韦应物的一生行迹（737-791）
韦应物（737-791），字义博，京兆万年（今西安）人，出身韦氏逍遥公房。少年为玄宗近侍三卫郎，安史之乱后折节读书，历官滁州、江州、苏州刺史，以清廉著称。诗风冲淡闲远，与王维、孟浩然、柳宗元并称"王孟韦柳"。《滁州西涧》《寄李儋元锡》传诵千古。
长安（737） · 长安少年
唐玄宗开元二十五年（737年），韦应物出生于京兆万年（今西安），出身韦氏逍遥公房，为关中名族。他十五岁即补三卫郎，入侍宫掖，为玄宗近卫，横行坊里，颇以侠少自恃。
长安（折节）（756） · 折节向学
唐肃宗至德元年（756年），安史之乱爆发，玄宗奔蜀，三卫郎韦应物流落失职。大难之后他痛改前非，折节读书，自言"读书事已晚，把笔学题诗"，数年间诗文艺业大进，为他日后的仕途与诗名奠定了根基。
洛阳（764） · 洛阳畿县
唐代宗广德二年（764年）前后，韦应物任洛阳丞，后改河南府兵曹参军。他在洛阳数年，政务之暇常游伊洛山水，诗风渐趋冲淡，开始创作大量山水田园诗。
鄠县（778） · 畿县亲民
唐代宗大历十三年（778年）秋，韦应物出任鄠县令；次年六月改栎阳县令，旋以疾辞官，闲居长安西郊善福寺。为畿县亲民官期间，他亲理农事、体恤民瘼，在关中乡村中深入体会田园生活，诗风愈发接近陶渊明。
滁州（783） · 滁州江州
唐德宗建中四年（783年）夏，韦应物出为滁州刺史。他在滁州三年，公余常游西涧、琅琊山，写下《滁州西涧》等山水名篇；兴元元年（784年）春，"邑有流亡愧俸钱"（《寄李儋元锡》）一联，尤见仁者襟怀。此时他诗艺已臻化境，冲淡之极。
江州（786） · 滁州江州
唐德宗贞元二年（786年），韦应物自滁州刺史改任江州刺史。江州在庐山脚下、鄱阳湖畔，山水清绝，他在此常游庐山，诗中多写江州风物与仕隐之思。
苏州（788） · 苏州终老
唐德宗贞元四年（788年），韦应物自江州刺史擢苏州刺史。苏州为东南大郡，他勤于吏治、清正廉明。贞元五年（789年）夏，他于苏州郡斋雨中宴集诸文士，"自惭居处崇，未睹斯民康"之语尤见仁心；但内心常怀归隐之思，"日夕思归"之叹散见于多篇诗作。
苏州（终老）（791） · 苏州终老
唐德宗贞元六、七年间（790-791年），韦应物罢苏州刺史任，寓居苏州永定寺，贫病交加，"聊租二顷田，方课子弟耕"，生计维艰。约贞元七年（791年），他卒于苏州，享年五十五岁，同年十一月归葬长安少陵原。友人丘丹为其撰墓志，称其"贵而能贫"，可见一生清廉。
The Life Journey of Wei Yingwu, the Clear Water Voice
Wei Yingwu (c. 737-791), of the mighty Wei clan of the capital, was at fifteen one of Xuanzong's personal bodyguards who 'ran wild in the wards' — and after the An Lushan catastrophe remade himself into the purest landscape poet of the middle Tang. Governor of Chuzhou, Jiangzhou and Suzhou; master of the plain style later bracketed as 'Wang-Meng-Wei-Liu'; and the conscience of his whole official class in one line: 'In my city there are refugees — I am ashamed to draw my salary.' He died poor — 'noble, yet able to be poor,' his epitaph said.
Timeline of the Journey
- 737 · Chang'an — Born to the Xiaoyao-gong branch of the Wei clan; at fifteen a guardsman in the emperor's personal train — his own later account: 'a slave to dice and hawks, running wild in the wards.'
- 756 · Chang'an — The emperor fled, the guardsman jobless in a broken world. The turn: 'reading is late, so the brush learns to write poems' — years of self-education until the official road reopened with a Luoyang post.
- 764 · Luoyang — Assistant magistrate of Luoyang, then military secretary at Henan: the Yi and Luo rivers in the off-hours, the style forming — flat, clean, unhurried.
- 778 · Huxian — County magistrate of Huxian then Lixian, then sick-leave retirement to the Shanfu temple: farmers' business taken personally, the poems walking further and further toward Tao Yuanming.
- 783 · Chuzhou — Governor of Chuzhou: three years, and the Western Ravine — 'I love best the hidden grass by the stream-bank... a wild boat crossing alone in the rain' — the plainest immortal quatrain in the language.
- 786 · Jiangzhou — Governor of Jiangzhou under Mount Lu and the Poyang lake: mountain poems, and the lifelong pull between office and withdrawal.
- 788 · Suzhou — Governor of Suzhou, the great southeast command: diligent and incorrupt — and writing all the while of home: 'evening and dawn I think of returning.'
- 791 · Suzhou — Removed from office, lodging at Yongding temple, two rented acres farmed by his sons; dead at fifty-five, one plain cart for the journey home — 'Wei of Suzhou,' the cleanest name in Tang provincial government.
'I love best the hidden grass by the stream-bank.' The wild young guardsman turned into Chinese poetry's clearest water: Wei Yingwu proved that style can be a kind of repentance.
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