Read this when
Selected Poems of Du Fu
When your world is at war and you still can't stop worrying about everyone else. Du Fu wrote that feeling 1,200 years ago.
Who it's for
Du Fu lived through the An Lushan rebellion, which displaced millions, and his poems record war, famine, separation and exile in plain, grave detail.
Feelings it meets
What it is
This is a selection of poems by Du Fu (712–770), a Tang dynasty poet whose life was upended by the An Lushan rebellion of 755–763, which displaced and killed huge numbers of people. Captured by rebels and held in Chang'an, then later wandering with his family, he wrote about war, displacement, separation and ordinary lives, which earned him the title 'Poet-Historian'.
Where to find it
David Hinton's 'The Selected Poems of Tu Fu' (New Directions; expanded edition 2020) and Stephen Owen's complete 'The Poetry of Du Fu' (2015, also open-access online via De Gruyter) are available; lib.
Before you start
Heads up: A young child's death from hunger.
Age: Ages 12+
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.Wilfred Owen, Poems, “Dulce et Decorum Est”
