In 761, the thatched roof of Du's cottage was destroyed in a storm, leading him to think of the plight of other poverty-stricken scholars.

Rather than wallowing in self-pity, he composed the poem Song of the Autumn Wind and the Cottage desiring that all who needed could take welcome shelter in an immense house with thousands of rooms, and saying if only such could be, he would be content to be frozen to death in his leaking cottage.

Du's poems have been referred to as poetic history since they faithfully record the times he live in and people's misfortunes because of the war.

Du's cottage fell into ruins after he left.