Wang Bo's highest achievement is his parallel prose, and Preface to Wang Teng-ting is a swan song. Throughout the ages, no one is invincible and unstoppable. Wang Bo is a genius, and his impromptu writing can be earth-shattering and magnificent. Similarly, Li Bai's Into the Wine is also the pinnacle of Yuefu poetry. The artistic height of his poems is beyond the reach of future generations and is also a genius!
But history does not allow assumptions. Although both Wang Bo and Li Bai were geniuses, history didn't leave much time for Wang Bo, so his contribution ended at the age of 27. However, Li Bai lived for 60+, and his position in the history of literature is definitely higher than that of Wang Bo, and the number of literary works circulated is much higher than that of Wang Bo.
Of course, some people think that if Wang Bo didn't die young, his achievements would definitely surpass Li Bai's, and Li Bai's status as a poet would probably be lost. Of course, history has no ifs, and we can only feel sorry for Wang Bo.
His talent is the most outstanding among the four outstanding figures in the early Tang Dynasty, and his poems and articles have reached a high artistic level. Some people are born poets, and Wang Bo's poetic temperament is vividly displayed. In addition to the preface to the pavilion mentioned above, his farewell to Du Fu's appointment in Shu is also a classic.
Poem: Farewell the viceroy to Shu.
Across the wall of Sanqin, across a layer of fog, across a river.
We said goodbye sadly, and our two officials went in opposite directions.
After all, the world is just a small place.
Why are you wandering at the fork in the road? The child is holding a towel.
Wang Bo's poems are enough to crush Li Bai. The whole poem is touching and full of infinite warmth at the same time. In fact, there are many such farewell poems in Tang poetry, but Wang Bo described the farewell in another way. He does not describe the helplessness of farewell, nor does he describe the pain of grief. This is the most unique place of this poem. It can be seen that Wang Bo made a breakthrough in expression, which is such a description.