刘长卿的一生行迹（709-786）
刘长卿（约709-约786），字文房，宣州（今安徽宣城）人，祖籍河间。中唐诗人，工五言诗，权德舆称其"五言长城"。曾两度遭贬，先后谪居苏州、随州，诗风清凄幽冷，长于离愁别恨。《逢雪宿芙蓉山主人》《别严士元》传诵千古。
河间（709） · 河间求学
唐中宗景龙三年（709年）前后，刘长卿出生于河间（今河北河间）。他自幼力学，遍读经史百家，尤精五言诗体，弱冠即有声于河朔间，为乡里推重。
洛阳（734） · 洛阳登第
唐玄宗开元二十二年（734年）前后，刘长卿在洛阳登进士第。他在东都结识了众多诗友，出入名公卿之间，以五言诗才名动洛下，开始了仕宦生涯。
长安（740） · 洛阳登第
唐玄宗开元二十八年（740年）前后，刘长卿入长安就任监察御史等职。他性情刚直，不肯阿附权贵，在朝中虽以诗名闻达，却因言事触忤当道，埋下了日后两遭贬谪的伏笔。
苏州（756） · 吴越为官
唐肃宗至德元年（756年）前后，刘长卿任苏州长洲县尉。安史之乱中，他避乱江南，在吴越山水间暂得一方安宁，诗作亦多写江南风物与离愁别绪。
长洲（贬）（760） · 长洲遭贬
唐肃宗上元元年（760年），刘长卿以长洲县尉遭人构陷，被贬为潘州南巴县尉。这是他第一次遭贬，罪名是"犯赃"（贪赃），但实为受人诬陷，冤屈莫白，远谪岭南荒僻之地。
鄂州（764） · 长洲遭贬
唐代宗广德二年（764年）前后，刘长卿遇赦后途经鄂州，在江夏一带滞留。他登临黄鹤楼旧址，远眺长江，写下多首怀古送别之作，诗名愈盛。
随州（774） · 随州暮年
唐代宗大历九年（774年）前后，刘长卿任随州刺史。他在随州约八年，治理地方颇有政声，但建中四年（783年）李希烈叛乱，随州陷落，他逃往扬州，晚境凄凉。
扬州（783） · 随州暮年
唐德宗建中四年（783年），李希烈叛军攻陷随州，刘长卿弃城出走，辗转抵达扬州避乱。他年逾七旬，半生两遭贬谪，晚年又逢藩镇之乱，漂泊无依，悲凉不堪。
洛阳（终老）（786） · 随州暮年
唐德宗贞元二年（786年）前后，刘长卿病逝于洛阳或江南某地，享年约七十七岁。他晚年漂泊吴越，穷愁潦倒，但诗歌创作不辍，五言律诗的造诣已达化境。
The Life Journey of Liu Changqing, the Five-Character Great Wall
Liu Changqing (c. 709-c. 786), styled Wenfang, called by Quan Deyu the 'Great Wall of Five-Character Verse,' was twice banished on framed charges and ended a refugee from a rebel army at seventy. 'Snow at Night at Furong Mountain' — twenty white words that never melt — stands for a lifetime of cold, clear music.
Timeline of the Journey
- 709 · 河间 — Born in Hejian; the young master of the five-character line, known along the Yellow River before the capital had heard of him.
- 734 · 洛阳 — Jinshi through Luoyang; the salons of the eastern capital opened, and the reputation with them.
- 740 · 长安 — Investigating censor in Chang'an — upright to the point of collision; the enemies made now would collect later. 'In exile, new year in Lingnan.'
- 756 · 苏州 — Through the An Lushan chaos to Changzhou county, Suzhou; the Jiangnan water-towns filled with other people's sorrows and his own quiet poems.
- 760 · 长洲 — Framed for corruption he never committed — demoted to Nanba in far Pan-zhou; the Jiangnan friends who saw him off kept his faith.
- 764 · 鄂州 — Amnestied, lingering at Jiangxia below the old Yellow Crane terrace; the autumn climbs and farewells that hardened his style.
- 774 · 随州 — Prefect of Suizhou for eight years — 'Liu of Suizhou'; the best years his rank ever gave him. 'At dusk, the mountain far, the sky cold, the white house poor; in the woodshed a dog barks — someone returns home through snow.'
- 783 · 扬州 — Li Xilie's rebellion took Suizhou; the old man out on the roads again to Yangzhou, sending off the monk Lingche — 'the green mountain's empty shadow far in the setting light.'
- 786 · 洛阳 — Died in his late seventies, in Luoyang or the south; two exiles, one war, a thousand poems — and the Five-Character Wall standing. 'For three years, banished to Changsha — I weep at this visit to the scholar Jia's house.'
'At dusk the mountains are far, the sky grows cold, the poor hut whitens with snow.' The coldest small poem in the language, from the man who kept the five-character line like a fortress through a whole hard age.
