On the bank of fine grass and gentle breeze, there is a dangerous boat at night.

The stars hang down over the vast plains, and the moon surges across the river.

It is not famous to write articles. Officials should retire due to old age and illness.

Why is Piao Piao, a sand gull in the sky and earth.

——Du Fu's "Walking at Night"

In the winter of 770 AD, Du Fu, the greatest poet in Chinese history, died in poverty. On a broken boat drifting in the Xiangjiang River.

At this time, this 59-year-old man who has experienced many vicissitudes of life, "his right arm is partially withered and half deaf", with white hair, haggard appearance, and ragged clothes, looks like a piece of drifting dryness on the cold and damp river surface. Ye is carried away by the rolling Xiangjiang River.

However, the gorgeous chapters he left for the history of Chinese literature, and the more than 1,400 poems he left behind that are shocking and weeping about ghosts and gods, have gone through the ups and downs of more than 1,300 years of history and still nourish a nation to this day. The thoughts and souls support the pinnacle of national cultural spirit.

Du Fu's wandering life did not have the glory of a legend, but it had the power to shock people's hearts. If people who talk about Chinese poetry without reading Li Bai are shallow, then I can say that people who talk about Chinese poetry without reading Du Fu are shameful. I don't mean just his poetry, but his life. If you have not understood his life, you cannot understand his poetry, you cannot understand his greatness, and you cannot understand the spiritual core of Chinese poetry.

How to read Du Fu is an important and difficult choice. Anyone who has studied in college for several years should have some understanding of Du Fu's life. But it was just a rough line, a vague impression, a vague background. The ancients said: "Books should not be read after the Six Dynasties". Although it is biased from today's perspective, it also tells a truth. Reading is not about whether to read or not, but about what kind of books to read. Especially reading the life of a figure like Du Fu is not the work of everyone and is not enough to discuss Tao.

For me, I secretly made up my mind to make Du Fu’s image clearer after visiting Du Fu’s Thatched Cottage in Chengdu this summer. After that, I successively purchased "A Narrative of Du Fu" by Mr. Zhu Dongrun and "The Biography of Du Fu" by Mr. Feng Zhi. These are currently the two best biographies about Du Fu. Mr. Zhu Dongrun is a historian with rigorous research and detailed information. He puts the poet's life in a broad social background and discusses it with a grand narrative and attention to details. Mr. Feng Zhi is a poet who focuses on reflecting Du Fu's life course and emotional changes in his works. Both books have their own merits, but due to the constraints of the times, both books adopt class analysis to varying degrees, calling Du Fu the "landlord class", labeling him "vulgar" and so on. Mr. Zhu Dongrun's "A Narrative of Du Fu" was written in 1977. In the book, he never dared to call Du Fu a "great poet", but called him "the greatest poet of the eighth century". This shows the hardship of writing. Mr. Feng Zhi's "The Biography of Du Fu" was published in 1952. In the book, Du Fu is called "the great poet" many times. However, in the first chapter, Du Fu's ancestors are examined in detail for eight generations to prove that he was born in the landlord class. had a negative impact on him. Despite this, the flaws are not concealed, and there is still no other recognized biography of Du Fu that can surpass these two.

In this way, my new understanding of Du Fu began in Chengdu Thatched Cottage, and I was excited about this starting point. This is the holy land of Chinese poetry, shining through the ages, but its owner was so dim and suffered many hardships during his lifetime. He is a young and frivolous playboy, a disgraced middle-aged intellectual, a "minor civil servant" who encounters obstacles at every turn, a refugee who is struggling with his family, a street vendor selling medicine, and a white-haired old man suffering from hunger and cold. For the sake of life and food for his family, he once clung to wealth and followed the trend; he begged for food from wealthy families and sang praises for their virtues.

But none of this can affect his greatness. Because suffering always follows him. Mr. Lu Du has a famous saying: "Is there anyone who comes from a well-off family and falls into trouble? I thought that by walking on this road, I can see the true face of life." And Du Fu walked on this road, and he saw the true face of life. The true face, and also saw the true face of society. Not only that, he also saw and experienced the entire journey of one of the most powerful dynasties from the peak of its prosperity to its decline, from prosperity and peace to war, from peaceful countryside and prosperous cities to bones everywhere.

The greatness of Du Fu lies in the fact that he is always awake.

Whether in the officialdom, in the shogunate, by the Huanhua River in Chengdu in the spring, or in exile in poverty and despair. When he was in trouble, he made friends with wealthy families and turned to relatives and friends for help. When his life changed slightly, he resigned and moved away. He always wants to maintain his spiritual independence and high personality, but he can never escape from the harsh reality. He not only describes the sufferings of the world, social reality, personal interest and sorrow, but also the great atmosphere, big mind and great realm of swallowing mountains and rivers. While he lamented that he was a "frequent guest in the sad autumn thousands of miles away, and had been sick for hundreds of years on his solitary platform", he could also write the eternal tragedy of "the endless falling trees rustling under the trees, and the endless Yangtze River rolling in"; ", the official should retire due to old age and illness", and at the same time, he can also write the majestic momentum of "the moon hangs down on the flat sand, and the moon surges into the river".

Du Fu’s greatness also lies in his authenticity. Not only did he truly describe society and record history, he also truly described himself and laughed at himself. His poems are more authentic historical materials than "New Book of Tang" and "Old Book of Tang", and more authentic personal biographies than the so-called Caprices and Collections of Truths. Not to mention how the well-known "Three Histories" and "Three Farewells" truly record society, just look at his records of himself and you will know how cute he is. One is "Zhuanghuai" which records his early life. The original poem is very long, and some of the verses are recorded as follows:

In the past fourteen or five years, I traveled to the calligraphy and ink field. Sven Cui Wei Tu, I am like Bunyan.

When you are seven years old, you are strong when you think about it, and you chant the phoenix when you open your mouth. Jiuling's book has large characters and is made into a bag.

He is rich in nature and addicted to alcohol, and he is jealous of evil and has a strong heart. When I was young, my friends were all old.

Drinking intoxicatedly and looking at the eight extremes, all the worldly things are lost. Going east to Gusu Terrace, we already have floating sea navigation.

The world is white for Yue women, and Jianhu Lake is cool in May. The Yan River is so beautiful that you can’t forget it.

In the debauchery between Qi and Zhao, Qiu Ma is quite wild. On the stage of spring songs, beside the green hills of winter hunting.

The eagles call out to the forest, and the beasts chase the clouds and snow hills. Zeng Zongzong flew away, and the eagle fell down with his arm.

The other song is "Escape" written in his later years:

Fifty-headed white men, fleeing from the north to the south. The sparse cloth is wrapped around the withered bones, and running around is painful but not warm.

As soon as the illness comes in, the whole world will be devastated. In the universe, there is no place for me.

My wife and children followed me again, looking back and lamenting. In the Mangqiu Ruins of my hometown, the neighbors are scattered.

The way back is lost, and I shed tears all over the bank of the Xiangjiang River.

From the comparison of these two poems, we can see the ups and downs of Du Fu's life and the uncertainty of his destiny. But Du Dufu also wrote several poems about the coldness of life, the warmth of the world, and the embarrassment of his own life.

One is "Thirty Rhymes of Jingnan in Autumn". The original poem is longer, and the excerpt is as follows:

The original work has been completed, and the false reputation is still there. The autumn rain fills the Xiang River, and the cold wind blows over the plum trees.

Bitterness shakes the tail to seek food, but often exposes the gills to repay kindness. Tie the tongue to prevent slander, and explore the intestines to bring trouble to the fetus.

The infantrymen cry in the vast sky, and the Zhanzhong expresses their sorrow. There is rice in every house when one is hungry, and cups are everywhere in sorrow.

Don't sigh for the poor people, let everyone sigh. Everyone in Yizhou knows Qu Songcai.

Since ancient times, people from all walks of life have been filled with despair.

Another song is "Twenty-two rhymes for Wei Zuo Chengzhang," excerpted as follows:

In the morning, I will seize the door of rich people, and in the evening, I will follow the fat horse dust; the broken cup and cold moxibustion will sneak everywhere Sad!

Reading such sentences, it is not difficult for us to feel the poet's inner anguish and sadness, and we cannot help but sigh at his true attitude towards actions that violate his personality. He is a dignified poet, a talented man who thinks he is better than Ban Chao and Yang Xiong, but when he was down and out, he also put down his dignity and "become a rich man in the morning, and follow the fat horse in the evening", but his greatness lies in , he truly expressed the deep sadness and left it to future generations.

What’s lovely about Du Fu is that he pays attention to emotions. Family friendship and the loyalty of his brothers are themes that often appear in his poems. Li Bai, Gao Shi, and Cen Shen were all his early friends, and they were friendships that he missed throughout his life. He had a brief friendship with Li Bai, but they became a permanent memory. Although Li Bai only had one poem about Du Fu, Du Fu always cared about Li Bai. He also dreamed of Li Bai many times and wrote many poems. When friends meet, he writes poems to express his feelings; when friends see each other, he writes poems as gifts. My friend Yan Wu was transferred to Chang'an, and he sent him one journey after another. "Sent away from afar, the green mountains are empty and the love returns; when will the cup be heavy, we will walk together with the moon last night."

In 770 AD, Du Fu died on a boat on the Xiangjiang River after tasting all the bitterness of life. Previously, he was desperate and made the boat his home for more than a year.

Later, due to the Hengyang mutiny, he went south to Leiyang. Due to rain blocking the road, he stopped at Fangtian Station and fasted for several days. After the Leiyang County magistrate got the news, he sent someone to deliver white wine beef. This triggered a controversial public case, tentatively called the "beef and liquor" incident. There are different perspectives in the two books I just finished.

Zhu Dongrun's "A Narrative of Du Fu" cites the consistent records in "New Book of Tang" and "Old Book of Tang", and believes that Du Fu was "drunk to death" due to "white wine and beef" because he had been hungry and cold for many days.

Feng Zhi's "The Biography of Du Fu" believes that the saying that "he died of drinking and eating" is absurd. The real situation is that wind and paralysis aggravated the long-term life on the water, and he died of poverty and disease.

For the above two statements, I would rather believe the former. First, the former has well-founded research, but the latter does not list relevant information. The second is a bitter poet who has lived in poverty and hardship all his life. Finally he got drunk once and finished his life in a dreamland with a happy mood. This is the ending I hope. Lao Nie, the county magistrate of Leiyang, was his friend and respected Du Fu's poems. He once entertained Du Fu in Leiyang by saying, "I've slaughtered a fat sheep with courtesy, and I'm worried about the pure mash." The two entertained each other with poetry and wine, and had a great time talking. After leaving, I heard that Du Fu was trapped in Fangtian Station, so he quickly sent someone to deliver "beef and white wine". This was entirely out of friendship and concern.

At this time, Du Fu had not eaten for many days, and his old illness had relapsed, making him homeless and homeless. The friendship between Lao Nie, the magistrate of Leiyang County, is so rare and warm. Of course he wants to eat, of course he wants to drink. After eating and drinking, he felt refreshed and inspired by poetry, and wrote the last poem in his life. The title of this poem is very long, like a preface: "Nie Leiyang used his servant to block the water, and wrote about wine and meat to cure the famine in the river; the poem was popular in every generation, and the poem was full of original rhyme, and he went to the county to submit to Nie's order. We went to Fangtian Station by land for forty miles, and after a day's boating trip, when the river was rising, we stopped at Fangtian." In the poem, he first expressed his gratitude to "the leisurely sun and the plain weather, and visited the desolate countryside", and then recalled Lao Nie's courtesy to him, "I have slaughtered a fat sheep with courtesy, and my sorrow is the pure mash." At the same time, he also talked about his final expectations: "People are not like Shu in the west, but they thrive in Zhao in the north."

This is Du Fu’s last mood and last song. His life came to an abrupt end here, disappearing at the end of the horizon like a helpless sand gull between heaven and earth. However, "white wine and beef, drunk to death" not only does not detract from his greatness, but also gives a touch of comfort to those who love him.