Du Mu of The Late Tang
1 min readDu Mu(803-852 AD)was a native of Jingzhao-Wan-nian(present-day Xi’an City,Shaanxi Province).He came from an established noble family of hereditary officials for generations.When Du Mu was in his teens,he lost his father and the family began to decline.
Skilled in poetry and poetic prose and ancient Chinese prose,he had gained proof of special merit in poems and songs,mostly touching the current events in allegory and satire.His lyric poems and scenery description poems are like breaths of fresh air flowing in a sick movement.He has intensities,pauses,quiet places,rise-and falls with a charming rhythm that takes charge of its own right.His accomplishments werequite notable in the late Tang realm of poetry.He was popularly addressed as”Little Du”to be distinguished from Du Fu,“the Poetry Sage”.
Mountain Travel
Far away on the cold mountain,a stone path slants upwards,
In the white clouds is a village,where people have their homes.
I stop the carriage,loving the maple wood in the evening,
The frosted leaves are redder than the second month’s flowers.