Tu Fu Poetry

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Tu Fu Poetry

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 squawks

And while they still squabble the guests arrive -

We chase them into the trees

As 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 a...

... middle of paper ...

...just came back from the emperor's court and is associated with the struggle, or is it because he himself is not fighting while the elder's children are? Or could it be the same kind of shame and guilt a survivor of a car crash feels before the parents of his friend, who perished in that same wreck? Whatever the answer is, they all feel for each other and "tears flow freely".

Ch'iang Village brings forward compassion for others and it has a really humane, warm touch. What starts out with ignorant chickens ends with tears. The emotions the elders feel get transposed onto Tu Fu himself. He is no stranger to adversity; he too was separated from his family. And yet instead of showing his strength to them, he cries with them. This is the kind of realism that grabs you and won't let go and this is the reason that 13 centuries later we can still relate to Tu Fu's poetry.

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