When it comes to the poet Du Fu in history, everyone may be very familiar with him. After all, his poetry appears in the textbooks we study. As a generation of poetry masters, his life was very eye-catching. But why was his life so poor and destitute as such a great poet? What is the most fundamental reason for this? Let’s take a look with the editor below!
The fundamental reason for Du Fu’s poverty is indeed difficult to explain clearly, because there are too many reasons for Du Fu’s poverty, and it is not easy to understand when it comes to the fundamental reasons.
Many people may have heard that internal factors play a decisive role in things, so I think it is still through internal factors to find the fundamental reasons.
So, before looking for the answer, I will first eliminate some external factors, among which the main one is the An Lushan Rebellion.
This war not only affected Du Fu, but also the emperor fled hastily to Shu, so it can be said that this war can indeed cause poverty and destitution.
But obviously, as long as there is war, more than 90% of people may be impoverished, which cannot be the fundamental reason.
First, let’s talk about the life of Du Fu.
In fact, his family is not wealthy or ordinary, and he belongs to a scholarly family.
Du Fu’s grandfather, Du Shenyan, was a literary leader of his generation and an important advocate and promoter of regulated language. He played an extremely important role in Tang Dynasty poetry, and even in the poetry of the entire China.
Therefore, in the history of literature, it is impossible to miss the position of Du Shenyan. But the question is, apart from his significant literary contributions, what about Du Shenyan’s other aspects? In history, Du Shenyan was a capable madman, but not a capable person in governing the country. His madness is reflected in his confidence in his own articles, to the extent that he thinks Su Wei will be ashamed to see his own articles.
Such a madman, however, does not have a high level of official skills and has only served as a local official. He entered the central government through his own writings, but did not enter the political core. Just treat it as a subject of speech.
This appointment is actually appropriate for Du Shenyan, but the problem is that he still doesn’t give up and hopes to use his own articles as a springboard to ultimately achieve his dream of governing the country.
But the fact proved that his political sense was quite poor, and he actually thought of befriending Zhang Yi’s brother. This behavior, which was despised by literati, ultimately harmed Du Shenyan.
Du Fu is indeed a true gentleman, so his character still shines brightly to this day, but he is not a petty person, which means he can never accomplish anything great. More than 700 years after the death of Du Fu, there was a philosophical master in the Ming Dynasty who understood this truth, so he proposed the concept of the unity of knowledge and action, and also explained the relationship between virtue and success. So, Wang Yangming succeeded. When he did things, he was very petty, but when he was virtuous, he was very gentlemanly. However, Du Fu never fully understood this matter, so even without the An Lushan Rebellion, his life could have been impoverished.