Not only did Li Bai serve as a member of the Imperial Academy, but his poems were already famous all over the world. Under such circumstances, among the more than 990 poems he preserved, four were given to Du Fu in return. It can be seen that their relationship is very deep.
It was also a coincidence that in 744, Li Bai was squeezed out by dignitaries such as Gao Lishi and Yang Guozhong, and was released with gold by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. At this time, Du Fu was about to go to Chang'an to seek an official position. We happened to meet in Luoyang, the eastern capital.
They hit it off immediately, drank and talked about poetry, and formed a deep friendship. Li Bai was older and already famous for his poetry at that time, and Du Fu was still a young literary man, but there was no barrier between them in communicating.
For more than a year after that, they traveled to various places in Liang, Song and Qilu three times, discussing poetry and essays, and met Gao Shi, who was very famous at that time. During this period, although Du Fu was not an official, he was in a very happy mood. It can be said that this was the happiest time in his life.
It is a pity that after this breakup, they never had the chance to meet again. Although they are great poets, they all have the desire to serve the country as officials in the court. Therefore, they ran their own lives and were separated from each other. They could only pin their friendship on missing each other.
In the sixth year of Tianbao, 747 AD, Du Fu was in Chang'an. He remembered that Li Bai was far away in Yuezhou at this time. He didn't know how he was doing recently, so he wrote a poem "Recalling Li Bai in Spring". , to express my thoughts in my heart.
Bai Ye's poetry is incomparable, and his thoughts are unparalleled.
The fresh Yu opened his mansion, and the handsome Bao joined the army.
Spring trees in Weibei, dusk clouds in Jiangdong.
When to drink wine, focus on details.
The first couplet of the poem goes straight to the point, pointing out Li Bai's great achievements in poetry creation. There were many poets in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, including Wang Wei, Zhang Jiuling, Meng Haoran, He Zhizhang, Cen Shen, Gao Shi, etc. Calling Li Bai his "invincible" status shows Du Fu's vision at that time.
Here Du Fu gave a high-level summary of the characteristics of Li Bai's poetry, using only the word "piaoran". Piaoran means bold and unrestrained, elegant and majestic, just like what Li Bai said when writing to Taishou Wei: "Clear water brings out hibiscus, and it is naturally carved."
Zhaolian went on to explain in detail the characteristics of this kind of wandering, and gave two examples in succession. One is fresh and refined, just like Yu Xin, the pioneering writer of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. Du Fu also said in another poem, "Yu Xin's articles are more mature with age, and Ling Yunjian's writing is full of ideas."
The other is like Bao Zhao, a poet of the Southern Dynasties. Most of his poems are Yuefu poems with a handsome and bold style. Because he served as a member of the Jingzhou Front Army during the Southern Song Dynasty, he was also called "Bao Canjun". In the same way, Yu Xin's "kaifu" is also the name of an official position.
These four lines of poetry are Du Fu’s high-level summary of Li Bai’s creative achievements. Li Bai has the characteristics of two poets, Yu Xin and Bao Zhao. No wonder he can be invincible. This not only expresses Du Fu's admiration for Li Bai's poetic talent, but also shows their deep friendship.
The neck couplet means that Du Fu and Li Baibai are on separate sides and cannot meet each other, so they can only exchange greetings in distant places. Du Fu was in Chang'an at this time, so he called it "Weibei"; Li Bai was in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so he called it "Jiangdong".
These two sentences seem to just describe the scenery of the place where the two people are.