A Study On Du Mu's Poetry

Du Mu is an outstanding poet of late Tang Dynasty, who plays an important rolein the field of poetry of Tang Dynasty. At that time, people called him "Little Du",differentiating him from another poet Du Fu. And because of his contemporaryeponym Li Shangyin, they together were named "Little Li Du". Du Mu also excels inprose writing. In late Tang Dynasty, when paralleled prose was popular again, heinsisted on ancient prose writing and was rather successful. This thesis intends tostudy the integrality of Du Mu's poems, to analyze the origin, content, achievementand influence of poetry and to discuss about Du's status and significance in the fieldof poetry of late Tang Dynasty. The most reliable version of the anthology of Du isedited by Pei Yanhan, namely Anthology of Fanchuan. The later versions of SongDynasty, such as Another Anthology, Extra Anthology and so on, includes somepoems written not by Du Mu. Nowadays, people do a lot of discriminating work.Based upon these textual researches, this thesis analyzes those poems which aredoubtlessly written by Du Mu and tries to bring some innovative understanding andopinions about Du's poems.The thesis consists of seven chapters. The first chapter "Introduction" makes abrief introduction of this research and a comment upon former ones. There are morethan ten monographs and four hundred papers concerned with Du Mu. Theinvestigation is fruitful especially after the 1980s. The monographs includesbiography, esthetics, general studies, etc.; the papers are mainly about Du's life, hisliterary thoughts, his poems and textual researches (including the authenticity and theyear of writing) and so on. Among these topics, researchers pays more attention to theissues such as the death year of Du, Du's criticism of Yuan Zhan and Bai Juyi, Du'srelation to the dispute between Niu Sengru and Li Deyu.The second chapter "Background of Writing" discusses about the origin of Du'spoems, his life and death year. There are many aspects concerning with the origin ofDu's poems. This thesis analyzes mainly from two perspectives: his family and hisreading of literary works. Inheriting the tradition of "managing for present use" fromhis grandfather Du You, Du Mu attaches much importance to practicality. He caresabout the national affairs which are reflected in his literary writings. In his "CriminalWords", "Former Sixteen Guarders", "Theories of Defence", "Theories of War" andso on, Du Mu utters a great many incisive opinions about political and military affairs. Poems like "Recalling of Emotion", "Drinking Alone in a County Inn", "Early WildGoose" reflect the reality of the separation of the country and the distressful life ofpeople. From the perspective of literary works, Du is influenced by Songs of Chu, LiBai, Du Fu and Han Yu, among whom Han Yu is the most influential one.As for the death year of Du Mu, there are always various opinions. The new andold versions of Book of Tang say that Du dies at the age of fifty, but no exact deathyear is mentioned. Epitaph by Myself was written by Du Mu after Nov. 10th of thesixth year of Xuanzong Dazhong. Liu Chongyuan in The Combined Anthology by JinHuazi says that Du Mu "died in the next month" after writing the epitaph. So Du diedin December of the sixth year of Dazhong. And Nov. 18th of the sixth year of Dazhongis the New Year's day of 853 A. D., thus the death year of Du should be 853 A.D.The third chapter "Literary Thoughts of Du Mu" probes into Du's ideas andpropositions on writing literary works. In "Answering to Zhuang Chong", Du Mu putsforward that "an article should be centered upon its intention". As for the content andthe form of the article, he emphasizes the former. The form of the language shouldservice the content. He opposes to the trend of formalism which pursues unilaterallythe pompous rhetoric. Du takes much count of literary achievement of Han Yu andLiu Zongyuan. His prose writing, actually, is a continuance of ancient prosemovement in Mid-Tang Dynasty. In the domain of poetry, Du possesses his own style.In "Revelation on Poems", he says that what he seeks is "loftiness and uniqueness",i.e. a brand-new level which is not bounded by the shallow and flighty style of lateTang or by the ancients. In "Preface to Li He's Anthology", Du praises the diversifiedstyles and expressive skills of Li's poems; he also points out that though Li's poems,from the point of view of language, exceed Songs of Chu, their content is not as goodas Songs of Chu. This criticism shows his viewpoint that "an article should becentered upon its intention". Du Mu is highly critical of "Yuanhe Style"(includingamorous poems" which is popularized by Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi, considering thesepoems as "lascivious language". He regards poems as an instrument of politicalcivilization. However, Du Mu himself once wrote some obscene poems which arousesdisputes among later generations.The fourth chapter "The Classification and the Content of Du Mu's Poems"expatiates from five aspects. Section One: worries about the nation and the people.The late Tang is in the middle of national crisis and foreign aggression. Du holds apassion of his country and the people and an ambition of restoring the nation. In his opinion, the key to solve the problems at that time is to pull down those separatedregions and to fight back the invasion by other countries. His poems reflects thesepropositions. Moreover, he exposes the corruptive government and the incontinentadministration. Section Two: nostalgia to ancient times. This category of poems eitherremarks directly on the history, or uses the past to satirize the present, or meditates onthe past to express the present emotion. There are a good many representatives of thiskind of poems in late Tang Dynasty. Section Three: poems centered upon women.These poems are divided mainly into two kinds: the first show concerns and sympathyto the misery life of women. These poems have some social significance. The seconddescribe the love with prostitutes and young girls. Although they are not thatmeaningful as the first, these poems illustrate certain aspects of one's life andthoughts, which is helpful for us to know more about the poet. Section Four:description of beautiful scenery and expression of emotion. These poems are thecombination of scenery and emotion, so they are poetical and vivid with colors at thesame time. Section Five: bestowals to relatives and friends. This sort of poems,written from different angles, occupy a large quantity of the poet's creation.The fifth chapter "The Artistic Achievement of Du Mu's Poems", from theperspective of types of poetry, discusses about Du's ancient poetry, restrained poetryand four-line restrained poetry. Du's poems are idiographic in their straightforwardand majestic appearance. His ancient poems are influenced by Du Fu and Han Yu,excelling in narration and argumentation with sound and precise pattern which isunique among all poets of late Tang Dynasty. His restrained poems combine vigourwith affection and are elusive and elegant as well. His four-line restrained poems arethe most successful ones which bear with artistic conceptions and meaningful charms,especially those in praise of history with scrupulous argumentation and creative lines.The sixth chapter "The Influence and the Evaluation" is about Du Mu's influenceupon the later generations and the evaluation upon him. In his times, Du held a veryhigh reputation, his poems and prose being popular all around. Compared to LiShangyin, Du is less influential. However, according to the literary and historical datasince his death, we can find that his influence upon later generations is great. Men ofletters of Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing often quote from Du's lines and conceptions inorder to memorize this excellent poet. Critics of past dynasties thinks highly of Du'sachievement in poetry and prose, his talents and gift.The seventh chapter "Conclusion" sums up briefly the whole thesis. It also comments upon Du Mu's status and significance in the field of poetry of late TangDyanasty.Moreover, the discrimination of Du's poems, the years when they were writtenand the papers concerned with the poet are attached at the end of the thesis asappendix in hope of summarizing the fruitful work of present researchers.