It can be said that they belong to the same dynasty and can be attributed to the same era, that is, the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Li Bai and Du Fu are collectively called "(Big) Li Du". They are not very different in age. Du Fu and Li Bai have a deep friendship. Li Bai is often mentioned in Du Fu's poems. When he learned that Li Bai died on the way to exile, Yelang wrote the famous "The End of the World Pregnant with Li Bai". Although Li Bai rarely mentioned Du Fu in his poems, it may be because of his character. Even so, it does not mean that their friendship is not deep.
Did Li Bai and Du Fu know each other?
The great meeting between the Immortal of Poetry and the Saint of Poetry
In 744 AD, the two great poets met. This year, Li Bai was 44 years old. In terms of age, he could be called an old Li. He had just been given a gold and released by Emperor Tang Ming. He was in a very depressed mood and was traveling around looking for new opportunities. When passing through Luoyang, I met Du Fu by chance at Du Fu's father's home.
At this time, Du Fu was 33 years old, which was still the age of Xiao Du. Because the imperial examination did not go well, he was living at home bored. Suddenly seeing Li Bai, my heart was filled with admiration. At that time, Li Bai was already famous all over the world, and Du Fu was just starting out.
The meeting between Li Bai and Du Fu was a great meeting. Without this meeting, how much would the literary world of the Tang Dynasty have suffered! Scholar Mr. Wen Yiduo said: "In our four thousand years of history, except for Confucius meeting Laozi (if they met), there is nothing more important, more sacred, and more memorable than the meeting between these two people." Moreover. Not only did they meet, but they also made an appointment to travel together soon.
From AD 744 to AD 745, Li Bai and Du Fu met three times and traveled together twice in two years, forming a profound friendship. The shadow of that time can be found in Du Fu's poems: "Drunk in the autumn quilt, walking hand in hand with the sun." ("Seclusion with Li Twelve Bai") means sleeping in the same bed while drunk. , covered with the same quilt, travel hand in hand during the day. One can imagine how good the relationship between the two people was at that time. Li Bai and Du Fu lived in the same era
Li Bai: a rich second generation, a spendthrift, not a "warm man". After Li Bai became a businessman, his status in the Tang Dynasty was very low, ranking last compared with other industries, so Li Bai had no right to participate in the imperial examination. When Li Bai was young and frivolous, he had a fight, which was recorded, so he could not take more imperial examinations.
Li Bai had 4 wives. Let’s not talk about whether Lao Li’s married life was happy or not, because he seemed to have no sense of family. Maybe it was because he often drank. According to current words, Li Bai was not a "Warm man".
Du Fu: He failed many imperial examinations, became a minor official and even went to jail. But Du Fu couldn't compare with him. Du Fu's family had been officials for several generations, but by his generation, the family began to become lonely. Although his father was a minor official, at least his salary was relatively stable.
In fact, in some aspects, Li Bai and Du Fu are quite talented, but their lives are so different. In addition to their own life experiences, they are also inevitably related to their mentality. However, just because of this, their poetic styles are completely different.