Of course, Su Shi is also very good. However, Su Shi is a generalist. He is very literary on the whole, and there is no problem that Su Shi ranks first on the whole. But if we only talk about poetry, he is obviously not as good as Li Bai.
Other great poets in history include Qu Yuan, Tao Yuanming, Du Fu, Bai Juyi, Xin Qiji, Lu You and so on. Although they are also very powerful, only Du Fu can really compete with Li Bai. However, even if Du Fu is as famous as Li Bai, Du Fu is still not as good as Li Bai in terms of poetry.
In order to make this point clear, we can actually compare Du Fu and Li Bai to explain why Li Bai's poems and songs were the first in ancient times.
(illustrated by Li Bai)
First of all, really.
Truth is the greatest feature of Li Bai's poems.
We all say that Li Bai is a genius in poetry. Why use "genius" to express him? Because Li Bai's poems and songs can't be learned after training. When we say this, we don't mean that Li Bai doesn't need to study and train, but that if he is someone else, even if he studies and trains, he is definitely not Li Bai.
Li Bai's "genius" ability makes all his poetic expressions sincere. You don't need to write deliberately, and you don't need to use rhetoric deliberately.
Du Fu is obviously different. Du Fu relies more on the acquired study and training and thinks repeatedly. It is most appropriate to describe Du Fu with "one word and one sentence, several stems and several whiskers". Moreover, Du Fu himself once said, "There are many beautiful words about human nature, which are not surprising and endless." This statement actually shows that Du Fu made repeated choices in the process of writing poems.
Moreover, in the subject matter of writing, Li Bai wrote about himself, his feelings and imagination in his heart, and he was unconstrained and unrestrained. For example, his book "Difficult Road to Shu" is a journey to the limit of the soul. The only thing that involves real life is the last few words: "One person can't force more than ten thousand people. What if he is not loyal, but a wolf to his companions? "But it's only a matter of time.
Du Fu is different. Du Fu did not mainly write about himself. His three officials and three parting are all about social reality. Although Du Fu himself was involved, it was not entirely Du Fu's personal experience. This writing style of "speaking for the times" is certainly the embodiment of scholars' sense of responsibility, but it is not so "real".
As a literary genre, poetry is more about expressing inner feelings than writing about external reality. Therefore, Li Bai's poems are much higher in style than Du Fu's.
(illustrated by Li Bai)
Second, release.
Li Bai's poems and songs are wild and uninhibited.
In fact, when we look at the poems written by Li Bai, what he writes best is ancient style, not metrical poems and quatrains.
Why is the ancient style written by Li Bai the best? Because the form of ancient style is the most free and unconstrained, it is more suitable for Li Bai to express.
What is the ultimate goal of human mind, that is, to achieve complete freedom. Free expression, unconstrained. This is true of both western philosophy and eastern philosophy.