Du Fu's middle-aged poems are called "the history of poetry" because of his gloomy poetic style and feelings of worrying about the country and the people. His poems are good at antique and rhythmic poems, and have various styles. He accurately summed up his work style with the words "depressed and frustrated", mainly focusing on depression. Du Fu lived in the historical period from prosperity to decline in the Tang Dynasty. Most of his poems involve social unrest, political darkness and people's sufferings. His poems reflected the social contradictions and people's sufferings at that time. His poems recorded the historical changes of the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline, and expressed the lofty Confucian spirit of benevolence and strong sense of hardship, so they were called "the history of poetry". Du Fu is concerned about the country and the people, with noble personality and exquisite poetic skills. Du Fu wrote more than 1500 poems in his life, many of which are famous works that have been celebrated through the ages, such as Three Officials and Three Farewells. Among them, the "three officials" are Shi Haoguan, Xin 'an official and Tongguan official, and the "three farewell" are newly married, homeless and resigned. Du Fu's poems handed down from generation to generation are the most extensive in the Tang Dynasty, and he is one of the most outstanding poets in the Tang Dynasty, which has a far-reaching influence on later generations. Du Fu's works are called human scars and sages in poetry. The people are in poverty, and the bottom of the pen is turbulent. It is a masterpiece of realistic poetry.

In the content of Du Fu's poems, most of his works reflect the social outlook at that time, with a wide range of themes and profound implications, especially describing the sufferings of the people and expressing his sympathy for the people and his feelings of worrying about the country and the people. Du Fu's poems are called the history of poetry, which first appeared in the late Tang Dynasty. "Du Fu's" Difficult in the Mountain, the flow of the dragon book, the poetry, pushed to the hidden place, almost nothing, so it is called the number. " In the Song Dynasty, the conclusion was drawn, but the significance of poetry history was different. Some people pay attention to Du Fu's poems about historical events, and think that Du Fu's poems are documentary poems, which can supplement and prove history, so they are called poetry history. This statement only pays attention to the truth and falsehood of historical events, but ignores the emotional characteristics of poetry. Some people think that Du Fu has profound historical knowledge and rigorous brushwork, which can be compared with Sima Qian, a historian of the Han Dynasty. Poetry has critics, and they can all be "the beauty that is not empty and the evil that is not hidden", so it is called the history of poetry. This is desirable. On the other hand, Du Fu's poems are called the history of poetry because they sympathize with others and sometimes feel sad, which is also desirable to some extent. But some people don't want to assign poems. Yang Yi is not Du Like mansion. Liu Fang's "Poems of Zhongshan" says: "Yang Danian is not a poem of Du Like's Ministry of Industry, and he is called the owner."

Poet saint

Du Fu became China's "poet saint" for many reasons. Explain that everyone may have their own unique views. Personally, I think that Du Fu, as a great poet, has three characteristics, which is also an important factor that makes Du Fu respected by future generations as a poet.

★ The first characteristic of Du Fu is that he is the most important poet in the development and evolution of China's poetry from a purely historical point of view.

Standing in the era of Du Fu, looking forward, Du Fu gathered the essence of all previous poets, and he became the highest peak beyond all previous poets. Looking back from Du Fu's time, there are few poets after Du Fu who are not influenced by Du Fu and do not regard Du Fu as a mentor, so Du Fu is also the highest peak of enlightening all poets in later generations. Du Fu's uniqueness in connecting the past with the future makes him the most historic poet in the history of China's poetry. Admittedly, his position is unparalleled.

The prosperous Tang Dynasty in which Du Fu lived was a comprehensive era, which gathered all the experiments of poets in the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties in the form and content of poetry and integrated them. The most concrete manifestation of this kind of works is that in this era of integration, there is an integrated poet, and his overall works are the best example of integration. Du Fu is such an integrated poet.

Li Bai, another great poet in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, was also such a great poet, but his work in this field was not as thorough as Du Fu's. As long as we compare their contributions in this respect a little, we can see the characteristics of Du Fu more clearly.

In the form of poetry, Li Bai prefers classical style to metrical style, which is not suitable for his unrestrained personality. It can't be said that Li Bai has made no achievements in law. His five laws and seven laws are still considerable, but he hardly writes seven laws. On the whole, his achievements in law are still not as good as his ancient style. Du Fu is not like this. Du Fu's efforts in law are by no means inferior to those in ancient Chinese. He developed in a balanced way in both ancient times and law, while Li Bai was partial. Therefore, it can be said that Du Fu is superior to Li Bai in form.

Secondly, when it comes to content. It is quite obvious that Li Bai inherited the theme of the previous generation of poets. He studied Ruan Ji's poems about homesickness, Guo Pu's poems about immortals, Tao Qian's and Xie Lingyun's natural poems, and Qi Liang's palace poems. His achievement is that he is good at all subjects and his writing style is very individual. However, his inheritance of various themes is also obvious. On the contrary, Du Fu also learned expression skills from every previous theme, but he combined these expression skills with these themes, thus presenting a brand-new look. Therefore, the relationship between the content of his works and previous poets is not as obvious as that of Li Bai. It can be said that Du Fu is more creative than Li Bai in summarizing the themes of his predecessors.

In a word, Du Fu's achievements in this work are as follows: in form, he developed the ancient style, which has achieved considerable results, to the extreme, and vigorously developed the legal style that the predecessors had just tested; In terms of content, flexible use of predecessors' themes and techniques of expression, innovation, showing a new look. So Du Fu made some innovations in the process of synthesis. He not only summed up the achievements of predecessors, but also made innovations in the process of summing up. Li Bai can't compare with Du Fu in this respect. Li Bai's summary work is excellent, but the new things he created in the summary are far less than Du Fu's.

This can explain why Du Fu's influence on later poets is far greater than that of Li Bai. Because, when later poets want to find some inspiration from Li Bai and Du Fu, they can find much more new things in Du Fu than Li Bai. This situation was obvious in the second half of the Tang Dynasty: the four most important poets in the second half of the Tang Dynasty, Han Yu, Bai Juyi, Du Mu and Li Shangyin, all studied Du Fu. In the Song Dynasty, it was even more one-sided. Almost all the great poets in Song Dynasty were influenced by Du Fu more than Li Bai. They were inspired by Du Fu directly or indirectly through others (such as Han Yu).

Therefore, we can clearly see that Du Fu not only summed up the achievements of his predecessors and became a master poet, but also made innovations among the masters, thus having a strong influence on many great poets in later generations. This kind of importance is unique in the history of poetry, which has also become one of the important factors for Du Fu to occupy a unique position in China poetry.

From the above description, we can see that Du Fu can play a connecting role in the history of China's poetry, mainly because of his constant attempts in the form of poetry and his constant innovation and changes in the content of poetry, that is, his persistent pursuit of artistic perfection.

★ The second characteristic of Du Fu as a great poet is his ever-growing and ever-changing artistic creativity.

Du Fu lived in a critical period when the Tang Dynasty empire turned from prosperity to decline. Such a historical era has made his life drift from place to place and tasted all kinds of pain. Personally, this is really a great misfortune. However, this great misfortune has become the great fortune of Du Fu's artistic life. Because, whenever Du Fu's life has undergone major changes and faced with new situations, Du Fu, as an artist, can feel the new situation of this life, then think deeply and show it in his poetry creation. Therefore, with the constant change of Du Fu's life experience, the content of Du Fu's poems and the poetry skills that followed it also changed. Therefore, on the whole, the content of Du Fu's works is extremely rich, and Du Fu's poetic skills are also varied. Du Fu's multifaceted works with the growth of the times can be said to be unparalleled in the history of China's poetry. Therefore, no one can surpass his great achievements.

Du Fu was an ambitious poet when he was young. At that time, he did not see that the politics of the Tang Empire had gradually declined. He also confidently believes that with his own talents, he will be able to get ahead and make a difference in officialdom, "making the customs pure again." Therefore, when he looked at Mount Tai, he couldn't help shouting:

Try to climb to the top of the mountain: it dwarfs all the peaks under our feet.

Fully demonstrate the juvenile heroism that despises everything. However, with the passage of time, his frustration grew bigger and bigger. After a long decline, he finally realized the hardships of life. He couldn't help complaining and said:

Is Confucianism useful to me? Kong Qiu's shoes were stolen!

However, this pure personal complaint did not last long. He finally realized that his frustration was not his personal affair, but the result of political corruption in the Tang Dynasty. Because people at the top are greedy for pleasure, regardless of state affairs, and don't promote talents, talents like him are everywhere, and the lives of ordinary people are getting more and more painful. Because of his awakening, he was finally able to turn his personal frustration into political concern, thus creating his early political satires "Road" and "Car Shop". Moreover, on the eve of the Anshi Rebellion, he was finally able to intuitively foresee the inevitability of national unrest, thus writing one of his greatest early poems: "From Beijing to Fengxian, recite 500 words". In this poem, he said with indignation:

The wine and meat in Zhumen stink, and the road has frozen bones.

He became an out-and-out people's poet.

In the Anshi Rebellion, on the one hand, he paid great attention to the development of the rebellion and earnestly hoped that the government troops could quell the rebellion as soon as possible, but on the other hand, in his personal real life experience, he saw how the people struggled to survive in the war. Therefore, his works during the Anshi Rebellion were full of national concern and descriptions of people's sufferings. On the one hand, famous works such as Ai Jiangtou, Sun in Mourning for the King, Mourning for Chen Tao, Mourning for Qingban, Hope for Spring, Sailuzi and so on have been produced. On the other hand, there are well-known works such as Xin 'an Official, Tongguan Official, Shi Haoguan, Newly Married, Resignation and Homelessness. It can be said that Du Fu developed into a mature social realistic poet in the climax of An Shi Rebellion.

During this period, Du Fu, like ordinary people, experienced the most wandering days. After a short but extremely hard escape, Du Fu finally settled in Sichuan. Compared with his previous life, Du Fu lived the most stable life in Sichuan. With the change of life, his works have become a different look. For example:

The clear river winds around the village, and everything in the village looks elegant in the long summer.

Swallows on the beam fly freely, and blind dates in the water are similar and accompanied.

The old lady draws paper for the game and the young child knocks the needle for the hook.

All you need for many diseases is medicine. What more can you ask for?

-"Jiangcun"

My north and my south are full of spring, but flocks of seagulls fly in every day.

The old lady didn't sweep the flower path for the guests. Today, it's only for you. Chai Men hasn't opened it for you yet, but it will open it for you today.

Too far from the city, too far from good food, too thin family background, only old wine.

Shall we call my old neighbor to join us, call him through the fence and empty the jar? .

-"The guests have arrived."

From these works, we can see Du Fu's carefree and relaxed side during his settlement in Sichuan. Compared with the blood and tears of the previous period, the natural freedom of this period naturally has its charm.

It was also during this period that Du Fu began to turn his attention to the most rigorous seven-rhythm pose, because his life was relatively leisurely. He made various experiments on this kind of poetic style that has yet to be developed from various aspects, thus laying the foundation of the seven methods. It is precisely because of his efforts to "gradually refine the poetic method in his later years" that he was respected as "the sage of law" by later generations.

However, although life in Sichuan is relatively stable, it is always a "foreign land", not a permanent place. Therefore, Du Fu finally decided to leave Sichuan and go east along the Yangtze River with the goal of returning to his hometown of Luoyang. Unfortunately, due to various factors, he had to stay in Kuizhou of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River for nearly two years. These two years may be the most lonely time in his life, because he lives in a remote mountain city and has few friends to associate with. Under such circumstances, Du Fu began to recall his life and to think about the future of the Tang Empire. With the results of his own review and meditation, he wrote three masterpieces, namely Autumn Prosperity (eight), Knowledge of Historic Sites (five) and General (five). The artistry and contemplation of these groups of works have become another peak of his life works, which proves that his artistic sensitivity and creativity have not declined in the last few years of his life.

Above, we briefly described Du Fu's life experience and the relationship between his artistic growth and these experiences. From these brief narratives and analyses, we can concretely understand why Du Fu is a growing poet and why Du Fu's works are so rich and varied in subject matter and techniques.

Apart from saying that Du Fu has a persistent spirit of pursuing perfection in art, we also need to admit that his sensitivity to new life experiences is beyond the reach of ordinary people. He will always be a person facing life, and he will always welcome every new life experience with an open mind, so the theme of his poems can be continuously expanded with the changes of his life experience. In this respect, Du Fu is also a poet with the widest mind.

▲ rubbings of Du Fu's calligraphy "Gong Yan Nine Days Nanshan Poetry"

This kind of mind enables him to accept everything and sympathize with everything, which is the third characteristic of Du Fu as a great poet.

The most obvious manifestation of this trait is his concern and sympathy for people. One of his best poems is his nostalgia for his friends and brothers. Almost every good friend of his has written sincere and touching poems. For example, Zheng Qian, a friend in need, wrote this sentence when he sent him away:

Then I should stay with my husband forever, and I'll pay the deadline in the grave.

If you don't have an extraordinary friendship with your friends, who can speak so bitterly?

Du Fu's feelings for Li Bai are particularly touching. He only met Li Bai twice in his life, but every time he recalled Li Bai, he wrote extremely touching works. His two poems "Li Bai's Dream" can be said to be the most memorable poems describing the feelings of friends from ancient times to modern times.

Emotion is the foundation of all interpersonal relationships. China people say, "Without language, there is no love". Perhaps because of this, the ancient poets in China did not write about family easily. In this respect, Du Fu is a rare exception. It is easy to find his wife, children, brothers and sisters in his works. In his famous Moonlit Night, Qiangzhai and Northern Expedition, the sentences about his wife are unforgettable. In my later years in Sichuan, I wandered between Zizhou and Langzhou. When I left my family for a short time, I once said, "When I count my papers, I know that I have not returned to love" ("Guest Night"). "When my sick wife is worried, who can count the autumn flowers and stones? If you don't come to school on March 1, when will you avoid worrying? " ("Langzhong") are all simple and moving (see Xia Lun, Feng Zhi's Biography of Du Fu, page 215-6, People's Literature, 20 14). Everyone knows that Du Fu always cares about his four younger brothers, but few people notice that these four younger brothers are all born to different mothers. Du Fu lost his mother when he was young and had deep feelings for his younger brothers (my friend Xie told me this when chatting). It is extremely rare for ancient China poets to describe the ethical feelings of their loved ones so truly in their poems.

When Confucianism talks about human relations, people often say, "Kiss the people, kiss the people and love things." Du Fu is a typical example. In addition to his relatives and friends, he even showed deep affection for animals, such as the following poem:

The branches of Zelkova are weak and the loquat trees are fragrant.

The cormorant is under the sun and full of wings.

-"Tian She"

Goose yellow is like wine, and love new geese is wine.

Lead the neck to anger and force the ship, and keep your eyes open.

-"Goose in front of the boat"

In the first poem, he was pleased with the "happy land" of cormorants. In the second poem, he appreciates the loveliness and playfulness of goslings, as if they all have human nature, which fully embodies the mind of "harmony between people and things". This idea even extends to the house where he lived. When he wandered between Zizhou and Langzhou, he often thought of the thatched cottage in Chengdu. On one occasion, he wrote "Posting the topic to the Caotang outside the River". On another occasion, he sent his younger brother Du Zhan back to Chengdu to "calibrate" the Caotang, specifically telling Du Zhan that "geese and ducks should be long and firewood should be open". When he finally returned to the thatched cottage, he wrote several poems to express his complicated feelings after his reunion with the thatched cottage.

As can be seen from the above, Du Fu is really "loyal to nature", showing pure sincerity and kindness at all times and never exaggerating. Only from Du Fu's personality can we realize that Du Fu is a real "poet who is loyal to the monarch and patriotic" and a real "poet who cares about the people". Modern people may scoff at these two titles and think that they are slogans in textbooks, but Du Fu really can afford them. Try the next poem:

Spring drought, the sky is dark and the sun is red as blood.

This is a severe drought scene, and Du Fu is very worried, because,

Agriculture has been suspended and the war is in ruins.

The Pakistanis were trapped in the army, lamenting the thick soil and the heat.

Farmers can't farm land, but also bear the expenses of the army. The consequences are unpredictable. Fortunately, it rained at night, "Gu Gen took a break", but unfortunately it didn't rain much, and "he died". Du fu can't help but sigh:

Why should I be relieved of my worries?

He looked up at the mountain, saw the mountains covered with dark clouds, and it might continue to rain. He couldn't help shouting:

Andrew whipped the thunder and washed the five mountains in the torrent.

-"Happy Rain" (original note: I heard that there are many thieves in Zhejiang. )

This poem gives a strange feeling to read. At this time, Du Fu had not yet taken office. What does drought have to do with him? However, he used such heavy words as "the sun is as red as blood" and "thick soil wailing" to express his heavy feelings. He was happy to see the rain. Seeing that it wasn't raining hard enough, he couldn't get rid of his worries. Why does he always worry about the whole world? What is even more strange is that there has been a peasant "riot" in eastern Zhejiang. How did he know he was far away in Sichuan? Why does he always care about the world? What does this have to do with him? Some people say that he hopes that a rainstorm will wash away the "civil strife" in eastern Zhejiang, but it is not at all. Because of the drought, the people are unable to support the army, so they will come forward and take risks. Du Fu is worried that Sichuan will become the second eastern Zhejiang if it doesn't rain again. Only a rainstorm can completely dispel the "suffocation" between heaven and earth. This is Du Fu, and it is true that he is "loyal to nature". At the end of "From Beijing to Fengxian, 500 Words of Love Words", he said that when he got home, he heard his wife's howl, only then did he know that his youngest son had starved to death. Then, he said that as a scholar-bureaucrat,

Life is often tax-free, and the name is not levied.

The traces are still sour and pungent, and people are solid.

Meditate on the unemployed, because they are far away.

Worry stops in the south, and the hole cannot be broken.

A scholar-bureaucrat thinks of the sufferings of ordinary people because of his own experience, thus "worrying about the south without ending" and producing uncontrollable sorrow. Which poet in China wrote such a poem? Every time I speak this song, when I read it, my voice always trembles slightly, and the classroom is always silent. Can I say that he is not the greatest poet in China?

This is just Du Fu's mentality and personality in two poems. If we look at all Du Fu's works, we will be surprised that he cares so much about the current situation and the people. Needless to say, I'll give you another example that is generally ignored. In October of the first year of Zong Guangde, due to improper measures taken by the imperial court, Tubo easily invaded Chang 'an, which was the second time that Chang 'an fell after the Anshi Rebellion. At that time, Du Fu and Sichuan officials were paying close attention to the news that Tubo invaded the northwest frontier of Sichuan, and no one paid attention to the news of Chang 'an. At the end of that year, Du Fu finally heard some rumors and wrote three poems in succession: Mourning for the Past, Bashan and Early Flowers. From this time until the next spring, Du Fu has been paying attention to the development of the situation. According to my estimation, he wrote at least 2 1 poems about this incident, including five poems about the pain of spring, five poems about Beijing, five poems about feelings and two poems about recalling the past. The ancients called him "never forgetting his husband at every meal", which translated into modern words means that Du Fu is extremely concerned about real politics and often has trouble sleeping. This concern can actually force him to write poems, which are often very touching. For Du Fu, realistic politics has become an inseparable part of his life and constitutes the core element of his emotional fluctuation. Such a poet is not to be found in China. When he was young, he made up his mind to "respect Your Majesty Yao and Shun, and then make the customs pure", just because he hoped that the world would be peaceful and there would never be suffering on earth. His concern for real politics is actually just an earnest expression of this kind desire. If we say that he is a defender of "feudal morality" or that he is speaking for the "ruling class", it can only prove that we are a bad political dogmatist. Du Fu makes people feel incredible, because it is difficult to find a second great poet like him between heaven and earth. As far as personality is concerned, this is not a "poet saint". What else could it be?

Du Fu grew up in the prosperous Tang Dynasty when Buddhism and Taoism prevailed. Li Bai was a Taoist and Wang Wei was a Buddhist. At that time, few people really believed in Confucianism. When it comes to the pursuit of poets, Meng Haoran, Wang Changling, Li Bai, Gao Shi and Cen Can are all keen on fame. Of course, Du Fu is also keen on fame, but beyond that, he does have a heart that cares about people and things. At that time, he was a "maverick generation" and there was no other person like him. It is incredible how such a "pure Confucian" poet can appear in an era when Confucianism has not yet revived. In the Song Dynasty, when Confucianism was fully revived, everyone unanimously praised Du Fu. Since then, Du Fu has become the highest model of China poets. Du Fu attaches great importance to human relations, and is full of the heart of "being close to the people" and "helping the world and loving the people", which fully embodies the Confucian spirit. Du Fu's works express this spirit to the extreme, so he is naturally called "Poet Saint" by China people.

Draft of 2014165438+10/7 to 18

2065438+modified on May 28th, 2005.

* This article is the introduction of poet sage Du Fu (Sanlian Bookstore, August 20 15).

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Poet du fu

Author: Lu

Life, Reading and Knowledge Sanlian Bookstore, August edition of 20 15, priced at 42.00 yuan.

Du Fu not only summed up the achievements of his predecessors and became a great master, but also made innovations in the achievements of a great master, which had a strong influence on many great poets in later generations. This is one of the important factors that Du Fu occupies a unique position in China's poetry circle.

Du Fu is a growing poet ... On the whole, the content of Du Fu's works is extremely rich, and his poetic skills are also varied. With the development of the times, this kind of works show many aspects, which can be said to be unparalleled in the history of China's poetry.

Du Fu attaches great importance to human relations, and is full of the heart of "being close to the people" and "helping the world and loving the people", which fully embodies the Confucian spirit. Du Fu's works express this spirit to the extreme, so he is naturally called "Poet Saint" by China people.

-Lu Zheng Hui