⬅️ 唐诗 Tang Poems
Du Fu (杜甫,712-770 AD) was a poet of Tang dynasty. He and his elder contemporary Li Bai (李白) were called by the combination of their family names Li-Du, or the Great Li-Du (大李杜) in contrast with the Little Li-Du (小李杜), referred to another pair of poets in late Tang period Li Shangyin and Du Mu (李商隐，杜牧).
Du Fu was born to a scholar-official family. His grandfather Du Shenyan (杜审言),whom we have introduced previously, was also an acclaimed poet during early Tang period. Du Fu once said "Composing poems is my family thing (诗乃吾家事)." But Du Fu's own career did not go very well. His first attempt at Jinshi (进士) imperial examination failed. In 747 AD, Du Fu took the test again. However, in order to eliminate all potential rivals at the imperial court, the prime minister Li Linfu (李林甫) had all candidates failed and reported to Emperor Xuanzong (唐玄宗) that "there was no talented person left out among common people (野无遗贤)." Du Fu spent the next ten years at the capital city of Chang'an seeking the opportunity to advance his political career with no success. In 755 AD, he was appointed to a minor post responsible for the keep of weapon and armor and gate security. However, before he even started to work, An-Shi rebellion broke out.
An-Shi rebellion was the turning point of Tang dynasty from being strong to weak, from prosperity to decline and from unity to division. In eight years of wars and conflicts, the empire lost more than half of its population. Du Fu traveled from place to place during this period, to take refugee at safe place or to be transferred from this minor post to another. More and more the theme of his poetry turned to the social disturbance and sufferings he witnessed that war brought upon people. On his way from Luoyang to Huazhou, he composed the famous realistic poems Three Poems of Petty Official (三吏) and Three Poems of Separation (三别). Although his personal misfortune was the frequent theme, Du Fu extended his poetry to a much wider picture. As addressed in the Complete Tang Poems (全唐诗):"The principal object of Du Fu's poetry was the loyalty to imperial court, the concerns about his country and the sympathy for people. One would understand his time by reading his poems. That is the reason his poetry was called 'poetic history(诗史)'." Among his 1500 poems extant, 38 were selected in the anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems, which made Du Fu the poet with the most works included in the collection.
