The ideal of ancient literati was never to be an artist. Their highest ideal was to devote themselves to politics, in other words, to be an official and become a master. Being an official, especially a civil servant, is not easy. It was recommended by nobles in the early days, and later passed the imperial examination. Therefore, what the nobles like and what they take in the imperial examination, everyone will learn and study, just like today's college entrance examination and civil service examination. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, poetry was an important way to enter the upper class, and it was also an important content of the imperial examination. The so-called literati began to study and practice poetry in large numbers, more people studied and wrote poetry, and natural good poems and poets emerged one after another.
Many outstanding poets in ancient times, especially those in the Tang and Song Dynasties, were themselves politicians or middle and senior officials. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, many prime ministers, ministers and local military and political officials were poets in another capacity, such as How to (Prime Minister), Fan Zhongyan (appeasing Shaanxi), Yan Shu (Prime Minister) and Wang Anshi (Prime Minister). There are also many poets who are local politicians and benefit the people, such as Bai Juyi and Su Shi. There are also many poets who have devoted themselves to the frontier and made contributions to the army. For example, the frontier poets represented by Gao Shi (Our Jiannan Times), Cen Can (Shangshu), Wang Zhihuan and Wang Changling all contributed, and you can know it by knowing a little about the history of China.
It is incorrect to say that poets linger in the land of fireworks. Only those who failed in the imperial examination and could not enter the DPRK would do so. Li Bai, Du Fu, Liu Yong and others, as well as all the literati and poets, all dreamed of taking poetry as a ladder to enter the high-level government, and were eventually appointed as guests, instead of reading poetry every day for fun and becoming artists. Li Bai's poems are very good, so Tang Xuanzong likes them very much. Li Bai's first step was achieved, but Tang Xuanzong only regarded Li Bai as a doorman and secretary, and did not make Li Bai an important official. So Li Bai was disappointed, left the imperial court and looked for a way out everywhere. The same is true of Liu Yong, who failed in the imperial examination and had to linger in the land of fireworks. It's not that they don't want to make progress. Their only chance of progress is to enter politics by writing poems. History didn't give them a chance. If history gives them a chance, they may become senior officials and political talents.
Of course, it is not certain whether a poet has the ability to govern the country. The success of poetry is due to its high literary accomplishment, which does not mean that the poet has the talent to govern the country, nor does it mean that the poet has no talent to govern the country. However, under the circumstances at that time, they could not write poetry. I'm afraid they can't get into politics at all. Even if they can judge cases and improve people's livelihood, it is useless.
Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, stereotyped writing was gradually used in the imperial examination, and the poetry examination was dispensable. Therefore, most literati no longer paid attention to writing poetry, and all their energy was focused on stereotyped writing. Poetry was regarded as unprofessional or personal hobby, which was also the reason for the gradual decline of ancient poetry in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. -If Li Bai, Du Fu and Bai Juyi lived in this era, perhaps what they handed down was an excellent eight-part essay.