Du Fu

I come back from the court each day and pawn some spring clothing

Every day I return to the river as drunk as I can be

I have many debts for wine all over the place

For men to live to seventy has always been unusual 

I see the butterflies go deeper and deeper among the flowers

And dragonflies in leisured flight between drops of water

As we're told, passing time is always on the move

So little time to know each other: we should not be apart

Winding River 2

The pivotal event of this poet of the Tang Dynasty was the An Lushan rebellion, which ripped through the heart of what is now Central China in the middle of the 8th century. He and his friend and mentor Li Po are considered the greatest of all Chinese poets. More than 1500 of his poems are still extant.

Du Fu was already in his forties and a family man by the time the rebellion broke out. That event may have shaped his talent, but it certainly shaped his themes. His themes relating that time are much earthier, more psychologically grounded than the somewhat hedonistic and subjective, if beautifully expressed, themes of Li. 

Certainly, his poems recounting the events around him, the suffering and pain ensuing, read rather like contemporary war journalism and memoirs like Stephen Crane or Ernest Hemingway. The Song of the Wagons in particular, gives voice to feelings, insights and experiences common to soldiers of all places, of all eras. His influence on subsequent poetry in Asia before and since is immeasurable.