Du Fu Poem - Fragrant Book

Author: Tang Du Fu, compiled by Deng Kuiying
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-07-01
Features:▼Complete Content▼Sandalwood Aroma▼Compact and Portable▼Original Illustrations▼Easy to Carry
Du Fu (712–770), a Tang Dynasty poet, styled Zi Mei. His ancestral home was Xiangyang (now part of Hubei), and he was born in Gongxian, Henan. During his time in Chang'an, he once lived near Shaoling in the southern part of the city and called himself Shaoling Ye lao. In Chengdu, he was recommended as a Jiedu Caoxun and Jiaoxiao Gongbu Yuanwailang, earning the posthumous titles Du Shaoling and Du Gongbu. Du Fu grew up in a family that valued Confucianism and had literary traditions. His grandfather, Du Shenyan, was a renowned poet during Wu Zetian's reign and served as a Vice Director of the Ministry of Food and Clothing. His father, Du Xian, held positions such as Military Governor of Yanzhou and Magistrate of Fengtian. Du Fu began learning poetry at the age of seven, and by the age of 15, his literary works had already gained attention from scholars in Luoyang.
From the 19th year of Emperor Xuanzong's Kaiyuan era (731) to the fourth year of the Tianbao era (745), Du Fu embarked on two long journeys of exploration. The first was in the Jiangnan region. In the 23rd year of Kaiyuan, he returned to Luoyang to take the imperial examination but was not admitted. The following year, he began his second journey in the Qizhao region. In the 29th year of Kaiyuan, he settled in Shouyang Mountain between Luoyang and Yan Shi, possibly marrying his wife, Yang Shi, around this time. In the third year of Tianbao, he met Li Bai in Luoyang and formed a deep friendship. The following autumn, Du Fu headed west to Chang'an, while Li Bai prepared to revisit Jiangdong. They parted in Yanzhou and never met again, leading Du Fu to write many touching poems in Li Bai's memory.
From the fifth to the 14th year of Tianbao, Du Fu lived in Chang'an for 10 years, during which his life, thoughts, and creative work underwent significant changes. His goal in Chang'an was to secure an official position and achieve something meaningful. In the sixth year of Tianbao, Emperor Xuanzong decreed that those skilled in literature and the arts should be summoned to the capital for selection. Du Fu participated in this examination but was rejected due to the scheming of Li Linfu, the Vice Director of the Secretariat, who was known for his "honeyed words and dagger in the back." In the 10th year of Tianbao, Emperor Xuanzong held three grand ceremonies to worship the "Emperor Xuan Yuan" (Laozi), the Grand Ancestral Temple, and Heaven and Earth. Du Fu submitted three "Great Rites Odes," which were praised by Emperor Xuanzong. The emperor ordered the prime minister to examine his essays but never followed up. He repeatedly wrote poems to influential officials, hoping for recommendations, but to no avail.
Eventually, he secured the position of Vice Director of the Right Guard Bureau, marking the later stage of his time in Chang'an, just before An Lushan's rebellion. In his later years, Emperor Xuanzong completely abandoned the virtuous governance of the Kaiyuan era, allowing corrupt ministers and ambitious generals to run rampant while he indulged in pleasure in the palace. In the winter of the 14th year of Tianbao, Du Fu visited his wife, who was staying in Fengxian, and wrote "Ode to My Journey from Chang'an to Fengxian in Five Hundred Characters," summarizing his decade in Chang'an and marking the end of the Tang Dynasty's golden age.
After An Lushan rebelled, he quickly advanced south, capturing Luoyang and Chang'an. Upon hearing that Emperor Xuanzong had fled to the west and Emperor Shaozong had ascended the throne in Lingwu, Du Fu left his family in Qiangcun in the north and headed north to join Emperor Shaozong, only to be captured by rebels and brought to Chang'an. In the fourth month of the second year of the Zhide era (757), Du Fu risked his life to escape Chang'an and reach Emperor Shaozong's temporary capital in Fengxiang, where he was appointed as a Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat. Soon after, he offended Emperor Shaozong by defending Fang Jing, leading to interrogation. In the eighth month, he returned to Yanzhou to visit his wife and completed the long poem "Northern Expedition," which was as remarkable as "Ode to My Journey from Chang'an to Fengxian." That same year, in September, Tang forces recaptured Chang'an, and in October, they recaptured Luoyang. Emperor Shaozong returned to the capital in late October, and Du Fu returned to Chang'an, still serving as a Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat.
In the fifth month of the next year, Du Fu was transferred to the position of Vice Director of the Ministry of Rites in Huazhou due to political struggles between Emperor Shaozong's new officials and Emperor Xuanzong's old allies, marking his permanent farewell to Chang'an. From the first year of Shaozong's Shangyuan era (760) to the fifth year of Daizong's Dali era (770), Du Fu spent 11 years in Sichuan (8 years) and in Jing and Xiang (3 years). During his time in Kuizhou, he described himself as "wandering in the southwest between heaven and earth" ("Ode to the Ruins of the Ancient Tombs"), but in reality, he lived in Chengdu for five years, which was relatively stable. In the spring of Shangyuan, he built a cottage by the Xianhua Creek in the west of Chengdu, ending his four years of wandering and finding a place to settle. In the late Shangyuan, Yan Wu arrived in Chengdu as the Military Governor of Chengdu and Vice Director of the Censorate, providing Du Fu with significant support. In the seventh month of the first year of Daizong's Baoying era (762), Yan Wu was summoned to the capital, and Xu Zhidao rebelled in Chengdu, forcing Du Fu to flee to Zizhou and Langzhou.
In the spring of the second year of Guangde (764), Yan Wu was appointed as the Military Governor of Chengdu and Commander of the Southern Circuit, and Du Fu returned to Chengdu in March. Yan Wu recommended Du Fu as a Jiedu Caoxun and Jiaoxiao Gongbu Yuanwailang. In the fourth month of the first year of Yongtai (765), Yan Wu suddenly died, leaving Du Fu without support. In the fifth month, he led his family out of the cottage and embarked eastward on a boat. "Five years in Sichuan, one year in Zizhou" ("Leaving Sichuan"), marked the end of the first half of Du Fu's "wandering in the southwest." In the ninth month, he arrived in Yun'an but was too ill to continue and only moved to Kuizhou in late spring of the following year after his condition improved. Due to the harsh climate and lack of friends in Kuizhou, Du Fu left the gorges in the first month of the third year of Dali (768). In the third month, he arrived in Jiangling. He planned to return to Luoyang but was unable to due to turmoil in Henan and blocked transportation. After staying in Jiangling for half a year, he moved to Gong'an for a few months before arriving in Yueyang by the end of the year. The last two years of Du Fu's life (770–771) were spent without a fixed residence, traveling between Yueyang, Changsha, Hengzhou, and Leiyang, with most of his time spent on boats. He died in winter in a boat on the Xiang River between Changsha and Yueyang at the age of 59.
After Du Fu's death, his remains were temporarily buried in Yueyang. It was not until 43 years later, in the eighth year of Emperor Xianzong's Yuanhe era (813), that his grandson, Du Siye, moved his remains to Shouyang Mountain in Henan. Du Fu greatly expanded the scope of poetry in both content and form. His poetic styles were diverse, and he mastered all forms of poetry, developing each to new heights. During his lifetime, his poems were not highly regarded, but 40 years after his death, they were recognized by scholars such as Han Yu, Bai Juyi, and Yuan Shen. Famous Song Dynasty poets like Wang Anshi, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, and Lu You all admired Du Fu deeply, inheriting his tradition in various ways.
The "Old Book of Tang" and the "Arts and Literature Catalogue of the New Book of Tang" both mentioned that Du Fu's collected poems had 60 volumes, but they were long lost. In the second year of Baoyuan (1039), Wang Zhu of the Northern Song Dynasty compiled the remaining fragments of Du Fu's collected works from imperial archives and other incomplete collections, removing duplicates to obtain 1,405 poems, which he organized into 18 volumes. He also included 29 essays and miscellaneous works in 2 additional volumes, totaling 20 volumes, titled "The Collected Works of Du Gongbu." In the fourth year of Jiajing (1059), Wang Qi revised and reorganized the collection. Later Du Fu collections were all based on this work, with the number of poems gradually increasing. The collection is organized into ancient and regulated verse forms, and there are facsimile editions available.
In the eighth year of Chunxi (1181), Guo Zhida compiled "The Nine Schools' Annotations to Du Fu's Poems," which was also organized by poetic form. In 1940, the Harvard-Yenching Institute published "The Du Fu Concordance," based on this collection. In the 23rd year of Shaoxing (1153), Lu Xing compiled Du Fu's poems chronologically, and in the fourth year of Jiatai (1204), Cai Mengbi added annotations, titled "The Cottage Poems of Du Gongbu," which is available in facsimile editions. Xu Juren compiled "The Collected Works of Du Gongbu with Annotations by Category," included in the Commercial Press's "Four Treasuries Collation." These four are the most accessible Du Fu collections compiled by Song Dynasty scholars, organized by poetic form, chronology, and category.
There are over 100 annotated Du Fu collections compiled in later dynasties. Some of the more popular ones include Qian Qianyi's "Annotations to the Collected Works of Du Gongbu," organized by poetic form, which provides detailed historical research. Qiu Zhaochao's "Detailed Annotations to Du Fu's Poems" (also known as "Detailed Annotations to the Collected Works of Du Shaoling"), which gathers the research of predecessors but sometimes goes overboard in interpretation. Yang Lun's "Mirror and Selection of Du Fu's Poems" is concise and easy for beginners. Both "Detailed Annotations to Du Fu's Poems" and "Mirror and Selection of Du Fu's Poems" are chronological. Pu Qilong's "Heart's Understanding in Reading Du Fu" is organized by poetic form and offers many original insights, accompanied by "A Chronological Catalogue of Du Shaoling's Poems." However, his analysis of poetry sometimes uses the style of evaluating eight-legged essays.
The "Old Book of Tang" and the "New Book of Tang" both have biographies of Du Fu. Since the Song Dynasty, there has been a wealth of literary notes and commentaries on Du Fu's poems. In 1964, Zhonghua Book Company compiled "A Collection of Research Materials on Classical Literature: Du Fu," which gathers comments and interpretations from all dynasties, though only the "Tang and Song Section" was published. Additionally, Wang Siqi's "Du Yi" in the late Ming Dynasty provided insightful interpretations of Du Fu's poems. Shi Hongbao's "Sayings on Reading Du Fu's Poems" expressed different views from Qiu Zhaochao's "Detailed Annotations to Du Fu's Poems," both of which were originally handwritten and later published by Zhonghua Book Company.
In 1962, Zhonghua Book Company also published "A Collection of Essays on Du Fu Research" in three volumes, compiling important essays on Du Fu since the May Fourth Movement. Biographies and new research monographs include Feng Zhi's "Biography of Du Fu," Xiao Difei's "Studies on Du Fu," Fu Gengsheng's "On Du Fu's Poetry," and Zhu Dongrun's "Discussions on Du Fu." Detailed chronologies include Wen Yidong's "Collected Annotations to the Chronology of the Scholar Shaoling" and the "Chronology of Du Fu" compiled by the Sichuan Cultural and Historical Research Institute.