顾况的一生行迹（727-820）
顾况（约727-约820），字逋翁，号华阳真逸，苏州（一说海盐）人，中唐诗人、画家。至德二载进士，曾任韩滉幕判官，入朝为著作郎，因诙谐傲世得罪权贵，贬饶州司户，晚年归隐茅山修道，以高寿终。其诗清奇骏发，兼有"红叶题诗"的风流佳话传世。
苏州（727） · 江南才子
唐玄宗开元十五年（727年），顾况出生于苏州（一说海盐）一个江南士族之家。他自幼颖悟过人，博览经史，吴中的湖光山色与吴歌清音浸润了他的才情，养成了落拓不羁、诙谐傲世的名士气质。
洛阳（750） · 两京游宦
唐玄宗天宝九载（750年）前后，青年顾况东游洛阳。一日他漫步宫苑之外的御沟边，拾得一片随水漂出的红叶，叶上竟题有宫女的诗句，顾况感慨之下和诗一首题于叶上，投入御沟上游，成就了中国文学史上最浪漫的"红叶题诗"佳话。
长安（757） · 两京游宦
唐肃宗至德二载（757年），而立之年的顾况进士及第。时逢安史之乱，两京初复，百废待兴，及第后的顾况并未立即授官，在长安、洛阳间游历数年，目睹战乱疮痍与豪门依旧的奢靡，写下《公子行》等讽刺名篇。
润州（京口）（775） · 幕府江南
唐代宗大历十年（775年）前后，顾况入镇海军节度使韩滉幕府为判官，随府治驻于润州（今江苏镇江京口）。他协助处理军政文牍，公务之余遍访江南山水农家，写下清新别致的六言绝句《过山农家》。
长安（著作郎）（789） · 长安朝官
唐德宗贞元五年（789年），顾况经李泌、柳浑荐引入朝，授校书郎，迁著作佐郎、著作郎，掌修国史碑志。居长安期间，他以一首《宫词》写尽深宫寂寥，传唱宫闱内外，与王建《宫词》百首先后辉映。
饶州（794） · 长安朝官
唐德宗贞元十年（794年）前后，顾况因天性傲兀、作诗嘲谑权贵，为朝臣所忌，被贬为饶州司户参军（今江西鄱阳）。离京之际故交零落，他携琴书南下，在鄱阳湖畔的贬所一住数年，诗酒自遣。
茅山（800） · 茅山归隐
唐德宗贞元十六年（800年）前后，年逾古稀的顾况辞官归隐，入茅山（今江苏句容与金坛交界）修道，自号"华阳真逸"，布衣黄冠，炼丹采药，与山僧道侣往来酬唱，彻底告别了扰攘的红尘。
茅山（长逝）（820） · 茅山归隐
唐宪宗元和十五年（820年）前后，顾况卒于茅山，享年约九十四岁。他晚年仙风道骨，传说尸解而去，葬后家人启棺唯见衣履，遂被载入仙传。有唐一代诗人中，年寿之高者罕有其匹。
The Life Journey of Gu Kuang, the Laughing Daoist of Mount Mao
Gu Kuang (c. 727-c. 820), styled Pugong, the 'True Wanderer of Huayang,' was the wit of the Wu school — poet, painter, and scourge of the mighty. He picked a palace lady's poem off a red leaf in the imperial gutter and answered it; mocked his way from the Directorate of Books into exile at Raozhou; and ended a Daoist in the Maoshan hills, dying — so the legend says — by transformation, at ninety-four.
Timeline of the Journey
- 727 · 苏州 — Born in Suzhou (or Haiyan), Wu's lakes and songs in his ears; brilliant early, and untamable from the first.
- 750 · 洛阳 — By the palace gutter at Luoyang he found a red leaf with a woman's verse afloat on it — and floated his answer upstream: China's great 'poem on a leaf' romance is his.
- 757 · 长安 — Jinshi in the first year after the capitals fell; waiting years for office, he watched 'the young lords in light furs' ride past the ruins — and wrote 'Song of the Young Lords.'
- 775 · 润州 — In Han Huang's Zhenhai staff at Jingkou, the military clerk's year; 'above the peaks the sun is warm, the sky clean' — the mountain farmhouse in six perfect words.
- 789 · 长安 — Editor and Director of the Palace Library under Li Bi's protection; his 'Palace Song' crossed the walls of the women's quarters — all Chang'an sang it.
- 794 · 饶州 — One satire too many: demoted to account-clerk at Raozhou on Lake Poyang, 'the horn sounds, and I think of going home.'
- 800 · 茅山 — Past seventy he quit the world for Mount Mao: yellow cap, elixirs, herb-gathering, monks and immortals for company.
- 820 · 茅山 — Died — or 'was released from the corpse': when the coffin was opened, only his cap and shoes remained. No Tang poet outlived that age.
'In the city who does not speak of his verses? — they red like the maple leaves.' A red leaf, a palace song, a laugh at the powerful, a mountain: Gu Kuang made a whole legend of one long, unbowed life.
