Comparison of Li Po and Tu Fus Poetry Essays - 802 Words

Comparison of Li Po and Tu Fus Poetry During the Tang Dynasty, Li Po and Tu Fu have reigned the literary world with their poetry. Their writing techniques and themes in their poetry allow them to stand out amongst other poets at the time. With the unique aspects and images these poets write about, they distinguish the similarities between themselves and contain different intensities in their poetry. While Li Po has a more relaxed tone to his poetry, Tu Fu deals with the serious aspects of life such as war, poverty, and suffering. Li Pos writing style is conventional and contains no new innovations. Much of his poetry contains older styles such as lu-shih, chueh-chu, and especially the†¦show more content†¦Alcohol became another common theme of Li Pos poetry. Scholar Tan-chiu! Bring the wine and no delay! For you Ill sing a song- be pleased to bend your ears and hear; bells and drums, foods rare as jade- these arent worth prizing; all I ask is to be drunk forever, never to sober up! This excerpt from the poem Bring the Wine, is only one of the many hundreds of poems that portrays Li Pos love of wine and its affects. I take my wine jug out among the flowers to drink alone, without friends. I raise my cup to entice the moon. That, and my shadow, makes us three, is an excerpt from his Drinking Alone poem. It displays his love of wine and the enjoyment of the beauty of the moon. Tu Fus poetry illustrates more serious topics and contains more serious themes. It contains more creation, tu-tsao, and his writing styles have a modern twist to them. He also brought the chin-ti form to popularity, making it a poetic statement. One characteristic of Tu Fu poems is that he incorporates and parallels two totally different topics together. For example, in his poem River Stop Tu Fu parallels the river and clouds to his heart and his mind. Rivers flow- my heart doesnt try to keep up; clouds remain- slow as my imagination. Tu Fu also condenses and distorts his poetry, which leaves his poetry ambiguous and open to suggestion. However, this may be