A Study Of Su Shi 's Diet Poetry

There are more than one hundred and fifty poems that depict diet or activities of diet purely and nearly one thousand poems which are related to diet in the collected edition of Su Shi. It means that Su Shi’s diet poetry accounts for thirty percent of the total. It is obvious that the creating of diet poetry is a magnificent spectacle. As ambitious scholar-bureaucrat, it is rare and strange for Su Shi to pay so much attention to diet of everyday life, not to mention that he likes to talk about diet and loves to make food and wine. But Su Shi was not addicted to eating and drinking. And his poems of diet always absorb your voice.Su Shi experienced several ups and downs and travelled every corner of China in his life, whatever position he was on or wherever he was in, he would enjoy the local cuisine. He enjoyed delicacies if he could afford it, at the same time contented with bread and water when delicacies could not be obtained. His values and views on diet are useful, moderate and timely.Su Shi’s diet poems will be divided into three parts according to his fortune. Similarities and differences of these three periods, which are being an official in the court, being as a local clerk and banishing from the court will be analyzed in the second part of the paper. We can come to the conclusion that richer food was described during the latter two periods and diet poems which were created during his degrading period won the highest reputation.Su Shi claimed himself to a glutton. Clearly he was very proud of his interesting on eating and drinking. When faced with food his taste buds would be opened as will as his funny chatterboxes. Sometimes he had fun with his friends, which added joy to life and sometimes he even mocking himself, through which made adversity being easily dismissed. He had the idea that the rich were not creative, meanwhile he was clear that there was not a world of fantasy at all. So he sought inspiration from every-day life and put his experience to practice. The content above involves Su Shi’s two different orientations in his life. They are his interesting life and practical life. What we mentioned above will appear in the third part.Su Shi loves food from the bottom of his heart. So his diet poetry is the natural language of the heart.. What’s more, he has elegant words and splendid writing skills, so that ordinary and habitual diet poetry was turned into elegant ones, which made poems of diet mark in the field of high art. His diet poetry is plain but not boring. What we mentioned above will appear in the last chapter.