Tu Fu
Tu Fu
• The son of a minor scholar-official, his youth was spent on the standard
education of a future civil servant: study and memorisation of the
Confucian classics of philosophy, history and poetry. He later claimed to
have produced creditable poems by his early teens, but these have been
lost.
• In 744 he met the poet Li Po in Loyang. Tu Fu's friendship with Li Po served
as material for some of his most famous poems, including “Eight Immortals
of Drinking,” which reflects on the carefree atmosphere of his time spent in
Loyang.
Eight Immortals of Gulping one hundred rivers;
And with a cup in his hand he insists,
the Wine Cup He loves the Sage** and avoids the Wise**.
束帶發狂欲大叫,
簿書何急來相仍。