Du Mu's poems are rich in content and wide in reflection. In the late Tang Dynasty, the vassals were separated, the eunuchs were in power, the party struggle was serious and the society was in turmoil. Du Mu had the ambition to save the world and the people since he was a child, but his ambition was hard to be rewarded because of the sinister officialdom and bumpy official career. Long-term staff life and unstable promotion in the ruling and opposition parties made him feel a lot. Du Mu's poems can be roughly divided into the following categories from the content and theme.
The first category is to care about the world and love the country and the people. These are not many. For example, when he was 25 years old, he wrote "Poems of Feeling for the Feelings", which was full of narration and discussion. With vigorous brushstrokes, he lamented the profound disaster of the weak country and the poor people caused by the separatist regime and the rapid levy since the Anshi Rebellion, praised the success of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin in governing the country by conforming to the people's will, affirmed Xian Zongchun's violent rebellion, and hoped that the court would make every effort to govern the country, quell the war and achieve stability and unity. At the same time, it also expressed the depressed mood that ambition is hard to pay. In the poem, the words "Yi Di Ri Kai, Li Yuan more gaunt" are concise, precise and moving. Another example is Zhai Jun Du Zu, Jiang Locust, Early Goose, and Thirty-two Rhymes of Wendi in Past Dynasties.
The second category, poetry that comments on history and satirizes the present through the ancient. This is the most striking place in Du Mu's poems. Generally speaking, there are two kinds of such poems: one is a work on history, represented by seven wonders, such as Chibi, Tiujiang Pavilion, No.4 Temple on Mount Tiaoshan, Chunshenjun and so on. Du Mu attaches great importance to the study of the experience and lessons of national chaos control and economic and military issues, so there are often novel and unique comments in epics. The second is to borrow the ancient to satirize the present. In view of the dark political and decadent social reality in the late Tang Dynasty, the poet satirized it with the experience and lessons of ups and downs in history. Historical figures Fuxi, Qin Shihuang, Yang Di and Chen Houzhu, especially Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, are all the targets of criticism in the poet's works. Such as "Guo Qin Zheng Lou" and "Guo Huaqing Palace".
The third category, writing scenery and lyric, writing poetry. There are many such works. Such as going to paradise, Jiangnan Spring, Bo Qinhuai, hiking, Qingming and so on.
The fourth category, poems about women. Such as "Peach Blossom Temple", "Moon" and other poems, sympathize with the lady who was captured by the King of Chu and kept silent for life, and the queen Chen who was abandoned by the Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty and confined to the cold palace. In "Golden Valley Garden" and "Palace Family", he lamented the Green Pearl who was forced to jump off a building and the maids who were like prisoners. In the long narrative poems "Poems of Du Qiuniang" and "Poems of Zhang", he wrote down the bumpy life changes of two women, Du Qiuniang and Zhang, by contrast, which reflected the court struggle and social changes at that time from one side.
The fifth category is the reward for expressing feelings. Send a message to Han Chuo, the Yangzhou magistrate.
Du Mu said in "Commemorative Poetry": "A poem is painstakingly written, and it is in the middle." He highly praised Li Bai, Du Fu, Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan: "Du Li's breadth is the ashes of Han. Look closely at the four gentlemen and strive for a strong beam with the ancients "("Send my little nephew Ayi to the Winter Solstice "). Du Mu is brilliant, good at absorbing the advantages of his predecessors, and has formed his own unique style. Hong put it well: "Du Fu is at the same time as Han, Liu, Yuan and Bai, but his prose is different from Han and Liu, and his poetry is different from Yuan and Bai. Fu Neng's poems are different from the other four schools, so he can be independent "(see Beijiang Poetry).
Previous people have commented on Du Mu's poems, such as handsome, natural and unrestrained, vigorous, heroic, passionate, light and beautiful, magnificent and gorgeous, elegant and beautiful. Li Shangyin once wrote a poem to express his concern for Du Mu: "The tall buildings are warm and rainy, and the short wings are not as good as the heroes." Deliberately hurting Chun to say goodbye, Du Sixun is the only one in the world. "(Du Sixun). Implicit and accurate, Du Mu's bold and hearty, fresh and elegant artistic features are interwoven with his strong feelings of worrying about the country and the people and his tender feelings of hurting himself.
Du Mu not only makes good use of figurative techniques and lyrical objects, but also makes good use of line drawing techniques to tell stories directly. He is not only good at Xu Shu's description of characters' stories, but also good at quickly and truly capturing the dynamic changes of scenery and his instant feelings. Pay attention not only to the combination of narration and discussion, but also to the blending of scenes; Contrast is often used, and numbers are skillfully used in poetry. The language style of Du Mu's poems is rich and colorful, fresh and natural. It is bright, beautiful, handsome, subtle, euphemistic, romantic, beautiful and elegant. As all Wang Zu said, "Du Mu's talent is the first person after Tang Changqing!" ("Outside the Pavilion").