皮日休的一生行迹（834-883）
皮日休（约834-约883），字袭美，一字逸少，襄阳（今湖北襄樊）人。咸通八年进士，曾任太常博士。诗文锐利，继承白居易新乐府精神，深刻揭露晚唐社会黑暗。与陆龟蒙唱和齐名，并称"皮陆"。后从黄巢起义，不知所终。
襄阳（834） · 襄阳少年
唐文宗大和八年（834年）前后，皮日休出生于襄阳（今湖北襄樊）。襄阳地处汉水之滨、荆襄要冲，自古文风鼎盛，他自幼博览群书，尤喜左思、白居易之诗，立下以诗反映民生疾苦的志向。
寿州（860） · 游历登第
唐懿宗咸通元年（860年）前后，皮日休自襄阳出游，经寿州（今安徽寿县）等地，沿途考察民间疾苦，写下大量纪行诗与新乐府体讽谕诗，诗名渐起于江淮间。
长安（867） · 游历登第
唐懿宗咸通八年（867年），皮日休登进士第。他在长安应试期间，目睹朝政腐败、宦官专权，虽及第却对晚唐的政局深感失望，在诗文中屡发忧国之言。
长安（为官）（869） · 长安为官
唐懿宗咸通十年（869年）前后，皮日休在长安任太常博士。他虽位列清要，却因直言敢谏、不谐流俗，在朝中颇为孤立。他以文笔为武器，写下《鹿门隐书》等杂文，批判时政。
苏州（870） · 苏州皮陆
唐懿宗咸通十一年（870年），皮日休退居苏州，与陆龟蒙相识，二人诗酒唱和、推为知音，世称"皮陆"。他在苏州写下大量山水杂诗与唱和之作，编为《松陵集》。
湖州（872） · 苏州皮陆
唐懿宗咸通十三年（872年）前后，皮日休游历湖州，与陆龟蒙同访顾渚山茶区。他品顾渚紫笋茶、赋诗纪游，对江南茶文化有深刻体验，写下《茶中杂咏》等茶诗。
广州（878） · 从巢之乱
唐僖宗乾符五年（878年），黄巢起义军攻占广州。皮日休此前已离苏南下，传闻在广州加入黄巢军，被署为翰林学士。他从晚唐官员转变为起义军的文人幕僚。
长安（黄巢）（881） · 从巢之乱
唐僖宗广明元年（881年），黄巢攻入长安，建国号大齐。皮日休在黄巢朝中任翰林学士，据说为黄巢撰即位赦文。但此后不久，皮日休即从历史记载中消失，生死成谜。
The Life Journey of Pi Rixiu, Satirist of the Falling Tang
Pi Rixiu (c. 834-c. 883), of Xiangyang, carried Bai Juyi's new-yuefu blade into the last darkness of the Tang: 'The Old Woman Gathering Acorns' — one granary of government grain worth a mountain of peasants' harvest. Retired to Suzhou he found Lu Guimeng, and 'Pi and Lu' became one laughing, matching, unbeatable name. Then, in the wreckage, he went south — tradition says into Huang Chao's secretariat — and vanished.
Timeline of the Journey
- 834 · 襄阳 — Born in Xiangyang on the Han; the books and the flood-plain's poor both in sight from the start.
- 860 · 寿州 — First journeys out through Shouzhou, the peasants' year examined mile by mile: 'the widow of a dead conscript' — the new-yuefu conscience waking.
- 867 · 长安 — Jinshi at Xiantong eight; the capital's rot seen at close range — 'Guanwa Palace remembered' — and the degree already tasting of ash.
- 869 · 长安 — Grand Master of the Court of Sacrifice: honored, isolated, unlistened-to — 'reading Sima's Art of War': 'since the ancients made war to stop war, what are these wars for?'
- 870 · 苏州 — Resigned to Suzhou and the meeting with Lu Guimeng: match on match, 'Autumn Evening on Lake Tai' — friendship as a literary institution, 'Pi-Lu' one word from now on.
- 872 · 湖州 — With Lu to Guzhu's tea mountains: the taste, the bake, the stove — a cycle on tea that fixed the aesthetic of the leaf in verse.
- 878 · 广州 — The rebellion taking the south; Pi already moved ahead of it — tradition places him in Huang Chao's staff as Hanlin Academician, the court-poet turned rebel-clerk. 'The Bian River remembered' — the Sui canal as empire's indictment.
- 881 · 长安 — In the taken capital of Great Qi, said to have drafted the accession edict — then silence. Killed, escaped, or drowned: the age kept no ledger, and Pi Rixiu ends as a question mark holding a pen.
'The old woman picks acorns under the frost — a whole basket for a day's food.' The satirist who saw the revolution coming from the granary door: his end is unknown, his evidence is everywhere.
