杜甫在詩作中提出許多論詩意見，本文旨在探討杜甫這些論詩意見的提出背景、理論內涵及這些理論在詩歌理論史上的意義。
詩歌對於杜甫來說是家學的傳承、事業的光輝與人生最後的寄託所在，因此詩歌藝術對他而言有著特別不凡的意義。在這一層意義下，我們相信杜甫以嚴肅的態度從事創作，並且對於詩歌的本質有更多的思索。杜甫在一千四百多篇詩賦中，有百餘處論及詩歌理論或批評其他詩人，無論質與量，都是其他唐代詩人所未見。我們綜合這些分散在各詩篇的意見，發現杜甫以自我創作經驗為出發，有著完整的創作理論。他以「沉鬱」為詩人內在的修養，以「興」為詩歌的發生，以「法」為詩歌的呈現，以「神」為詩歌的極致，以「雄博」為詩歌最高的風格。杜甫的詩歌理論雜揉漢魏抒懷傳統與齊梁形式主義，帶著中庸與理性的色彩。而他的理論不僅在形式上影響了後代，其中重視學養、取法前賢、追求藝術動人之精神與崇尚雄渾等意識，也對後代的詩歌理論形成了深遠的影響。在中國古典文學理論史上，我們應該視將杜甫視為中古時期到近古時期詩論轉變的樞紐，有著重要的地位。

To Du Fu, poetry was a means of representing the passing down of family wisdom, the glory of a career, and the ultimate meaning of life. Because of this, it can be confidently surmised that the poet had a serious attitude towards the creation of poetry and devoted himself to a study of poetry’s inner nature. Among Du Fu’s more than 1400 poems, over 100
deal with poetical theory or criticism of other poets. Regardless of whether style or quantity is being used as a basis for comparison, no other poet of the Tang Dynasty comes close to this achievement. We can integrate these many scattered theories to discover that Du Fu used his
own creative experience as a starting point to form a complete theory of creation He assumed deep depressed as his inner accomplishments, began his poems with affecting images, and represented poems by rules. He believed that an expression of divinity was the highest state of poetry, and regarded potency as a poem’s highest style. Du Fu’s poetry theory mingled the lyrical tradition of the Han-Wei period with the formalism of the Qi Liang Dynasty, which was full of the shades of golden mean and rationalism. His theory not only affected the form of later poems, but also had a great influence on later poetry theory by placing considerable
importance on valuing knowledge, and following the work of previous generations, as well as pursuing the spirit of art and advocating a vigorous consciousness. In the history of Chinese classic literature, we should regard Du Fu as occupying the pivotal position in the progression
from the middle to near ancient times.