Du Fu
712–770 · Chinese (Tang Dynasty) · Tang Dynasty China
Known for: China's 'Sage of Poetry'—greatest realist poet, chronicler of the An Lushan Rebellion
Du Fu was the moral conscience of Chinese poetry—a man who witnessed the devastating An Lushan Rebellion (which killed millions) and transformed that suffering into some of the most technically accomplished and emotionally powerful verse in any language. He failed the imperial examinations, served briefly as a minor official, and spent much of his life in poverty, wandering China as a refugee.
His poetry combines Confucian moral seriousness with extraordinary technical skill. He was devoted to his family—his guilt over his son's death from starvation appears in several agonizing poems—and to the ideal of public service he could never fully achieve. He died in obscurity at 58. Critical consensus now ranks him as the greatest Chinese poet.
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