Du Fu was a Chinese poet during the Tang Dynasty. Along with Li Po,
he is frequently called the greatest of the Chinese poets. His own
greatest ambition was to help his country by becoming a successful
civil servant, but he proved unable to make the necessary
accommodations. His life, like the country, was devastated by the An
Lushan Rebellion of 755, and the last 15 years of his life were a
time of almost constant unrest. Initially unpopular, his works came
to be hugely influential in both Chinese and Japanese poetry. He has
been called "poet historian" and "poet sage" by Chinese critics,
while the range of his work has allowed him to be introduced to
Western readers as "the Chinese Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Shakespeare,
Milton, Burns, Wordsworth, B�ranger, Hugo or Baudelaire."
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Du_Fu
Today's selected anniversaries:
1066 King Harold Godwinson of England and his army defeated a
Norwegian army under King Harald Hardr�de at the Battle of
Stamford Bridge outside the city of York, marking the end
of Viking invasions from Scandinavia.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stamford_Bridge)
1789 The Bill of Rights passed the United States Congress
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights)
1890 John Muir's vision succeeds: Yosemite National Park
established in California.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_National_Park)
2003 Magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck just offshore of Hokkaido,
Japan.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_earthquakes)
Wikiquote of the day:
"To do evil that good may come of it is for bunglers in politics as
well as morals." ~ William Penn
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Penn)