803–852
Du Mu
杜牧
Explore Du Mu through autumn leaves, a rain-soaked journey, palace waiting, and historical judgments made from songs, buildings, and a broken weapon.
Du Mu and Du Fu are different poets. This later Tang selection shows how much a short poem can change its direction: a view becomes a judgment, a traveler asks a question, or an old object opens an alternative history.
The decision to stop or continue
A Mountain Walk moves uphill until autumn color makes the traveler stop. Its final comparison values the leaves on their own terms. The notes explain why 坐 means “because” in this sentence, rather than necessarily describing a seated posture.
In Qingming, weather and exhaustion give way to an inquiry about a wine shop. A child’s pointing gesture answers it. The page follows the received attribution to Du Mu while avoiding an invented date or a confident identification of a modern tourist site.
History heard and imagined
Mooring on the Qinhuai hears a song associated with a fallen dynasty being performed again. Its reproach can reach the audience who enjoys that repertoire, not only the singer named in the poem.
Red Cliff begins with a broken weapon and then asks what might have happened had a favorable wind failed. Keep the imagined outcome separate from the historical event. The final captivity belongs to that counterfactual, not to a claim that it actually occurred.
Wide views and quiet rooms
Spring South of the River sets living color beside buildings inherited from earlier dynasties. Autumn Evening narrows the view to a fan, fireflies, palace steps, and the stars of the celestial lovers. The edition note identifies variants that change the watcher’s posture and setting.
The Wikisource author record supplies the dates above. Each reading links its own textual source; the historical judgments discussed here belong first to the poems and should be read with their particular wording.
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