韦应物的一生行迹（737-792）
韦应物（737-792），字义博，京兆万年（今西安）人。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），出身韦氏郧公房，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，在太学中潜心经史，数年间文思大进，判入高等，踏上仕宦正途。
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（770） · 洛阳畿县
唐代宗大历五年（770年）前后，韦应物出为鄠县令、栎阳令等畿县亲民官。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。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，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）（792） · 苏州终老
唐德宗贞元八年（792年），韦应物罢苏州刺史后寓居苏州永定寺，同年冬卒于苏州，享年五十六岁。他罢官后清贫如洗，连棺殓之资都靠故人资助，可见一生清廉。
The Life Journey of Wei Yingwu, the Clear Water Voice
Wei Yingwu (c. 737-792), 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 too poor for a coffin; friends paid for the burial.
Timeline of the Journey
- 737 · Chang'an — Born to the Yun-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: incense burned, floors swept, books read — years of self-re-education until the rankings opened and the official road with them.
- 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.
- 770 · Huxian — County magistrate at Huxian and Lixian on the capital's edge: 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.'
- 792 · Suzhou — Removed from office, lodging at Yongding temple; dead in the winter at fifty-six, too poor for a coffin — '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.
