In the Tang Dynasty, especially the Sheng Tang Dynasty, most of the poets were wild and uninhibited, in fact, it is not surprising that in a wild era, wild poets will always be born. This is precisely the influence of the times on people.
China has a tradition of poetry and speech, when the volcano of the soul is about to erupt, the arrogant poet often allows it to gush and achieve a good poem with high momentum; The poet with a calm and somber personality, but carefully guarding the fireworks in his heart, expressed in a calm way, without revealing the meaning of the meaning. But on the whole, the poets of the Sheng Tang Dynasty were more wild than calm, and even poets like Wang Weimeng Haoran, who studied Buddhism and indulged in landscapes and rivers, were also wild teenagers in their early years. Li Bai is highly conceited, he compares himself to pipe music, even Zhuge Liang does not pay attention to it, his goal is to go out and enter the picture, although most of his life is "difficult to walk" and "draw the sword and look around at a loss", but he still firmly believes that his future is "long wind and waves will sometimes hang on the clouds and sails to the sea". The famous Border Plug poet Gao Shi, when he was young, drank, fought and gambled, but by virtue of perseverance and keen political smell, he finally became a late bloomer and became the highest official among the poets of the Tang Dynasty. Others, such as the "Four Masters of the Early Tang Dynasty", He Zhizhang, Chen Ziang, etc., are mostly proud, so their poems are also full of masculine and pure taste.
What about Du Fu, who is equally famous as Li Bai?
In our reading experience, Du Fu can probably be summed up in two words, one is love, and the other is misery. Du Fu is the lover of his lover. Du Fu is both a Confucian with a warm pulse and a selfless Mo family who loves absolutely. His poems are full of the spirit of benevolence and love. He himself was poor and destitute, but he deeply loved the people of the world; his young son was starved to death, but while he was sad, he immediately thought of thousands of soldiers on the side; he had been wandering all his life, but he wanted everyone in the world to live and work in peace; he even turned his loving eyes to the fish in the water and the ants on the ground, and he was a lover with a very soft heart and extremely hot heart and easy to cry.
Du Fu was the most panicked and tragic poet who lived during the Tang Dynasty. He was born with the talent of Ling Yun, but when he took the imperial examination, he was defeated by the lies of the traitorous minister Li Linfu' "wild and unforgiving sage"; he paid attention to Xuanzong, but he was obstructed by Li Linfu and died without illness. During the Anshi Rebellion, Li Bai was enjoying the picturesque scenery of Xuancheng in Xuancheng, Anhui; although Wang Wei and Chu Guangxi were captured by the rebels, they quickly accepted their false posts, only Du Fu was caught by the rebels and escaped, did the righteous words of the rebels but was demoted, took his wife and children to the four directions, and finally died on a broken boat on the Xiang River. "What does it look like? Heaven and earth a sand gull" became the symbol of his life.
Is such a poet wild?
Let's first look at how the old and new Tang Books are evaluated, the Old Book of Tang Du Fu Biography says that he is "partial and impatient, ineffectual", and the New Book of Tang Du Fu biography says that he is "good at discussing the major events of the world, high but not cut". The Old Book of Tang said that he was extremely manic and had no temperament, and the New Book of Tang said that he did not have any real political skills, but only talked about it.
Why do the poets and saints who are highly respected by us have such a negative evaluation in the history books? The reason is that there is another unknown side to Du Fu's personality, that is, debauchery and unrestrained love of freedom.
There is such an intriguing detail: Du Fu was displaced during the Anshi Rebellion, homeless and had nowhere to escape, fortunately, one of his young Yan Wu was working as a thrifty envoy in Sichuan, Du Fu went to him, Yan Wu helped him build a house, often visited him, so that Du Fu lived a relatively stable life. After settling down, Du Fu's inner frenzy came up. The New Book of Tang records that the relationship between Du Fu and Yan Wu was very ironclad, and it was very casual to go to Yan Wu's house, not even wearing a turban, once Du Fu jumped directly onto Yan Wu's bed when he was drunk, stared at him with his eyes and said, How can Yan Tingzhi have a son like you? Du Fu was very frank, and he thought that this was Wei Jin's demeanor—Wei Jin's celebrities often did this. But the Tang Dynasty was no longer the Wei and Jin dynasties, and Yan Wu, who was a feudal official, was of course very angry, and it was said that he wanted to send someone to kill Du Fu, but when the martial general sent out was ordered to go out, his hat was hung by the curtain three times, and Yan Wu gave up. This is, of course, a legend. However, from this detail, we can see that Du Fu has the unique chivalrous atmosphere of the poets in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and also the debauched morale of the Wei and Jin celebrities. It is recorded that during his time in Sichuan, when the silkworms were ripe, Du Fu and his son begged for help; it was simply insulting to Sven; others said that when friends came to see him, he had to call his wife out to meet with his friends every time. It can be seen from this that Du Fu's personality is straightforward, and he has some of the personality of a famous Wei and Jin scholar.
Although Du Fu is very poor, but wine always has to be drunk, and often drunk like mud, Du Fu's diabetes in his later years is probably related to this. He said in The Grand Tour:
Sexually promiscuous and alcoholic, jealous and bitter. Take off the young generation, make friends with the old. Drinking and looking at the eight poles, the mundane things are vast.
He worshipped ji kang, a famous scholar of the Wei and Jin dynasties, and learned ji kang not to wash his face and hair for half a month, "not to get drunk for a hundred years, and not to comb his hair in January."
In short, although Du Fu was poor and destitute, his mind was very wild. So where does Du Fu's arrogant and uninhibited character come from?
DNA is a good thing. The Southern Song Dynasty poet Lu You was the first to notice that Du Fu's madness was inherited from the family. Lu You said in a poem, "Chengnan Du Wu shao is uninhibited, and intends to lightly create things to call for children." In addition to saying that Du Fu jumped on Yan Wu's bed and called the name of his father, Lu You also mentioned Du Fu's grandfather, Du Fu, the first madman of the Early Tang Dynasty.
So how crazy is Du Zhenyan?
When Du Zhenyan died of illness, the famous literati and the poet Song Zhiwen, who was also Favored by Wu Zetian, and others went to visit him, and Du Zhenyan said, I have suffered a lot of the creation of a child, and there is nothing to say when I die. But I'm dead! Song Zhiqing quickly asked Du Zhenyan how he could not die blindly, and Du Zhenyan said seriously: I am alive, I always suppress you and cannot come out, and when I die, there is no one to succeed you, it is uncomfortable!
Du Fu's grandfather Du Zhenyan was crazy, really crazy to death.
Du Fu was full of admiration for his grandfather, he first told his son that "poetry is my family affair", and later said "Wuzu Poetry Guangu", but he really inherited his grandfather's character. Du Fu's father was loyal and honest, but Du Fu's uncle and uncle were all wild and uninhibited heroes. His uncle once held a dagger to avenge his father; his two uncles also have a chivalrous story, Du Fu's uncle Cui Xingyuan committed a crime and deserved to die, but his younger brother Xingfang refused to live alone, and resolutely asked to die for his brother, and as a result, the two brothers were killed together.
It can be seen that Du Fu's madness is really innate.