Du Fu lived in a period of rapid transition from prosperity to decline in the Tang Dynasty, and the Anshi Rebellion was the key to this transition. Du Fu experienced the whole process of the so-called Kaiyuan Prosperity and Anshi Rebellion. Du Fu's life-long creation is closely related to his time.
Du Fu (7 12—770) was born in Gongxian (now Henan), Xiangyang, Hubei. His grandfather is Du, a poet who is famous for "white clouds and red clouds come from the sea and spring is in the plum river". Perhaps good genetic factors played a role, and 7-year-old Du Fu was able to write a poem about the phoenix. He once proudly recalled that he was "strong at the age of seven and began to sing the phoenix" in the poem "Zhuang You". He proudly declared that "poetry is my family's business" and regarded poetry as a specialty of Du family. After a period of study and life, in order to broaden my horizons, understand life, make friends and increase my knowledge, I began to roam wuyue at the age of 20. He started from Luoyang. Come to the Yangtze River, travel across Jinling to Suzhou, cross Zhejiang, flood, find fishing caves, enjoy the lake, climb to the sun, and visit the beautiful mountains and rivers and places of interest in the Yangtze River basin. With the romantic feelings shared by young poets in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, 24-year-old Du Fu went to thousands of books and Wan Li Road, and came to Luoyang with great pride. Unexpectedly, he lost the election, which was tantamount to giving him a blow. However, Du Fu, who has a strong personality, has withstood this setback. In the second year, he traveled around Qi and Zhao and lived a "frivolous life", making friends with great poets such as Li Bai and Gao Shi during his roaming. The three of them shared the same interests, went up the mountain to reminisce about the past, visited the Tao to find seclusion, wrote poems and papers, and forged a profound friendship. ? Du Fu's 65,438+00-year trip to "Top Three" touched the splendid cultural heritage and magnificent rivers and mountains of our motherland, broadening his horizons and mind. He wrote heroic poems, such as "climb to the top of the mountain, and you will see that other mountains are short in the sky." "When to kill birds and bleed weeds", "Wear a short coat with Li Guang and watch the tiger die".
At the age of 35, Du Fu came to Chang 'an again, and hopefully took the "move" exam, but he was defeated again. But this time, Li Quan, the powerful minister, was afraid that the candidates would expose their misdeeds, and played various tricks to make all the candidates fall behind, flaunting it as "clean", thus making the exam a scam, and Du Fu was the victim of this scam. Li never imagined that there was a poet Du Fu among the candidates, which was a wonderful irony. At this time, Du Fu's life became increasingly poor, and he was eager to find a way out politically in order to realize his political ambition of "being loyal to the monarch and then changing customs". Therefore, he paid tribute to the emperor many times, hoping to attract the attention of the supreme ruler. However, Du Fu was trapped in Chang 'an 10 years under the cold eyes of the authorities. Life honed Du Fu, and it also perfected Du Fu. Due to 10 years in prison, Du Fu became a poet who was concerned about the country and the people. He gradually broke the illusion that it was too late to be a monarch, foresaw the hidden crisis in the prosperous times, and exposed the social reality that "the wine in Zhumen was fragrant and the bones froze to death on the road".
At this time, the Anshi rebellion broke out. Du Fu went into exile and wanted to go to Su Zong, but he was captured by the rebels. After that, he tactfully fled Chang 'an and came to Fengxiang, where the emperor Su Zong was located. "Ma Xie saw the son of heaven, and his sleeves showed two elbows." Du Fu's loyalty moved the emperor, so he was awarded the post of left gleaning. However, Du Fu stayed in the power center for less than two years, so he angered the emperor with his words and was released to visit relatives.
This poem "Spring Hope", written in An Shi Rebellion, truly describes the great damage caused by the turmoil to the Tang Dynasty and the great disaster brought to the people, and expresses the poet's profound patriotic feelings and homesickness:
Although the country is divided, the mountains and rivers last forever, the plants and trees spring back, the petals fall like tears, and lonely birds sing sad songs. After three months of war, a letter from home is worth a ton of gold, and I touch my white hair. It's so thin that it can't hold hairpins anymore.
Around the "An Shi Rebellion", like Qu Yuan, he linked his personal destiny with the destiny of the country and the people. Inherit Qu Yuan's creative spirit of "expressing feelings through anger". Write two roads, criticize corrupt nepotism, write caravan, three officials and three farewells, describe people's sufferings in military service, write about loving Jiangtou, sad Chen Tao, Northern Expedition, Qiang Village and later levees, and reflect people's sufferings. Du Fu's poems almost reflect the whole social picture of "An Shi Rebellion" and reflect a patriotic poet's high sense of social responsibility to the country and people. This series of well-known patriotic poems reached the peak of realistic creation.
"I am full of sadness and trouble because people travel far away." In 759, 48-year-old Du Fu arrived in Chengdu in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and began his last 10 year of "wandering southwest" life. In the second spring in Chengdu, he built a thatched cottage with the support of his friends, and his life finally settled down temporarily. "There are 100,000 families in the city, and there are two or three families here" and "To my north and south, spring water is flooding, and I only see seagulls day after day". In his beautiful and quiet new home, he runs a medicine garden, grows taro chestnuts, and lives next door to farmers. Nature soothes the poet's troubled heart with its peaceful and quiet beauty. Therefore, in this 10 year of wandering, he actually wrote more than 1000 poems. Reached a new artistic realm. After Du Fu settled in Chengdu, he went to Wuhou Gongyang Hall and wrote a poem "Scholar":
Where is the temple of the famous prime minister? In a pine forest near the Silk City, the green grass in spring stained the steps, and birds sang happily under the leaves. Three worries about the sky
Come on, he gave his heart to two generations. But before he conquered, he died, and since then the heroes have been crying on their coats.
The story of "three visits to the cottage" has been passed down through the ages. People admire Zhuge Liang. In addition to his extraordinary wisdom, he used soldiers like gods, and more importantly, his spirit of "doing his best until death". Du Fu, full of reverence for Zhuge Liang, came to Wuhou Houdian. Outside Jinguan City, a few miles away, you can see the cypress forest from a distance, lush. A closer look shows that the surrounding environment is so lonely and desolate between the green grass in front of the steps and the oriole among the leaves. "Three summonses focus on state affairs, and two generations focus on the heart of a child" summarizes Zhuge Liang's life and expresses the poet's respect for Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang helped Liu Bei to start an inheritance in his early years and assisted Liu Chan in his later years. He has exhausted his loyalty and wisdom, and he is afraid of painstaking management. But his ambition was not rewarded, and his resentment was buried, which made future generations feel sad. Thinking of this, the poet can't help crying: the poet's poetic heart is all condensed here.
Du Fu stayed in Chengdu for five years. Because of his stable life and beautiful environment, he wrote many touching and lofty poems praising Bashu landscape. The poet wrote some exquisite quatrains around the scenery of the thatched cottage. Look at these three songs:
Jiangshan bathed in spring, how beautiful, flowers send flowers. Swallows are busy nesting in wet mud and sleeping in pairs on the warm beach.
The blue bird of the river is over white, the blue and white mountains are burning, and this spring has passed. When is the year of return?
Two Huangpengming green willows and a line of white honeymoons. My window framed the snow-covered western hills. My door often says "goodbye" to ships sailing eastward.
In the poet's pen, the scenery of Bashu is so beautiful: warm spring breeze, blooming flowers, lush grass and leisurely mandarin ducks are really full of spring and vitality; Look again, the river is full of blue waves. Waterbirds with white spirits, skimming the river,
What a pleasant scenery! The mountains are green and the bonuses are like fire. How beautiful and splendid! The spring in Bashu is so warm and pleasant, and the winter in Bashu is so intoxicating. The orioles crow and the egrets line up. The poet is in the thatched cottage, overlooking the Qian Qiu Snow Ridge in Xiling from the window, and then glancing out the door, you can see the Wan Li ship from Soochow moored on the river bank. It is true that I have been thinking for thousands of years, and I have seen through Wan Li and how broad-minded he is. Poetic and picturesque, seamless. Another example is his "Delighting in Rain on a Spring Night":
Good rain knows the season, when spring comes. Sneak into the night with the wind, moisten things silently. The wild path is dark, and the river is bright. Look at the red and wet place, the flowers in Jinguancheng are heavy.
This poem was written when Chengdu Caotang was completed, which fully reflected the poet's happy mood that he was finally able to settle in Chengdu after living a life of "one year and four lines of service". The whole poem is full of "happiness", but the love for "rain" is beyond words. The colorful boat by the river and the Jinguan City with flowers in full bloom described in the poem are like a beautiful landscape painting. The phrase "sneak into the night with the wind, moisten things silently" is full of reason and interest, and is often quoted by later generations. Record two more songs, as follows:
The hut is far away from the hustle and bustle of Chengdu, with a spacious courtyard, no villages around and boundless vision. Clear water, almost drowning both sides; Green trees and flowers in full bloom in the evening. Fish come out in the drizzle, and the swallow is slanting in the breeze. There are 100,000 households in the city, and there are two or three households here.
-The first part "Water threshold to send heart"
Four yellow maiden flowers thrive on the road covered, and thousands of flowers bow and the branches are low. The butterflies in the flowers are dancing, and the soft yinger in freedom is just singing happily.
-"Seven quatrains, Alone Seeking Flowers by the River"
During this period, the poet was not completely intoxicated with the chanting of mountains and rivers. The disaster brought by the war to the people, especially the mental pain, made him still extend his brush strokes to social reality. Because his thatched cottage was broken by the autumn wind, he thought of all the hungry and cold people in the world and wrote the song "thatched cottage was broken by the autumn wind":
..... There are tens of millions of spacious buildings, which have greatly protected all the poor people in the world, and the wind and rain are as calm as a mountain. Oh! Suddenly I saw this house in front of me, and it was enough for me to freeze to death alone!
He would rather "freeze to death" than get the warmth of the poor in the world. What a rare concern for people's hearts! It is shocking to read, and sadness comes from it. This is what makes Du Fu great and noble. He also has a poem "Climbing the Building", which can better express his patriotism and sadness:
Flowers are close to tall buildings and far away from my hometown. I am very sad. There are disasters everywhere in this country, so I climbed up to see them. The spring scenery of Jinjiang flooded in, and the clouds on the mountain, ancient, varied and changeable. The imperial court, like the North Star, will not change in the end, and the Western Hills of Kohl will not invade Tibet. However, in the twilight, I felt sorry for the sorrow of a long-lost emperor. I sang the songs that his prime minister sang when he was not unfamiliar on the mountain.
What I saw and felt when I wrote the poem integrated the Sichuan, Sichuan and Jiangshan in Jinjiang and Lei Yu with the changes of ancient and modern times, and expressed my concern for the country and the people on the spot, which fully reflected the magnificent and gloomy artistic characteristics of Du Fu's poems.
In the first month of the first year of Guangde (763), the Anshi Rebellion, which lasted for more than seven years, basically ended. The exciting news came that the poet who lamented all his life wrote a cheerful and touching poem "The banks of the Yellow River were recovered by the imperial army":
The news of this distant western station! The north has been recovered! At first, I couldn't stop crying on my coat. Where are my wife and son? There is not a trace of sadness on their faces. However, I packed my books and poems crazily. On a green spring day, I began to go home, singing my songs loudly and drinking my wine. Come back from this mountain, pass another mountain, go up from the south and then go north-to my own town! .
It's really running, running down. Every note of it is full of happy feeling. He was ecstatic and was about to leave Zhou Shu with his family. Because his friend Yanwu was guarding Sichuan again, he gave up the idea of going out to Sichuan. Because of Yanwu's recommendation, he was appointed as the staff officer of the Ministry of Education and Yuanwailang (that is, the reason why later generations called him "Du Gongbu"). Soon, Yanwu died of illness, and the poet lost his dependence, so he left Chengdu Caotang with his family and sailed eastward, wandering in the Minjiang River and the Yangtze River. There are poems chanting the Yangtze River along the way. On the way from Yuzhou (now Chongqing) to Zhongzhou (now Zhongxian), he wrote his masterpiece A Night Abroad:
The breeze rippled on the grassy coast, through the night, and blew to my still mast. The endless plains are dotted with drooping stars. The moon runs with the river. I hope my art can bring me fame and liberate my sick old age from the office! . Flying around, what am I like? The earth is Sha Ou.
The wind blows the grass on the shore, the boat is alone in the river, the stars hang down in the wilderness, and the bright moon flows into the river, just like a rich ink painting scroll. "Fluttering? But a sandpiper in the vast world! " Isn't this a true portrayal of the poet's tragic wandering situation in his later years? When passing through Yunyang, Sichuan, he wrote two poems about the Yangtze River with five laws:
Many people will get rich, and Qutang will fight for a door. Thieves belong to the same family. Who respects thieves? A solitary stone is as hidden as a horse, and a high rose drinks an ape. When you return to your heart, everything will fly away.
The vastness is boundless, but I know that the East Pole is coming. There are many returnees, and all countries serve you. Color borrows xiaoxiang to be broad, and sound drives? I didn't say goodbye to the fog and rain, but I connected my skirt.
These two poems try their best to describe the steep Qutang Gorge of the Yangtze River, the thrilling scene of stormy waves lifting the sky, and the momentum of the mighty river and the return of hundreds of rivers to the sea. Touching scenes, the poet's patriotism, caring for the people and hoping for national reunification are also revealed between the lines of the poem. ? In the first year of Dali (766), Du Fu arrived in Kuizhou. Baidicheng and Kuimen are here. This place is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and it is magnificent. With the help of friends in Kuizhou, the poet settled down. "It's too late to study in my hometown to waste poetry." At this time, Du Fu had decided that writing poems was the only contribution he could make to society and people. Therefore, he devoted himself to poetry, integrating the magnificent mountains and rivers, scenic spots and historical sites in the land of abundance in the Yangtze River with his feelings of wasted years. His poems are long and rich. Try the tallest building in Baidicheng;
The tip of the city is quiet and sad. It is an independent and ethereal flying building. The canyon is shrouded in clouds, the dragon and tiger are buried, and Jiang Qingri travels with giants. The west branch of Fusang is against the broken stone, and the weak water flows with the east shadow. Who is sighing with a stick? Blood and tears poured back into the white head.
The whole poem first describes the height of the tower, and then describes the spectacular Jiangxia scene, from near to far, from reality to emptiness, and tries to describe the distance of the Yangtze River and the height of heaven and earth, highlighting Bai Di's fearless posture of climbing the Baiti Tower. Du Fu lived in the Three Gorges area of the Yangtze River in his later years, and Gao Jiang Canyon became the main image described in his poems.
East of China and Pakistan is Dongshan Mountain, through which the river flows. Baidigao is a town of Three Gorges, and Qutang has passed a hundred prisons.
-One of the Ten Kuizhou Songs
Where the Three Gorges spread, double cliffs reinforce this gate. Into the sky, it is still stone color, wearing water and clouds. ……
-"Qutang Two Cliffs"
There are thousands of valleys in the southwest, and Beijing forced the enemy to open two cliffs. The ground and the roots of the mountain split, and the river came from the moon cave. ……
-"Qutang Nostalgia"
These poems vividly describe the canyon that stands in the sky, carefully describe the water state that runs through the canyon, and show the eternal wonders of Qutang Gorge in the Yangtze River. Look at the following poem:
In the Gao Jiang, the steep gorge thunders, the ancient trees and vines are fragrant. (Bai Di)
Stark sounded the fifth watch, drums and horns rang, and stars and Tianhe danced on three mountains. (Pavilion Night)
Cao Ge's Chai Fei stars scattered, waves crossed the river, and black rain began to fly. ("boring")
Such a vivid and detailed description of the scenery around the Three Gorges is rare in the history of literature. Du Fu's Memories of Time Past, Strong Travel, Farewell, Eight Poems of Autumn Prosperity, Ascending the Mountain, etc. Are excellent poems of this period. In these poems, the lyrical elements are stronger, and the application of the seven laws is more extensive and mature. During his wandering years in the Yangtze River valley, Du Fu deliberately carved the landscape of the Yangtze River, which made the artistry of poetry reach its peak. Rivers, solitary boats, sharp gorges, dangerous beaches and dangerous cities … all these scenery are almost integrated with the poet's life. Such as the masterpiece "Eight Poems of Autumn Prosperity":
Yulu withered maple forest, Wushan Wuxia bleak. Between the river and the sky, the waves are rough and the clouds are covered with fog. Cong Ju shed tears the other day. She was alone in the boat. Cold clothes push knives and rulers everywhere, and Baidicheng is anxious.
The ancient city of Kuizhou has an oblique sunset, and every time it depends on Beidou Wangjinghua. Listen to the ape shed three tears, and let Xu follow August. Draw incense burners and lean on pillows, and the mountain floor powder hides sad eggplant. Look at the vines on the stone, which have reflected the flowers in front of the continent.
……
The whole poem consists of eight poems, describing the scenery of Xiao Sen in Wuxia, the waves between rivers, the clouds in traffic jams, the lonely city of Kuifu, the Palace Que in Penglai and the mouth of Qutang Gorge. The breath of the times, personal experience, the bleak of the Yangtze River and the wonder of the scenery are all concentrated in a group of poems, full of emotions, scenes, changes and desolation. Generally speaking, the poet is in Kuizhou and his heart is in Chang 'an. Wandering on the river in the old age is a sigh of the rise and fall of the country: from the prosperous memory of Chang 'an to the realistic lonely situation of the poet, it reveals the sadness of the contrast between the past and the present. This is the concentrated expression of his feelings of worrying about the country and the people and hurting the country since the war. This group of poems, which are connected in content, bemoan life experiences and worry about and hurt the country, clearly embodies the gloomy artistic style of Du Fu's poems.
Up the Mountain is also the masterpiece of Jiang Yong's combination with lyricism in this period.
The wind is fast and high, the ape cries sadly, and the birds are circling in the white sand. The endless trees are rustling leaves, and the Yangtze River is rolling unpredictably. Long-distance visitors in the autumn of Wanli, with my hundred years of sadness, climbed this height alone. After all the hardships and hatred, the white hair is full, and the wine glasses are damaged.
The poem says that in autumn, the Yangtze River is windy and cloudy, and the apes, birds and fallen trees on both sides are full of the poet's sadness about autumn. The poet poured out his sadness in his life on the rolling Yangtze River, which made people feel surging and shocked their hearts.
Du Fu drifted in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River for eight or nine years, and now he has drifted in Hubei and Hunan for two or three years. He endowed poetry with what he saw and felt along the way, leaving many poems. In 768, Du Fu drifted to the Hubei Public Security Bureau between the Yangtze River and the Han River, and wrote a song "Jianghan":
Jianghan thought that returning guests and Gankun were corrupt scholars. The sky is far away, and the moon is always lonely. The heart of the setting sun is still strong, and the autumn wind is sick. Since ancient times, the old horse has not spent its physical strength because of its wisdom. Therefore, although I am old and sicker, I can still do it.
This poem shows a martyr's old age feelings and great courage. The following autumn, old Du Fu came to Yueyang, dragging his tired body and climbing the Yueyang Tower against the rustling autumn wind. Autumn scenery at this time, let him drunk? Or hurt him? With mixed feelings and tears in his eyes, he sang a touching and immortal poem "Climbing Yueyang Tower":
I've heard about Dongting Lake for a long time, and now I'm on this tower, with Wu in the east and Chu in the south, and I can see the world endlessly. There is no news from my friends or relatives. I am old and sick, drifting in a boat. The battle of the north gate began again, and I cried through the railing.
At this time, although the poet was sick and lonely, his poems looked at the world, covering ancient and modern times, and painted the magnificence of Dongting Lake. Compared with Meng Haoran's "Yun Qi fog falls, trapping Yueyang City", "there is Wu in the east and Chu in the south, and you can see the endless drifting of heaven and earth" has richer image connotation. Try to appreciate the image of floating heaven and earth in the southeast of this place. Is it just an exaggerated description of Dongting Lake?
In the fifth year of Dali (770), Du Fu stayed in Tanzhou (now Changsha), took the boat as his home, and wrote the last poem in his life, "Sleeping on a pillow in a boat due to wind, giving friends and relatives in Hunan 36 rhymes". He still remembers the current situation:
..... Sun still relies on risks, but Hou Jing is not captured alive. The letters are wide and the battle is deep. ……
In this way, Du Fu cared about the country and the people all his life and sang all his life. He didn't stop singing forever until he fell ill on the broken boat that relied on him for many years in Xiangjiang River, at the age of 59.
Li Bai and Du Fu, two great poets in the Tang Dynasty, lived and died together with Qu Yuan. Is this the irresistible inspiration of Qu Yuan's spirit and the cultural tradition of the Yangtze River? Du Fu spent most of his life in sorrow and pain. Because his sadness and pain are deeply related to his time, his poems record and condense the social scene in the historical turning point of Tang society from prosperity to decline.
Therefore, it is called "the history of poetry". It dares to hold high the banner of realism in the field of poetry, face up to the bleak life and express its worries and dissatisfaction with society, which is a real epic. The "New Yuefu Movement" that rose after the middle Tang Dynasty and the poetic style that criticized reality that was blown up in the late Tang Dynasty all benefited directly from Du Fu's poems.
As a singer of an era, Du Fu's greatness lies not only in his sincere thoughts and feelings of patriotism and love for the people, but also in his great creative work as a poet. His serious creative attitude has infected generation after generation. Du Fu's high-level language art can better show his outstanding talent, but also lies in his pursuit of innovation. At that time, most of the poets were good at only one style: ancient or modern, or songs or Yuefu, or five-character and seven-character poems, or metrical poems or quatrains. Du Fu, on the other hand, is really hard to get. People in later generations, including many outstanding poets, regard Du Fu's poems as models for learning. It is in this sense that Du Fu is well-deserved to be praised as a "poet saint". Du Fu is the pride of China's poetry circles, especially the Yangtze River's poetry circles.
"Li, put an end to singing, Tang poetry gradually declined." Although poets in the middle and late Tang Dynasty emerged one after another, the friendship between Li and Tang was hopeless. (Source: China Changjiang Culture Department)