Dù Fǔ 杜 甫 712–770 Ce Tang Dynasty Poet
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◀ Dream of the Red Chamber Comprehensive index starts in volume 5, page 2667. DU Fu Dù Fǔ 杜 甫 712–770 ce Tang dynasty poet One of the most prominent and influential of its proper function within courtly life. So he took up liter- Chinese poets, Du Fu expanded the reach of ary pursuits, supported by family and friends. poetic expression to include morality and his- Evidence from his poems suggests that it was during tory, along with literary concerns. He is often this period that he met Li Bai, who was a renowned poet by this time. However, Li Bai appears not to have assisted referred to as the “Chinese Shakespeare.” Statue of Du Fu, an eminent poet who lived he “golden age” of China is often associated with through the decline of the Tang dynasty. He is of- the Tang dynasty (618– 907 ce), especially with ten called “China’s Shakespeare.” Photo by Paul the reign of Emperor Xuanzong and three emi- and Bernice Noll. nent poets: Wang Wei, Li Bai (also Li Bo, Li Po), and Du Fu. Whereas Wang Wei and Li Bai wrote during the apex of the Tang period, Du Fu lived through the eventual de- struction of this golden era. Du Fu was born in Luoyang, in Henan Province, to a family of scholar-officials. From his earliest days, as was typical for a young man of his class, his education involved the rigorous study of the works of Confucius, the honing of writing skills, and the perfecting of poetry composed in various formal meters. Once such an education was deemed complete, the stu- dent was faced with the challenge of taking the imperial civil service examination. Those who passed became the younger generation of scholar-officials. At this time few people were literate, given the complexity of the classical Chinese writing system; thus the pool of scholar-officials was small. Because their skills were greatly needed, scholar- officials were often found at the center of courtly life. -How ever, such was not to be Du Fu’s life. He took the official examinations twice and failed both times. This made life difficult for him since he was trained in a vocation that had 648 T © 2009 by Berkshire Publishing Group LLC DU Fu n Dù Fǔ n 杜甫 649 in furthering Du Fu’s career at court. At the age of thirty- friends, chief among them the governor of Chengdu. four, Du Fu married and would eventually have five chil- When the rebels were finally driven from his native city dren. His hardships continued until at last he succeeded of Luoyang by the royal army in 762, Du Fu eagerly set in securing a minor court position. But political turmoil out, intending to return and live there once again. But his soon engulfed his world. life of deprivation had taken its toll, and he suffered from In 755 the An Lushan rebellion, which would last various ailments, making travel slow and often impos- for eight long years, began. The Emperor Xuanzong ab- sible. He died in 768 at Changsha, in Hunan province, dicated and fled to Sichuan. Du Fu and his family were just as he set out once more for Luoyang. captured by the rebels but managed to escape to Yinch- Nirmal DASS uan, in Ningxia, where Suzong, the son of Xuanzong, had been declared emperor by the royal army. But the new Further Reading emperor cared little for Du Fu and gave him a very minor post. This led to much resentment on the part of Du Fu, Davis, A. R. (1971). Tu Fu. New York: Twayne Pub- who eventually left the emperor’s service in 760. lishers. Graham, A. C. (1965). Poems of the late T’ang. Baltimore: He spent time wandering about until he came to Penguin. Chengdu, in the Sichaun province, where he took up res- Hightower, J. R., & Chou, E. S. (1995). Reconsidering Tu idence in his famed “thatched cottage,” where he wrote Fu: Literary greatness and cultural context. Cambridge, many of his poems. His poetry is unique in that it is filled U.K.: Cambridge University Press. with Confucian ideals, as well as personal concerns. This Liu, J. J. Y. (1962). The art of Chinese poetry. New Haven, allowed him to examine the plight of the individual in the CT: Yale University Press. wider flow of history. Owen, S. (1996). An anthology of Chinese literature. New His financial woes were allayed by the kindness of York: W.W. Norton. Man struggles upwards; water flows downwards. 水往低处流， 人往高处走 Shuǐ wǎng dīchù liú,rén wǎng gāochù zǒu Duilian ▶ © 2009 by Berkshire Publishing Group LLC.