, a famous realist poet of the Tang Dynasty, together with Li Bai, known as "Li Du". He was born in Gong County, Henan Province, and was originally from Xiangyang, Hubei Province. In order to distinguish himself from the other two poets, Li Shangyin and Du Mu, who were known as "Li Du", Du Fu and Li Bai were also known as "Li Du", and Du Fu was often referred to as "Lao Du".

Du Fu traveled to Wu-Yue and Qi-Zhao during his youth, during which time he went to Luoyang and failed to pass the examination. After the age of thirty-five, he first took the examination in Chang'an, but failed; later he offered gifts to the emperor and made gifts to the nobles. He was not successful in his official career and witnessed the extravagance and social crisis of the upper class in the Tang Dynasty.

The Anshi Rebellion broke out in the 14th year of Tianbao (755), and the Tongguan Pass was lost, so Du Fu moved from place to place. In the second year of Qianyuan (759), Du Fu abandoned his official post and entered Sichuan. Although he escaped the war and lived a relatively stable life, he still cared about the people and the country. Du Fu wrote "Ascending to the Heights," "Spring Hope," "The Northern Expedition," as well as "Three Officials" and "Three Farewells," among other masterpieces.

Although Du Fu was a realist poet, he also had a wild and uninhibited side, and it is not difficult to see Du Fu's boldness from his masterpiece "Song of the Eight Immortals in the Drink".

Du Fu's ideology centered on the idea of benevolent government, and he had a grand ambition to "make the customs simple again". [Although Du Fu was not well known during his lifetime, his reputation spread far and wide, and he had a profound influence on both Chinese and Japanese literature. Some 1,500 poems by Du Fu*** have been preserved, most of them collected in the Du Gongfu ji (Collection of Du Gongfu).

Du Fu died in the winter of the fifth year of Dali (770) at the age of fifty-nine. Du Fu's influence in classical Chinese poetry was so far-reaching that he was called the "Sage of Poetry" by later generations, and his poems were called the "History of Poetry". His poems are known as the "History of Poetry". The later generations called him Du Pickup and Du Gongbu, and also called him Du Shaoling and Du Cao Tang.