The Images of Artists in Du Fu’s Poems

Abstract

Du Fu has written about different types of artists in his poems. Such poems not only document the life and achievement of the artists but also serve as a mirror of the ups and downs of the poet himself and those of Tang Dynasty. This paper will focus on “Song of a Painting Presented to General Cao Ba” (丹青引赠曹将军霸), “On Seeing a Student of Mistress Gongsun Dance the 'Sword Dance”(观公孙大娘弟子舞剑器行), and “Meeting Li Guinian in Jiangnan” (江南逢李龟年), exploring the correlation between the artists, the poet and the country, how Du Fu’s attitudes towards hardship and pain change with the passage of time as well as how the poet finally reaches transcendence by the time he met Li Guinian.