LU YU

born 1125, Shan-yin, China died 1210, China Pinyin Lu You, pseudonym (Wade-Giles romanization) Fang-weng, courtesy name Wu-kuan one of the most important and prolific Chinese writers of the Southern Sung dynasty, who left behind a collection of nearly 10,000 poems as well as numerous prose pieces. Primarily a poet, Lu gained renown for his simple, direct expression and for his attention to realistic detail, features that set him apart from the elevated and allusive style characteristic of the prevailing Kiangsi school of poetry. As a conservative in matters of form, however, he wrote a number of poems in the ku-shih, or old poetry, mode and excelled at the l-shih, or regulated poetry, form, the sharply defined tonal and grammatical patterns of which had been perfected by the great masters of the T'ang dynasty. Traditionally Lu has been most admired for the ardour of his patriotic poems, in which he protested the Juchen invasion of China that had begun in 1125, the year of his birth, and chided the Sung court for its failure to drive out the invaders and reconquer its lost northern territories. Because of his hawkish views, expressed at a time when the displaced court was controlled by a peace faction that sought appeasement, Lu failed to advance in his career as an imperial official. Four times demoted for his outspoken opinions, Lu finally resigned his civil-service commission and retired to his country estate. During retirement Lu gave himself up entirely to the second major theme of his poetry, the celebration of rural life. Like the poet T'ao Ch'ien, whom he took as his model, Lu depicted the rural countryside in homely detail and almost outdid his mentor in the evocation of its moods and scenes through imagery at once fresh and precise.