Du Fu 712777 has been called Chinas greatest poet and some call him thegreatest nonepic nondramatic poet whose writings survive in any language. DuFu excelled i... » 

Du Fu 712777 has been called Chinas greatest poet and some call him thegreatest nonepic nondramatic poet whose writings survive in any language. DuFu excelled in a great variety of poetic forms showing a richness of languageranging from elegant to colloquial from allusive to direct. His impressivebreadth of subject matter includes intimate personal detail as well as a greatdeal of historical information which earned him the epithet poethistorian. Some 1400 of Du Fus poems survive today his fame resting onabout one hundred that have been widely admired over the centuries. Preeminenttranslator Burton Watson has selected 127 poems including those for which DuFu is best remembered and lesserknown works. «