温庭筠的一生行迹（812-866）
温庭筠（约812-866），本名岐，字飞卿，太原祁（今山西祁县）人，唐初宰相温彦博后裔。才思敏捷，八叉手而成八韵，人称"温八叉"。屡试不第，官终国子助教。诗与李商隐齐名，号"温李"；词开一代之风，被尊为花间词派鼻祖。
太原（812） · 太原吴客
唐宪宗元和七年（812年）前后，温庭筠出生，本名岐，字飞卿，祖籍太原祁县（今山西祁县），为唐初宰相温彦博之后。此时家道早已中落，他幼年随家南迁，在江淮间长大。
扬州（820） · 太原吴客
唐宪宗元和十五年（820年）前后，少年温庭筠随家寓居江淮，常往来扬州一带。扬州的烟水繁华滋养了他的才情，也让他自幼便浸染在南国的旖旎风物之中。
长安（836） · 长安浪游
唐文宗开成元年（836年），二十四岁的温庭筠来到长安应进士试。他文名籍甚，与公卿子弟交游，出入歌楼酒肆，却也因此落下"士行尘杂，不修边幅"的评语，科场之路就此蒙上阴影。
长安（失依）（839） · 长安浪游
唐文宗开成四年（839年），与温庭筠交厚的庄恪太子李永在宫廷斗争中暴薨，温庭筠失去靠山，此年应试再度下第。自此他屡试屡黜，终生未得一第，悲愤郁积于心。
下邳（851） · 科举蹉跎
唐宣宗大中五年（851年）前后，屡试不第的温庭筠漫游江淮，途经下邳（今江苏邳州）陈琳墓。面对汉末文人的荒坟，他想到自己霸才无主、书剑飘零，临风凭吊，怆然涕下。
商山（859） · 荆楚贬谪
唐宣宗大中十三年（859年），温庭筠被贬出长安，远赴随县任县尉。深秋黎明，他独行商山驿道（今陕西商洛），茅店月残、板桥霜白，写下唐诗中最著名的早行图景。
襄阳（860） · 荆楚贬谪
唐懿宗咸通元年（860年），山南东道节度使徐商镇守襄阳，爱惜温庭筠之才，留署他为巡官，待之颇厚。年近五旬的温庭筠在襄阳幕府得到了乱世中难得的知遇。
江陵（861） · 荆楚贬谪
唐懿宗咸通二年（861年），温庭筠离开襄阳，南下江陵（今湖北荆州），在荆南幕府短暂栖身。秋日江边送别友人，面对汉阳渡口的浩渺烟波，他写下气象高远的送别名篇。
长安（终官）（863） · 花间余韵
唐懿宗咸通四年（863年），温庭筠经旧友求情，短暂回长安，任国子监助教，掌经籍讲授。他按旧例进行科试评审，特擢英华才士如吴廷矩等，被权贵以"搅扰科场"奏贬，旋即罢官。
长安（长逝）（866） · 花间余韵
唐懿宗咸通七年（866年）前后，温庭筠在长安贫病而死，享年约五十四岁。终其一生未得一第，官终国子助教，但身后被尊为"花间词派鼻祖"，其词影响千年。
The Life Journey of Wen Tingyun, Father of the Lyrics Among the Flowers
Wang Tingyun — Wen Tingyun (c. 812-866), styled Feiqing, of the old Wen house of Taiyuan — could cross his arms eight times and finish an examination rhyme: 'Wen Eight-Cross.' He never passed the examination. The finest lyric technician of the ninth century, first name in the Anthology Among the Flowers and half of the 'Wen-Li' pair with Li Shangyin, he spent his life between wine-shops, examination halls that rejected him, and minor provincial posts — founder of the 'flowery boudoir' lyric, dead poor at Chang'an.
Timeline of the Journey
- 812 · Taiyuan — Born to the declined line of the Tang chancellor Wen Yanbo; the family already gone south, the boy raised in the brightness between the Yangtze and the Huai.
- 820 · Yangzhou — Youth in the water-country's salons and songs: the kingfisher brows, the gold-flecked faces, the screens and cicada wings that would furnish his lyrics — learned at first hand.
- 836 · Chang'an — To the examinations at twenty-four: famous, welcome among the great families — and already typed by the officials as 'conduct among the dust, no care for appearances.'
- 839 · Chang'an — His patron the crown prince dies suddenly in the palace struggles; that year's failure, and after it the string that never broke: fail, fail, fail, for life.
- 851 · Xiapi — Wandering the southeast, at Chen Lin's tomb by Xiapi: the Han strategist's grave, and the poet's own 'great talent without a lord' — mourning the dead as himself.
- 859 · Shang Mountain — Demoted at last to vice-magistrate of Sui county; the dawn post-road over Shang Shan: 'Cock-crow, thatched inn, the moon; footprints, plank bridge, frost' — the most famous morning in Chinese poetry.
- 860 · Xiangyang — Xu Shang, military governor at Xiangyang, took the aging poet into his staff and treated him generously: the late middle age's one warm room.
- 861 · Jiangling — South again to the Jingnan staff: an autumn river farewell at Hanyang ford, the grand manner still kept in reserve for partings.
- 863 · Chang'an — Recalled through friends to instructor in the National Academy; grading the examinations he promoted poor talents against the powerful — and was struck off for 'disturbing the examination hall.'
- 866 · Chang'an — Dead in poverty, about fifty-four, never once a degree. But the Anthology Among the Flowers opens with his sixty-six lyrics — the school he founded ran for a thousand years.
'Cock-crow, thatched inn, the moon; footprints, plank bridge, frost.' Ten monosyllables of dawn — from the man the system would not pass and the language could not forget.
