Mid-Late Tang Dynasty: Continued from Three Schools
Li Bai is older than Du Fu 1 1 years old and became famous earlier than Du Fu. When he saw him, he thought he was a "fallen fairy". After Xuanzong heard his name, he personally summoned him to worship the Hanlin and said, "The emperor loves talents and feasts." Du Fu also praised poems many times, such as "Bai Ye's poems are invincible", "Hou Li has a beautiful sentence", and "Putting pen to paper makes the world cry". In today's words, he, Du Fu are all "fans" of Li Bai. However, after Li Bai's death, Du Fu's masterpieces and poems continued in his later years. Therefore, from the middle Tang Dynasty to the late Tang Dynasty, the debate on Du Li's merits and demerits began, and three opinions appeared.
After Du Li, Yuan Zhen showed for the first time that Du Fu was higher than Li Bai. Knowing that Yuan Zhen had always liked Du Fu's poems, Du Fu's grandson asked Yuan Zhen to write an epitaph for Du Fu on his way to his grandfather's coffin. In this article, Yuan Zhen praised Du Fu: "Since the poet, no one has ever been Du Like Zimei. At that time, Shandong people were also called Du Li because of their strange writing. I can see that his strong waves are unrestrained, and his images and Yuefu poems are modeled, and his sincerity is not as good as his beauty. If the story starts from the end, the rhyme is as big as a thousand words, hundreds of articles, the words are heroic, and the wind is clear and deep, indicating that Li Shangyin can't live with his Fan Han, and the situation is very impressive! " Generally speaking, the earliest theorists who praised Du Fu and suppressed Li mainly evaluated it from the perspective of reflecting people's livelihood and criticizing social corruption.
However, the relevant views were immediately opposed and refuted by Han Yu. He said in the poem "Diao Zhang Ji": "Du Li's article is in full swing. I don't know, stupid, why use it to slander? Mayflies shake trees, which is ridiculous. " Han Yu and Yuan Zhen belong to different literati groups, and they have different views on poetry, so they sharply criticized their views of promoting Du and restraining Li. It can be said that Han Yu is the earliest Du Li critic in China. Later, Gu Tao, Li Shangyin and Du Mu all held this view.
There are many good poems by the emperors of the Tang Dynasty. In addition to Tang Xuanzong, Tang Wenzong and Li Ang are also considered as one. The Chronicle of Tang Poetry once commented: "The emperor is good at five words, and his self-control is as good as Su and Dai, and his ancient tune is delicate." When Tang Wenzong was in power, he issued the imperial edict: Li Bai's poem, Fei Min's sword and Zhang Xu's cursive script were three unique works. Therefore, Pi Rixiu, Wu Rong and Zheng Gu, poets in the late Tang Dynasty, were multiple Li Bai. Wu Rong once made it clear: "There are many poets who can sing in the country, and Li Taibai is the first one."