No other author we have read so far in this class has grabbed my attention and interest as Tu Fu did. It could be that as a history major I strive to discover what the past holds, and Tu Fu is an excellent primary source. Or it could be that I can relate to the Time of Troubles, since many of my family have perished in civil strife, concentration camps and war. Still, his poems are full of emotion, virtue, sincerity and realism. It is the latter that I will try to emphasize my paper on. Reality of the modern day USA is not the reality of the majority of the world, although it can be hard to remember that. The suffering of this world has not diminished greatly since 8th century, and on the other side, the pleasures remain the same. The reality of Tu Fu is our reality too. While this short discourse probably won’t be up to par with works of contemporary and ancient scholars that have spent centuries analyzing Tu Fu, I still hold a droplet of hope that you will find the following text acceptable. Ch’iang Village Tu Fu The chickens are letting out wild squawksAnd while they still squabble the guests arrive -We chase them into the treesAs a knock comes on the brushwood door:It is four or five old men, come to ask after my long travels.Each has brought something with him, And out of their kettles come clear and dark wines.They say, “Please don’t mind that the wine is thin,We have no one to plow the millet fields,The wars have not yet stopped,And the young are all fighting to the east.”I ask to sing for these elderly men,These difficult timed – I feel shame before their deep feelings.The song done, I look to heaven and sigh,And on all sides the tears flow freely.Tu Fu’s broken aspirations of a life as an upper class civil servant, combined with his life in the middle of war or in exile present us with an extraordinary example of realistic poetry. The third p...
