Su Shi (1037-1101), courtesy name Zizhan and pseudonym Dongpo, was a native of Meishan, Sichuan. He was a great writer and calligrapher and painter in the Northern Song Dynasty. Su Shi was an advocate of literati painting. He wrote a poem and said: "I can't create the original meaning of calligraphy, so I can only try to make dots and paintings at will." Advocating that there is no need to adhere to ancient times and advocating free will is the beginning of the so-called "Song people, advocating Yi". If we compare the calligraphy of the Tang and Song dynasties as a whole, the Tang people advocated law and the regular script was rigorous; At the end of the journey, people from the Song Dynasty took the lead. Su Shi admired the calligraphy of Yan Zhenqing and Yang Ningshi very much. His calligraphy often used side strokes, which gave him a charming appearance, but his style was still very profound. His strokes were thick and flat, and his strokes were often side-stroke. The characters are tightly knotted, and compared with the running script of Jin people, it is "particularly not in line with the ancient method." This caused some people to comment at the time, thinking that it was not in line with the ancient style. However, those who know Su Shi should recommend his good friend and famous calligrapher Huang Tingjian. When evaluating the calligraphers at that time, Huang pointed out: "For the best calligraphers in this dynasty, (Su Shi) should be ranked first," and he also said: "Mr. Dongpo often compared himself with Yan Lugong (Zhenqing), and compared it with others, he was the best." To make up for their shortcomings, both men are great men of the generation."
"Huangzhou Cold Food Poems" was written in the fifth year of Yuanfeng. It is Su Shi's representative work after he failed in his political reform against Wang Anshi and was exiled to Huangzhou, Hubei. At this time, Su Shi "went to the stream with his father and father." In the second year (the fourth year of Yuanfeng), his friend Ma Zhengqing asked Su Shi to get dozens of acres of abandoned land in the east camp of the city. Su Shi reclaimed the wasteland and built a house. While farming and eating, he called himself "Dongpo Jushi". In his poem, he narrates that he lived in Huangzhou for three years and lived a poor life. Every time he had to eat cold food and suffered from the Qingming rain, he felt desolate and uncomfortable before his eyes. His thoughts may be whispered and eloquently stated. Come, let go, cry alone, or scream sadly. Calligraphy and poetry complement each other, and the paper is filled with the sorrow of life and the unrest of family and country. Every word is filled with tears, which makes people feel deeply. The writing style of this post is natural and calm, the strokes are thick and plump, and the fonts are the same, from one word to one line, from one line to the next. From one line to the whole article, the top, bottom, left, and right sides are loose and tight, well-proportioned, and integrated. The fonts are sometimes large and sometimes small, extremely random, and each has its own posture. The heavier one is like a squatting bear, and the lighter one is like a plundering swallow. The structure includes both "a toad pressed by a stone" and a "snake hanging on a treetop", such as "nian, middle, reed, paper" and other characters. The layout is dense and dense, and it sometimes exudes a sparse atmosphere.